Do Positive Reviews and PR lead to Being Featured in the App Store? ( Part 2 )

In Part 1 I decided to follow #Sworcery and see if positive reviews and pr could lead to being featured in the App Store.

As I stated before, this is by far not a fool proof case study since I do not know if #Sworcery is doing any advertising in conjunction with their PR.

With that disclaimer out of the way, lets see how #Sworcery is doing.  Last we looked they were not in any of the list: top apps, featured, staff pick, hot, or new & noteworthy.

Today the landscape has changed for #Sworcery... drastically.  Right off the bat, they are listed as 3rd on the TOP PAID iPad Apps list.  912 Ratings at 5 Stars... wow!  Scrolling down... they are listed #6 on the TOP GROSSING ipad Apps list.  OK, lets check featured.  New and Noteworthy for all apps? Nope. Staff Favorites? Nope.  Wait a sec... there it is scrolling in the top banner.  iPad Game of the Week!  Ok, so its the game of the week, but its not in the New and Noteworthy. Interesting.  Moving on to What's Hot.  Nothing. Not even in the banner.  So it went from no where to the top charts and it is not considered Hot... interesting.  Lets check out the Games Category.  Featured and in your face, top iPad Game of the week showing up in the top banner.  Also, #1 under New and Noteworthy.  Ok, so it wasn't noteworthy for all Apps, but apparently very note worthy for games.  Strange, since other games appeared in New and Noteworthy for all Apps.  But anyways, moving on to What's Hot for Games.  Nope, not there.

Ok, in summary:
#3 in Top Paid Apps
#6 in Top Grossing Apps
Displayed in Banner for 'Featured' and in the Games Category as iPad Game of the Week
#1 in the Games Featured list

Not to shabby. Hell, that is freaking awesome for them.

Do I think the PR, reviews, and general buzz helped them get featured as iPad Game of the Week?  Of course I do.  Can I prove it?  Unfortunately, I can not.  Without access to the 'GateKeepers' at Apple, no one can.

One could argue that this game is spreading due to the twitter integration which is there for ANYTHING you click on.  I personally haven't seen many tweets on it, but apparently others have as Hilary Goldstein, Editor-in-Chief at IGN recently posted:

Starting to feel like #sworcery tweed are zombie chants. I see one and it's like, "They got you too!"

I am sure that has helped.  Do a quick search, results keep trickling in. It is an endless stream of free advertising goodness.  They are owning the word 'sworcery' in the seo world and its working to their favor.  Regardless of whether it intrigues twitter users or pisses them off (due to spam) it is drawing attention to the game.

Ok, so that is one aspect outside of traditional reviews/blogs that is helping their numbers.  What about word of mouth? Do people enjoy the game?  I would think most of these people tweeting enjoy the game... otherwise they wouldn't post it on their wall.  But tweeting in game content is not quite the same as telling your friends that this game is awesome, go check it out.  Judging by the fact that 852 of the 915 ratings are 5 stars, I think it is safe to say this is getting positive word of mouth.  Only 25 Four stars. 9 Three Stars. 2 double stars. And 23 singles.  That is incredible!

I honestly don't get it. Maybe I am not far enough, but I find this game extremely boring. Sorry.  I respect the fact that it is indie.  I think it has a cool art style, yet I am not enthralled by it.  Music is great, A+ there.  But as a game, its flat out boring. Lots of clicking and panning.  Just not my cup of tea I guess.  I would have given up on it long ago if I hadn't spent 5 bucks and wasn't writing this blog series.  I'm going to keep clicking my way further and hope the game opens up into something more fun. But for now, I would tell my friends to not waste their money.

Anywaaays, 852 Five Stars?  Top iPad Game of the Week?  I guess I am in the minority on that one.  I'll be interested in seeing if a majority of these initial reviews are from people who have been following the game for awhile and have bought into the buzz.  Now that it is featured and mainstream, I wonder if the majority of future buyers will appreciate the indie flair.  I suspect Part 3 of this blog series will look closely at the reviews and any changes in the charts.  Can the game maintain its position or was a just a burst?  That insight may just help us deduct just how #Sworcery made it into the featured list and onto the main stage.  Stay tuned.  And as  always, share your thoughts below.

*UPDATE*
I don't see the need to post a part 3.  #Sworcery's reviews have stayed strong, dropping just slightly under a full 5 stars.  Apparently I am in the minority and my theory that their ratings would drop have been debunked.  They have fallen out of the top 25, but I would not be surprised if they jump right back up there when the iPhone version is released or if they even choose to run a special below the 4.99 mark.

In summary, I believe the reviews and PR helped, either by getting them noticed by Apple or getting them noticed by the masses and then by Apple.  A solid product, twitter integration, and great community relations also played a major role from my outsider viewpoint.
*UPDATE END*

Do Positive Reviews and PR lead to Being Featured in the App Store?

I had an interesting exchange w/ a guy from g4 who claimed:

"The way mobile games are priced, they're typically an impulse purchase vs. someone seeking them out based on coverage."


That made me stop and think a bit.

Ok. I can't argue that once a game is in front of someone's face its not an impulse buy. BUT, it can only be an impulse buy when its in the checkout lane, not when you have to ask the store clerk what aisle its in.

Where are the swedish fish!?

The holy grail for many app developers is to become a Staff Pick, Featured, and then ultimately hit the Top Charts.  Once you do that, then you have the impulse factor working in your favor.  But this all occurs well after the snowball has already started down the hill. The real question is how do you get noticed by Apple and hit one of those lists?

Going back to my initial conversation, could reviews and positive PR lead to being Featured in the App Store?

With that question fresh in my mind I started noticing chatter about "SuperBrothers: Sword and Sworcery".  Do a quick search, there is a fair amount of buzz about the game online. [insert LMGTFY link here... ]   9.5 from IGN.  Now that is nothing to sneeze at.

OK, so we have positive PR and positive reviews.  Lets check out the top iPad apps... its not listed.  Featured? Nope. Staff pick? Nope. Hot? Nope.

Ah, Release date is tomorrow. Hmm, that is weird. I still was able to purchase it. (downloading now)

So I am wondering, can their positive PR and Reviews lead to being featured?  Lets watch and find out. Its not a fool proof case study... not even close. I don't know if they are advertising.  I don't know if a staff member will feature this game because they like it, without even reading a review.

Still, I find the exercise interesting.

If you see any advertising for the game, please let me know.  As well as if it hits any of apple's charts.

I'll be keeping an eye on it and will report back what I find.  In the meantime, my download is done so its time for some sworcery.

The People Have Chosen

The People's choice for Hackathon came down to a photo finish.  Winner, gets FDT Max. Runner-up, joins the rest of the participants and receive FDT Pure. (thx Bruno!)

Voting was done by using the game's MochiPop score (how often they are played over time).  You can find any game's MochiPop by searching for the game via MochiGames.

When voting came to a close, we had 2 games tied in first at 59 MochiPop: New Continents & Earthquake.

I gave the contestants each 5 days to break the tie by pimping their games and encouraging people to play.  At the end of the five days, both games improved their MochiPop, but one game more so than the other.

Our winner of  Stanford's Hackathon Game Competition's People's Choice 2011 (haha, how long of a title can I make this??) is Earthquake!

Congrats to the winner and congrats to all the participants who will now receive a free copy of FDT Pure.

Thanks to everyone for participating, playing, judging, supporting, and just being Benevolent.

Ok, I promise, no more blog posts about this competition!  ;)