The other day, I happened to stumble on a YouTube video where the creator explored the problem of βdiscoverabilityβ of video games on platforms like app stores, Steam, and Sony, Microsoft, and...
The other day, I happened to stumble on a YouTube video where the creator explored the problem of βdiscoverabilityβ of video games on platforms like app stores, Steam, and Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendoβs shops. Thatβs something that has been bothering me for a long time about the Apple App Store.
By pure coincidence though, this morning, as I was browsing through the βYou Might Also Likeβ section at the bottom of a game that I am interested in, I began to go down a rabbit hole where I ended up finding a good handful of games I had played on Steam that I wasnβt aware were available on iOS/iPadOS as well. Itβs quite sad, because these are games that I really enjoyed, and I paid for them on Steam, a platform that Valve (understandingly) neglects on macOS, whereas I could have played them optimized for iOS/iPadOS.
The creator in the YouTube video didnβt really have a solution for this problem, and it seems to me that as the industry grows, and more and more βslopβ begins to flood these platforms, it will only become harder and harder to discover the good indie games buried underneath it all.
I feel this intense urge inside me to start some kind of blog or website to provide short reviews so that at least some people will discover these games. We definitely need more human curation.
Iβm also appalled that so many of these games on the Apple App Store have little to no ratings. No one makes an effort to leave behind a few words so that other people can get an idea of whether itβs worth to invest their money in a game.
I guess that there isnβt really anything that can be done about the issue of discoverability. As an indie developer and publisher, you just have to do the that best you can to market your game, and hope to redirect potential customers to your website or socials, where you should clearly list all the platforms that your game is available on (surprisingly, a lot of developers donβt do this). But thatβs about all that you can do. The rest is luck.