clash of clans
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Games are dominating the App Store economy even more than you thought
Games are the biggest money-making apps -- that's just a given at this point -- but the utter dominance with which the game category crushes the competition might surprise you. Research firm Midia recently crunched the app economy numbers using the 700 top grossing apps across the App Store and Google Play, and came up with a crazy figure: 84.9 percent. That's the percentage of games in the top 700. Yikes. Aside from games, the next highest-grossing app category was social networking at 4.1 percent, dating with 3.9 percent, and travel at 2.3 percent. It's really not even a competition at this point. Ok, so games are cash cows, but why? To the dismay of anyone who bemoans microtransactions, it seems to be all about in-app purchases. Like it or not, the freemium revolution is upon us, and games willing to give themselves away for free while nickel-and-diming you on the backend are extremely appealing to many, and those games make a whole bunch of cash. No other app category seems to have come up with a way to get users to continually pay in over time. But it's not exactly an even distribution among freemium games - there are a select few big dogs eating the majority of the food. Companies like Supercell and King (publishers of Clash Of Clans and Candy Crush Saga, respectively) rake in millions of dollars every day, and can therefor afford to spend huge bucks on marketing to bring more freemium gamers into the fold. Smaller developers might get the crumbs, but the cake belongs to a handful of companies. This means two things: First, free-to-play games are here to stay. Second, you absolutely don't have to have an original idea in order to make buckets and buckets of cash.
Clash of Clans follow-up Boom Beach hits iOS tomorrow
Mobile developer Supercell will release a follow-up to its free-to-play hit, Clash of Clans, exclusively for iOS tomorrow, Apple announced. Boom Beach expands on Clash of Clans' premise, challenging players to build a shoreline outpost and fortify it from enemy attacks. Like Clash of Clans, players can level up in Boom Beach by attacking other players' settlements, robbing them of gathered resources while advancing in the leaderboard ranks. Developer Supercell announced last month that Clash of Clans earns over $650,000 in microtransaction revenue daily. Clash of Clans currently ranks as North America's single highest-grossing mobile app across all categories on both iTunes and Google Play. [Image: Supercell]
Report: Clash of Clans raking in $654k per day
Finnish developer Supercell is earning around $654,000 daily in Clash of Clans microtransaction sales on iOS and Android devices, according to a report from Business Insider. Clash of Clans is a free-to-play simulation game with tower defense elements, challenging players to build a village and defend it from frequent enemy attacks. While much of the game's content is accessible without additional purchases, players have the option of upgrading combat units and other in-game components by spending real-world money. The approach has proven popular among App Store customers, and Clash of Clans currently ranks as iTunes' single highest-grossing app as a result. An App Annie report (via MCV) ranks Clash of Clans as the world's third-highest grossing free-to-play game, trailing GungHo's Puzzle & Dragons and King's Candy Crush Saga. [Image: Supercell]
The waiting game: Hands-on with Clash of Clans
Before November 2013, I had never heard of Supercell's Clash of Clans. I'm not much of a mobile gamer, choosing mostly to use my iPad as a machine through which to stream Firefly episodes while I do the dishes or sweep up the immense piles of dog fur created by my ancient German shepherd. But a Thanksgiving holiday spent with friends obsessed with the game piqued my curiosity, as did the fact that Clash of Clans had helped Supercell earn roughly $2.4 million per day through most of 2013. So, a bit begrudgingly, I joined my friends in a clan. And raided goblin villages. And built myself a nice little town. But mostly what I did was wait.
Clash of Clans developer reconsiders iOS exclusivity
Having already made it big in the free-to-play scene on iOS with Clash of Clans, Finnish app development house Supercell may be headed to Android in the hopes of scoring further success overseas. "You can't be global without being in Asia, and you can't be big in Asia without being on Android," Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen notes in an interview with the Financial Times. At the time of this writing, Supercell's microtransaction-driven Clash of Clans is seated at position No. 110 on the iPhone App Store's Top Free app chart, but ranks a much more favorable No. 3 on the Top Grossing list. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as the company has already boasted that its daily revenue tops US$2.4 million. By spreading its wares to Android, the company could gain a foothold in regions where Apple's mobile devices aren't quite as popular, which could beef up its income even further. However, Supercell's iPhone exclusivity has paid off for them in other ways, such as plenty of App Store promotion that undoubtedly boosts sales. In fact, both of Supercell's iOS games -- Clash of Clans and Hay Day -- are currently being promoted in Apple's "Only on iOS" collection on the front page of the App Store. At the end of the day, Supercell has to do what's best for its bottom line, but if the revenue gained by going multi-platform can't surpass the perks of iOS exclusivity, it could pay to stay put. [via TNW]
Daily iPhone App: Solara stands out from the clash of clones
Clash of Clans is one of the freemium sim titles making lots of money on the App Store, and so it's no surprise that the market has been flooded with clones lately; games where you build up a town Farmville-style, and then send troops from that town out into the world to complete quests. Solara is one of these: You use gold earned by building shops in town to create more buildings and unlock heroes, and then you can use those heroes to defeat monsters and earn more gold. But what sets Solara off from the rest of games like this on the App Store is its design and charm. This isn't just a generic freemium title. First time iOS developer Esper Labs has put plenty of heart into the different facilities you build and the heroes you level up, and that extra effort makes the game's familiar cycle shine. Unfortunately, Solara still leans a bit too much towards the casual side for some hardcore fans -- personally, I'd like a little more action in the battles. As it is now, they essentially just play out without any input from the player, which can be frustrating when you've made a mistake lining up your team. Most of the depth comes from choosing your heroes to fight, which all have different skills and strengths. But it'd be nice to see a developer try to really make the periodic fights in these games actual tests of skill or game knowledge, rather than just animations (which are skippable, even) playing out as they go. Still, Esper Labs is looking for that huge Clash of Clans audience, and that audience is completely fine with just letting the game play itself. If you haven't tried one of these games yet, or maybe have gotten tired of just playing CoC all the time, Solara's worth a look. It's a well-made game with a cycle that's just as addictive as always, and of course it's free to play. I do wish, however, that instead of just adding its design talent to the standard formula, Esper Labs had tried to add a little bit more.
