Helping to lead the multi-faceted game-focused accelerator YetiZen, Japheth Dillman is an increasingly well-known voice within the game industry. One of his signature talks that’s helped draw crowds and interest in his perspectives is a talk about the inner workings on Google and Apple app stores. Japheth will be sharing those insights via his talk, “Secret Sauce of the App Stores“, with game and app developers in Los Angeles at GDC Next.
Events for Gamers: Japheth, thank you for giving us some of your time and thoughts into the inner workings of app stores. Let’s kick this off by detailing what YetiZen is all about and what you’re working on these days.
Japheth Dillman: YetiZen is currently interviewing for its 7th round of accelerator companies. Time flies, right? Each round is a very intense three month process, and in prior years we held two rounds a year, but in 2015 we’re going to hold one round but with a larger batch size. This is because we’re ramping up a number of other efforts as well. We’re putting together a bootcamp for earlier stage companies (the accelerator focuses on post-market post-release startups at the scaling stage). This bootcamp is a global effort. In 2013 we held a single month long bootcamp for Columbia, this was our trial run and now that we’ve perfected it we’re opening up to all regions globally. www.yetizen.com/bootcamp
Additionally, we are working on putting together an angel investment fund and our regular event series always takes up a lot of time (150 events in 2013, but we’ve scaled down to about 50 events this year).
E4G: Some folks might have seen you present the “Secret Sauce of the App Stores” talk before at different venues. What information will be different in the talk this time?
JD: One of the most interesting things about this talk is the ranking algorithms on the backend of the AppStores. These are a huge mystery to developers, and they are constantly evolving! The AppStore optimization is an ever changing game, and luckily we at YetiZen have insiders that help us see what has evolved. The last time I gave this talk was some time ago, early 2014 I believe, and just as an insight Google has over 200 components to that algorithm and its constantly evolving, perhaps 30-40 of those components have evolved since I last spoke. For example, using other GooglePlay services (such as real time multiplayer, save games, quests, etc) can impact your placement in the rankings! This was not so last time I spoke. The talk goes beyond the Appstore algorithms, it also discusses how to create successful campaigns, and of course optimization of the appstore listing itself.
E4G: What are one or two of the common mistakes an app developer might make, that reduces their chance at visibility and traffic in an app store?
JD: Often developers rely upon PR for installs. This simply does not work on the Appstore. One of the most widely read blogs on apps is 148Apps.com. Getting featured with a fantastic review there might net you at most a hundred installs. This doesn’t budge the needle for your placement in the store. A developer needs thousands of installs to get bumped up. A holistic and complete approach to marketing is needed, from how the App is listed in the store, to ad campaigns, to PR, to even the user landing funnel into the game.
E4G: In general, if you were going to give one piece of advice — or trick — to a developer about to upload their app to an app store at the start of their launch campaign, what would it be?
JD: RETENTION! This is number one. If your retention is garbage it doesn’t matter how well you monetize, or even how well you market the game. Get those 1 day, 7 day, and 30 day numbers as healthy as possible prior to release. Everything else will fall into alignment if you have good retention!
E4G: Do game app developers face any special considerations when it comes to advertising, marketing or sustaining visibility on App Store or Google Play that might not be an issue to non-game app developers?
JD: Luckily, TradeMob has released data that shows us that Organic Uplift is much healthier in games vs. non-games. I’ve included an image from TradeMob that highlights this:
This means if developers can nail their AppStore listing just right, optimize on their presence in the store, they can take advantage of organic installs at a better rate than non-organic installs.
*reference: http://www.trademob.com/infographic-calculating-the-cost-of-a-top-10-rank-in-the-app-store/
E4G: Do you foresee any emerging app stores that might compete with “the big two”?
JD: Actually, I see a few AppStores disappearing. Dan Galpin from Google filled us in on something unique. Android Lollipop (the next version) will have built in console capabilities with controller support. This, I fear, may make it very difficult for the Ouyas of the world to succeed now. Interestingly though, I will say that Windows mobile marketplace is becoming a place to explore. Some devs have had financial (and userbase) success on that platform as of late.
E4G: What other talks or speakers do you hope to see at GDC Next?
JD: Making Games for the YouTube Audience looks like an interesting talk. There’s a lot to be had for video virality, Everyplay is killing it. Any video tie-in with your gamers is going to go a long way, and I really want to hear this talk.
E4G: Last but not least, YetiZen is known for throwing big bash-style parties at GDC. Can you tip your hand and tell us what you might have in mind for GDC 2015?
JD: Haha, yes… how do we follow up renting out the AT&T Giant’s Ballpark? It seems each year our epic bashes grow and grow. I don’t think you can get bigger than the Ballpark, so this year I’m considering something more unique as opposed to going for a larger sized party. We’re still 5 months out from GDC proper in March, but I do have it on the mind. In December I’ll be finalizing plans with sponsors, but right now I’m definitely exploring a few outdoor venues. I haven’t seen this done at GDC before. January and February I’ll be booking entertainment. I’m quite open to ideas and there’s lots of time to bring in entertainment (one of my favorites has always been MC Frontalot, but we’ve had him twice now). As for themes, we’ve done an ice theme, a circus theme, and Ferraris. 2015 has a really high bar to hit obviously, and I want to make it something memorable.
If you have something or someone you’d like to see at our 2015 GDC party, or if you want to be a part of this year’s bash, hit me up at: jdillman@yetizen.com
