Why Game Apps are Excellent Reskinning Materials ?
Majority of bestselling apps are games. Games bite a huge chunk out of the app market even though having a game app on your smartphone won’t make you more productive in your job or solve specific problems yet popular games are downloaded more times than most productivity tools. Not only does games hook audiences but it makes them interact and react in ways that other apps can’t achieve.
In case you’re still unconvinced, here are other reasons why games and reskinning are meant for each other:
- The freemium model is best suited for the gaming platform. The freemium model had been actually tried by industries outside of the app store (software vendors are the best example) but it just won’t work the same way it would work on a game app selling upgrades to players. The drawback of using the freemium model is that users can go on using the app without as much as sparing a penny on upgrades or even just accidentally tapping on ads. But games has that addictive quality that makes the temptation of spending real money almost unbearable. If you’ve noticed in reviews, a lot of people actually complain about the waiting time for some games before you can move on to another chapter or level; or how lives immediately run out. Most players doesn’t have the patience and time to wait but they’re addicted to the game so they would find a way to get their fix.
- In-app advertising is a great game bait. Pretty Simple, the creator of the award-winning app, Criminal Case is using the bait of free 20 energy in order for its users to watch video ads. This ad format is called Rewarded Video; providing prevent content for each video watched is quite common especially for non-game apps. Criminal case also has an offer of energy that can go up to 300 plus if you download an advertised app or sign up for a free trial on some streaming services. This is a similar ad format called Offerwall. These ad formats are great monetization strategies, coupled with in-app purchases but this is actually not just about monetization, it’s actually an answer to the many complaints of energy running out so fast. This scheme works because there’s a demand for it – the players need it and it’s almost painful to look away from the offer.
According to statistics produced by IDC and App Annie, in-app advertising revenue had surged up to 70 percent sometime between 2013 and 2014. More than 55 percent of app developers earn the most revenue through in-app purchases, mostly in extra lives. This trend would continue to rise as people are spending more money on mobile game apps than on handheld gaming consoles.
- Reskinning a game is just a way of doubling its potential. The beauty of games is that mechanics aren’t copyrighted so it can be redone over and over again. Even arcade games that are 20-30 years old are given a new lease at life with apps that “emulate” them. A good gameplay is timeless and most important for reskinning is the gameplay’s flexibility to be skinned into any theme possible. The addictive and engaging quality of game apps. The design and mechanics of game apps target certain user behaviour that would make them not only engaged in the app but also share this engagement to their network of friends, that would then interact, compete and regularly spend time on the app. Games often form these habits on users that encourage loyalty to the app, a setup that would greatly benefit reskins.
- Facebook’s App Center is all about those games. Why? Games can easily become viral. Before Facebook games, the concept of social connection is doing things that connect each person through common passions but now, it’s playing a game on Facebook and sharing some free energy or life; competing against each other and racing to the top of the leader boards. Though it’s hard for some reskins to get into this platform (there’s some stringent quality guidelines), it did not stop some game apps from emulating such a model.
In this time and age, people demand a lot from free things so it’s just right for developers to ask for dues in sneaky ways and yet they still always go home empty-handed. Reskinning removes the risk of big losses while still offering the free app that people want and deserve.
