Outwitters' low revenue - Marketing suggestions and ideas for OML

[Ravernoth]

*Please add ideas, I'll consolidate them in this post*
Updates are marked with *new*

Edit: Updated (1b) Business model, (4) App Icon, (5c) App Description, (7) Speed/Semi-realtime Games

I was pretty stunned to read OML's blog post and the Wired article about how little revenue Outwitters has generated.

The figures are: 500,000 downloads, $300,000 in costs, 18 months development... and $40,000 revenue

That's a very poor reward for Alex and Adam for creating this brilliant game. From the sounds of it, OML will continue to support the game, and the new team is part of their efforts, but I think we know that they can't work for free, and I'm concerned about the future of Outwitters.

I propose we put our marketing heads together here and help to save the game. I'll consolidate ideas here.

Here are some suggestions to OML:

Ideas to increase revenue per player

1) Change the business model

a) Make it a paid app - Example: Great Big War Game, $2.99

• All teams are included
• Release Demo version
  

b) Keep it free

• Raise price of Uber pack to $6.99
• Unlock teams by playing and winning X league games, or paying
• Add advertising that is removed upon a purchase
• *new* - Add advertising that appears after 20 games without a purchase
• *new* - Restrict free users to friendlies - League is a premium feature for paying customers only
• *new* - Add a Donation feature in the app, reflected by different levels of flags on bases
  

2) More add-ons (applicable to both models):

• Avatars for the game list (instead of the map image)
• Special team colours
• Skins - skin just the special units, and do overlays to make it easier to add. E.g. Hats that can go on a Mobi/Scrambler/Bombshell
  

*new*
3)Increase game 'stickiness'

• Integrate the forum into the app. Maybe auto-register a user for the forum
• Show a player's overall percentile ranking - notification when he moves up, e.g. "You are in the top 25% of Outwitters players in the world"
• Run official tourneys - or what's simpler - officially recognize community tourneys like the World Cup, and offer prizes or get companies to sponsor prizes
  

Ideas to increase downloads:

4) Change the icon (suggestion: Feedback soldier)

I think a picture of one of the units will draw people much more than the current icon. Compare the icon with competitors icons:



The current icon is too abstract - something more representative of the game would be better. Any of Adam's great unit art would be better.

In my opinion the Feedback soldier looks cool and would appeal to a large proportion of the strategy gamer demographic.


5) Multiply your downloads by improving your app description in the App Store!

I do online marketing and this is a huge point of leverage. You frequently have only seconds to engage a reader.

This description is your salesperson. Imagine a person sitting in front of you - would you really start with a quote from Stephen “Cheesedip” Donahue?

The person has tons of things on his mind, limited space on his iPhone, and 30 games already installed and waiting to be played. You have to convince him that it's worth the time and pain to install and try out Outwitters!

If you convert 5% of readers to downloads now, and increase this to 8% by rewriting your description (entirely possible), that's a 60% increase in revenue.

*new*
a) Tell readers that you are an Apple Editor's Choice for strategy games, that you have half a million downloads, all the accolades you've won, you've been featured in all the various sections, etc etc.

b) Outwitters has a ton of glowing reviews - show snippets and ratings in the description!

Win the reader's trust with third party approval - make them feel compelled to try the game.

Which is going to get you a download:


★ Recently featured as Noteworthy, What's Hot and Staff Favorite!

★ "Bite size strategy you can't put down" - Touch Arcade, 4.5 Stars

★ "It's a ridiculous amount of fun" - 148Apps, 5 Stars; Editor’s Choice

★ "What’s important is that you download this ridiculously free app for your iOS device immediately" - Penny Arcade

★ "The game looks great, and the diverse amount of units allow for some really creative play." - Nine Over Ten, 5 Stars

OR

“Outwitters is a lean, mean, robot-destroying, teddy bear shredding, fish filleting machine.” 
– Stephen “Cheesedip” Donahue

*new*
c) Add captions to your screenshots
Many readers will glance briefly at your text but most will look at the screenshots. By adding captions you have another opportunity to convince them.


*new*
6) Add AI, Single player functionality e.g. campaigns/challenges

This is a major change that would allow a relaunch, new pricing, new publicity, and attract a new audience.

For players wanting an instant fix.

This is a big task I know. AI or campaigns like Great Big War Game (which is doing very well revenue-wise) would be best and would widen the appeal of the game significantly.

An easier option is challenges/puzzles like Hero Academy offers, though I don't know how successful that has been.


*new*
7) Add 'Speed Games' or 'Semi-Realtime' Games with a time limit

This is a major change that would allow a relaunch, new pricing, new publicity, and attract a new audience.

Again, for players wanting an instant fix. There is a large audience of strategy gamers who just don't want to deal with waiting for a turn.

Then once they're hooked they may well see the appeal of async turns when they're busy.

• There could be say 2 options: 15 minutes per player, or 30 minutes per player
• The timer would work like a chess clock, i.e. once a player submits his turn, the other player's timer starts counting down
• The timer is on the server, i.e. it counts down whether the player is in or out of the app.
• The player receives a notification when it's his turn, e.g. "It's your turn with X, you have 12 minutes 25 seconds on your timer"
• When a player's timer runs out, he loses.
• OR another option is: When a player's timer runs out, he enters 'Sudden death' mode where he has say 45 seconds per turn
• If we want to help account for long games, we could add say 15 seconds to each player's timer per turn.
• Speed Games could have separate leagues and rankings, or use the same rankings (with a point adjustment if needed)
  

Things to do for us players:

1. Spread the word - tell your friends to download Outwitters
2. Purchase teams/upgrades if you haven't already
3. Add more ideas to this list
4. Leave a review for Outwitters in the App Store