1. The Android Alternative: Road to 100 Million Players Vladimir Funtikov Co-founder, Creative Mobile

2. Creative Mobile  Independent developer and publisher  Founded in 2010 by 3 guys with €10 000  >100 million organic Android game downloads  Team grown from 3 to >80  Best known for racing games: Drag Racing, DR: Bike Edition, DR: 4x4,

3. Why Android  In 2010:  New market, weak competition  Familiar technology  Tide will lift all boats  In 2013:  Scale! 1bn devices, 1.5m daily activations [1]  Competition [1] Larry Page, https://plus.google.com/+LarryPage/posts/QVbFayWxfrmhttps://plus.google.com/+LarryPage/posts/QVbFayWxfrm

4. Problem: launching a product  No money (connections, traffic, brand, …)

5. Problem: launching a product  No money (connections, traffic, brand, …)  Solution A:  Prepare PowerPoint slide deck  Search for publishers/investors/editors  …  PROFIT

6. Problem: launching a product  No money (connections, traffic, brand, …)  Solution A:  Prepare PowerPoint slide deck  Search for publishers/investors/editors  …  PROFIT  Solution B:  Smart self-publishing and marketing!

7. Free marketing tools  You only have a few days, so make them count  Title that sells:  Easy to understand and remember  Keywords help  A/B test  Icon that sells:  Make multiple  Compare to competition  A/B test CTR of winners  Stunning first screenshot and description  SEO

8. Ranking high (and long)  Google Play ranking algorithm:  Downloads over the last X days  Number (and/or ratio) of active installs  Over 9000 other things (don’t bother)  Retention  Push notifications (to the right user)  Relevant updates  Don’t annoy the player  Social and competitive (+GP Game Services)  Endless gameplay

9. Ranking high (and long)  Understand the platform  Optimize (<20 MB, smooth content delivery)  Support older OS versions, old and new devices, all screens  Respect tablets!  Beta-test (there WILL be bugs)  Understand the use case  Even tablets are only part-time gaming devices

10. Case study: Drag Racing 20112012

11. Case study: Drag Racing  >2 year in Top 50 games  Successful update:

12. Next steps  Players are valuable, games are media properties  Players can …  Bring revenue via IAP  Watch ads and interact with brands (up to 2x revenue!)  Form communities (social networks, forums)  Play your other games  Cross-promotion FTW!  Case study: Drag Racing: Bike Edition  $0 marketing spend -> Top 5 grossing (US) & 20M downloads

13. The end!  vladimir@creative-mobile.com  @creativemCEO

14. Bonus track: Real Racing 3 vs. Hill Climb Racing

15. Real Racing 3 (EA + Firemonkeys)  Established franchise (2 critically acclaimed titles)  High-end visuals and physics.  High expectations (players & management)  Budget: $150 000 000* * This is in fact the average distance between the Earth and the Sun, in kilometres. I’ve no idea what the budget was for RR3 :)

16. Hill Climb Racing (Fingersoft)  Who?  What?  Where?  Budget:

17. Google Play – Racing (US) now a few months ago

18. Google Play rank history – RR3

19. Google Play rank history - HCR

20. HCR success factors  Simple gameplay, smooth learning curve  Short sessions, sense of achievement  Works on (almost) every device  Continuous development..sounds familiar?

21. Drag Racing success factors  Simple gameplay, short sessions  Android 1.5+  50+ updates  …  2 years in top 50 games  >80M downloads