Many people make games but only a few succeed. The main reason behind it is marketing. We decided to test out the method used by many new indie developers to promote their game (Share the game link everywhere strategy).
Here’s what we did
- Made a simple to play Android game. (Cat and Mouse)
- Listed it on Google play store.
- Added translation for Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Hindi, Vietnamese, Persian.
- Shared on all possible Online forums (got banned by some).
- Gave the cheapest press release available. ($50)
- Ran Google Ad for $50 targeting countries with weak currency.
Things we didn’t do
- No prerelease marketing.
- No promotion on our website.
- Did not promote to existing followers or family. Just a few to test the game and get some reviews.
Final result
What we learned from the test
- Simple and attractive game play video performs best on Instagram reels and YouTube shorts. Be sure to create a great game play video that is less than 30 seconds.
- Sub Reddits r/freegames and r/AndroidGaming respond well to game links. A simple link share got us few downloads. But you need to have enough karma before you can do self-promotion on Reddit.
- Distribution channels are very important in a press release. As we didn’t have the budget for a good press release for this test. The Press release was actually a waste but the writer did a good job. Here is the link to download the Press release we gave. We should have used the other press release that cost $200 but it was not in the test budget.
- Ads are the best if you have a monetization strategy to get the money back. If you need more installations for a limited budget then concentrate your ad on countries with weak currency.
- Sharing links on twitter or Facebook without a following is a waste of time. Unless your game is related to a popular hashtag.
- It’s better to have a company website and social media page before releasing your game.
In the next step we are going to test out Free ASO strategies and see if we can increase the downloads.