3 tips to get more subscribers constantly
Your subscriber graphics looks more like a heart monitor? You have a few spikes and a few ups and downs, but you always end up in the same place?
That's may be good for your heart, but not for your game. You want your graphic to look more like this, with ups and downs but, at the end of the day, always growing.
We all want to do what we love: develop great, fun, interesting and engaging games and building a community around it, right? It's living the dream.
But developing games is still a business, and when reality comes knocking, everything can get more complicated, especially when game development is still your side hustle and not your main income.
To develop quality games, we need focus, and to have focus, we usually need time and to have time, we need money. We believe that this is a difficulty for many developers.
That's why we thought we'd share 3 basic business principles that have helped us maintain constant growth and that we think can help you too
1. Always have a paid version of your game
Make money of your work it is not a sin, when you launch a new game, it's normal to have MANY insecurities. How much to charge? Where to sell it? Is the game polished enough?
And the truth is that if you think your game is perfect for release, it's probably because you took too long to release it, and you've already missed a lot of opportunities, feedbacks and money.
You have to face up to the fact that you're not going to have all the answers before launch
You've worked hard and produced entertaining content; don't be afraid to charge for it. If you're not confident yet, charge cheaply, but charge. Only then will you have the resources you need to devote more time to developing an even better game.
The feedback you will receive from the community may be thought, but it is Extremely valuable and will speed up your learning for the next releases.
When you're further along and have several versions of your game, you can start offering something for free.
Example: an incomplete version of the game, a demo, or a previous episode.
This is known as the "Freemium" Strategy (free + premium). In which the player has access to a 100% free but limited version of the game, never the best version.
So once you have a complete version, this will guarantee a constant growth curve for your game, in which many people will test your free game and after that many of those people will like the product enough to pay for the full or newest version.
Many Gamedevs end up making the mistake of doing just the opposite: when the game, episode or season is finally ready, they make that game 100% free without yet having a new game or episode available for purchase. This takes all the motivation out of paying for something and causes revenue to plummet.
You've put a lot of work into developing a great game, and now that it's finally what you envisioned, you give it away for free? That doesn't sound right.
2. Predictability and consistency goes a long way
This works for YouTube videos, podcasts, tv shows, and also for games...
Imagine that your favorite TV show is on every Wednesday at 8 o'clock at night, you have a ritual, you order a pizza, a cold drink, you sit and relax on the couch and the show simple doesn't come on... No explanation, no reason, nothing... It's frustrating, isn't it?
Why should games be any different?
Unfortunately, release delays are very common in the games industry and this can frustrate gamers. From Giant studios to indie games, this happens a lot, but you can turn this into an advantage if you manage to regulate it.
You don't need to make big promises to retain your audience, you just need to deliver what you promised, when you promised it. This will build your credibility as a game developer and make people trust and invest in your projects.
Example: 1 new episode/release every 3 months.
Launches are always big boosts in visibility and new followers and players, and it's common for not all new subscribers to become recurring subscribers. So it's normal to have a drop in the weeks following a launch, but let's say you retained 50% of the new players you managed to attract with that launch; that's still a very good number.
3.Test, test, test and test again:
Sometimes we get stuck in limbo, where we discover some tactics that work, and achieve a certain amount of success. But we can't get past that stage.
What got you to 500 subscribers won't get you to 5.000. Growth tactics, marketplaces and content platforms have a certain limit to what they can offer you.
Sometimes we have the right product on the "wrong" platform.
Take, for example, itch.io, which is a great platform for Indie Games, but does not have as big an audience as Steam. But on Steam, you have to pay a commission that can reach almost 50%.
So our advice is to test, test and keep testing. New places to sell, a new pricing model, new types of content, etc... There is no magic formula for success; you have to understand and rediscover every day what makes the most sense to connect your game with your players.
That's why we invite you to join Oppaiman.com, a platform specially designed to accelerate the growth of the adult gaming community.
If you already have a game with at least 500 Patrons, you can publish your game in our store.
Check the link below to learn how to submit your game.
