Bolt Creative released sales and ranking data that sheds light on the Pocket God’s path to success. As one of the first apps to surpass more than 1,000,000 units sold, the game presents a valuable case study for developers and businesses looking to find success on the platform.
Pocket God, which launched in January 2009, enjoyed widespread appeal as it vaulted to the top of the App Store, reaching the #1 spot by March. The game enjoyed the top position for nearly a month, and has consistently held a place in the top 10 overall iPhone applications since that date. The game has sold over 1.2 million copies since its debut.
Programmer Dave Castelnuovo and artist Allan Dye worked together to create Pocket God – a remarkably small team considering the app’s success. The team now looks forward to expanding the Pocket God brand, including bringing the game to other platforms, and exploring merchandising opportunities.
During its initial stretch at #1 in March 2009, Pocket God sold an average of approximately 13,600 apps per day at Apple’s minimum paid app price of $.99. Notably, Pocket God achieved its peak sales on Monday, March 2 – its first day in the #1 slot – selling roughly 18,900 copies. For its remaining time at the top, the daily sales totals declined somewhat, selling 11,478 copies on March 27, its last day at #1.
Pocket God has been steadily ranked in the top 10 on the App Store, and its sales performance has been consistently strong. Spikes in ranking and sales popularity correlate strongly with Bolt’s free content updates to the game. Superimposed on the attached performance graph are the dates of each of these frequent content updates – a unique strategy that Bolt Creative believes helped greatly in maintaining a consistently competitive position.
“The iPhone’s low barrier to entry is great for small teams and small budgets, but its explosive popularity also translates into a daunting level of competition that can be hard to confront,” said Dave Castelnuovo of Bolt Creative. “We’ve found success by creating an engaged and enthusiastic community, and releasing an onslaught of free updates. We thought it was important to share what we’ve learned.”
Pocket God can be accessed in the iTunes App Stores by pointing your browser to www.linktoapp.com/PocketGod
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