Outblaze Gets to 30M Installs, Sees 30% Higher ARPU on Android Than on iOS
Outblaze, a Hong Kong developer with an unusual strategy of launching as many as two to three games per week, says it has reached about 30 million installs across its titles. When we talked to the company in July, it had one larger hit, Pretty Pet Salon, which was doing well on both Android and iOS.
Now its 60-person mobile games unit is doing about 5 million downloads a month, with 1.5 million of those installs coming from Android and 3.5 million from iOS. Both are growing at roughly 20 to 30 percent month-over-month. Right now, the company’s titles are 80 percent on iOS and 20 percent on Android, but the goal is to get them to 50-50.
Android however is producing an average revenue per user that’s 30 percent higher than on iOS. Yat Siu, the company’s chief executive, attributes this to the intense amount of quality testing the company does. Because Android Market is relatively less competitive and there are many more devices that have to be compatible with a game, any titles that actually function on a user’s Android phone stand out and consumers gravitate to them.
“We don’t have a superb, magic formula,” he said. “We are just more compatible with devices.”
“People say Android monetizes poorly, but I’m honestly just not seeing what they’re seeing,” he said, echoing comments from DeNA’s Gameview Studios, which also recently said it was seeing 30 percent higher ARPU on certain games on Google’s platform.
They also update their games aggressively, having pushed 36 updates so far to their hit Pretty Pet Salon. Siu said users don’t get tired of this; they appreciate new gaming content.
The company’s also still using the same channels to acquire users with the usual array of companies like Flurry, Tapjoy, W3i and Mdotm, even though these networks don’t work as effectively as they used to on iOS after Apple cracked down on offer walls. He said they’re de-emphasizing AdMob.
“We do find that iAd is performing better now. It’s not a platform for big spending though,” he said. “You have to start low and then let the iAd team optimize your campaign for you over several weeks.”
Like other developers, the company is seeing China become the second largest source of traffic. But so far, the company is mostly doing basic localization and hasn’t fine-tuned a distribution strategy for the country yet because monetization in China is poorer than in Western markets.
“China is actually quite favorable toward people paying for content. It’s just that the current system relies too heavily on credit cards,” Siu said.
To address the Android Market in China and avoid the extra layers of fragmentation there, Outblaze is going for pre-install deals with various Android app stores. Siu said he also expects that China’s Ministry of Culture will eventually regulate mobile app stores more closely, mirroring what it does for web-based games. In the past, Chinese government officials have asked that bodies, skulls and blood be toned down in games like World of Warcraft.
September 8th, 2011 at 8:38 pm
[...] “People say Android monetizes poorly, but I’m honestly just not seeing what they’re seeing,” he said, echoing comments from DeNA’s Gameview Studios, which also recently said it was seeing 30 percent higher ARPU on certain games on Google’s platform.（source:insidemobileapps） [...]
September 8th, 2011 at 10:43 pm
[...] Inside Mobile Apps revisits Outblaze to catch up with the booming app business. Especially worthy of note is the 30 million install milestone, and the observations on iOS and Android environments. Outblaze, a Hong Kong developer with an unusual strategy of launching as many as two to three games per week, says it has reached about 30 million installs across its titles. When we talked to the company in July, it had one larger hit, Pretty Pet Salon, which was doing well on both Android and iOS. [...]
September 9th, 2011 at 9:21 am
[...] Outblaze, a Hong Kong developer told Inside Mobile Apps this week that average revenue per user for its Android apps is 30 percent higher than on iOS. That’s partly due to less competition on Android, ensuring mass compatibility for the apps on Android devices and aggressive updating. Both Gameview and Outblaze said that complaints about not monetizing well on Android are outdated, at least for them. [...]
September 9th, 2011 at 10:29 am
[...] Outblaze, a Hong Kong developer told Inside Mobile Apps this week that average revenue per user for its Android apps is 30 percent higher than on iOS. That’s partly due to less competition on Android, ensuring mass compatibility for the apps on Android devices and aggressive updating. Both Gameview and Outblaze said that complaints about not monetizing well on Android are outdated, at least for them. [...]
September 9th, 2011 at 12:33 pm
[...] Outblaze, a Hong Kong developer told Inside Mobile Apps this week that average revenue per user for its Android apps is 30 percent higher than on iOS. That’s partly due to less competition on Android, ensuring mass compatibility for the apps on Android devices and aggressive updating. Both Gameview and Outblaze said that complaints about not monetizing well on Android are outdated, at least for them. [...]
September 9th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
[...] Outblaze, a Hong Kong developer told Inside Mobile Apps this week that average revenue per user for its Android apps is 30 percent higher than on iOS. That’s partly due to less competition on Android, ensuring mass compatibility for the apps on Android devices and aggressive updating. Both Gameview and Outblaze said that complaints about not monetizing well on Android are outdated, at least for them. [...]
September 9th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
[...] Instagram to hit 200 million photos when it took Flickr almost 2 years to hit 100 million photos. Outblaze Gets To 30M Installs, Sees 30% Higher ARPU On Android Than On iOS By Kim-Mai Cutler, Inside Mobile [...]
September 9th, 2011 at 3:57 pm
[...] Outblaze, a Hong Kong developer told Inside Mobile Apps this week that normal income per user for a Android apps is 30 percent aloft than on iOS. That’s partly due to reduction foe on Android, ensuring mass harmony for a apps on Android inclination and assertive updating. Both Gameview and Outblaze pronounced that complaints about not monetizing good on Android are outdated, during slightest for them. [...]
September 9th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
[...] Outblaze, a Hong Kong developer told Inside Mobile Apps this week that average revenue per user for its Android apps is 30 percent higher than on iOS. That’s partly due to less competition on Android, ensuring mass compatibility for the apps on Android devices and aggressive updating. Both Gameview and Outblaze said that complaints about not monetizing well on Android are outdated, at least for them. [...]
September 9th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
[...] Outblaze, a Hong Kong developer told Inside Mobile Apps this week that average revenue per user for its Android apps is 30 percent higher than on iOS. That’s partly due to less competition on Android, ensuring mass compatibility for the apps on Android devices and aggressive updating. Both Gameview and Outblaze said that complaints about not monetizing well on Android are outdated, at least for them. [...]
September 10th, 2011 at 10:48 am
[...] Outblaze, a Hong Kong developer told Inside Mobile Apps this period that code income per individualist for its Android apps is 30 quotient higher than on iOS. That’s conception owed to base rivalry on Android, ensuring accruement disposition for the apps on Android devices and combative updating. Both Gameview and Outblaze said that complaints most not monetizing substantially on Android are outdated, at diminutive for them. [...]
September 11th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
[...] Outblaze Gets to 30M Installs, Sees 30% Higher ARPU on Android Than on iOS [...]
September 16th, 2011 at 11:48 am
[...] even though the company produces new games on a weekly basis. This strategy has resulted in roughly 30 million installs across all of its games (which are most successful on [...]
September 24th, 2011 at 6:34 am
[...] per user οn Android іѕ 30 percent higher compared tο iOS. Another developer, Hongkong-based Outblaze, mentioned thаt thеу tοο found thе same whеn comparing revenues [...]
October 12th, 2011 at 1:10 am
[...] Outblaze Gets to 30M Installs, Sees 30% Higher ARPU on Android Than on iOS [...]
February 1st, 2012 at 5:18 pm
[...] the average revenue per user on Android is 30 percent higher compared to iOS. Another developer, Hongkong-based Outblaze, mentioned that they too found the same when comparing revenues between their iOS and Android [...]