Mac App Store Sales Results from Hard Rock Racing

[Martin Schultz]

I'd like to share my experiences and sales data of my latest game Hard Rock Racing on the Mac App Store.

After a quite launch and nearly no sales the game got featured by Apple on the front page for one week and went up to #3 of all paid games in the US store.

(Click on the screenshot for larger version)






After that week with front page featuring the game went down to the front page of the games sub-page and at that time also received an own graphics badge. It seemed like a last-minute decision Apple made as I got the request for promotional art assets only 2 days before the game got featured on the games page.



Now to the interesting part - sales data. I was quite astonished that a #3 game in the US (the most important market in terms of sales volume) does not make more sales than 743 on one day. Shocking! From the beginning of the Mac App Store (MAS) in january I knew from friend developers sales volumes of 3x and more of my sales and I would have expected that these numbers have grown, not sunken. Reason _might_ be that the overall sales volume on the MAS is currently quite low compared to the launch months. Will be interesting to see what effect OSX Lion will have on the overall usage of the Mac App Store once it comes out in july.

Also, I think pricing could not have been the cause because otherwise it would have never gotten to #3. It might have received a bit more momentum to stay longer in the top if I would have lowered the price at that time, but I don't think the price was any issue.

At least it shows that the MAS is far, really far away from sales volumes like we know it from the iOS store. But nevertheless a good and nice sales channel the MAS is anyways. A very positive thing is that the tail seems to flatten out way smoother and longer than it does on the iOS store.

Oh, and in a few days the iPad 2 version of Hard Rock Racing comes out and I'm already curious how that curve will look like. The game will be free and uses IAP for unlocking more tracks. So stay tuned!
(Update: The iPad 2 version is meanwhile available)

(Click on the screenshot for larger version)

[MikeHergaarden]

Awesome, thanks for sharing Martin! Nice figures !

[hippocoder]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing

[JRavey]

Thanks for sharing, I think 4,000 copies in that time frame is pretty good for the Mac App Store. The OSX App Store just isn't getting the promotion it needs from Apple, but I think soon it will be a race to the bottom like the iOS App Store and then they'll support as a matter of bulk transactions.

[sawfish]

Congratulations, man!

[lbjorseth]

Thanks for sharing! Im a bit surprised that the #3 spot in the US is not higher. Think maybe the "hype" when the MAS got launched helped the sales numbers the first months. Hope the OSX Lion will help pushing it a bit.

[JRavey]

I'd like to add that as a hobbyist, I'd love those kind of sales. If this were my full time job, then I would not bet the house on the OSX App Store.

[Martin Schultz]

I'd like to add that as a hobbyist, I'd love those kind of sales. If this were my full time job, then I would not bet the house on the OSX App Store.

Yepp, you nailed the point. Since beginning of this year I'm living from my games sales, so MAS as single publishing channel is a no-go. The key is to get your game out to multiple channels. Next week HRR starts also at MacGameStore.com. The iPad 2 version is coming out also quite soon and I plan to bring out more race games based on HRR, which are produced then quicker than the 3-4 months I worked on HRR. (post mortem coming in June issue of the Unity Creative Magazine btw!). A free web version of the game is being published in a few months on MTV's shockwave.com, Wooglie.com, Shockwave3d.com and other online portals. I'm also talking to some company about licensing the source of HRR, another income source. But not yet contracts signed and until then, hot air...

If all of those channels work out, then the game was a success. Until today the numbers are ok, but did not cover my development costs so far.

[Jessy]

Thanks very much for sharing.

P.S. Emerald City Confidential is amazing, and I'd be honored to be featured with it.

[GiusCo]

Many thanks for sharing, Martin, really. And good luck for your decision to go all the way.

The experience you are sharing with us help to put things frankly into perspective in so many ways: up to date data, single developer, one hot game licensed, good hype, widespread deployment, sensible comparation among vending channels.


I think you already know that one other source of income may be acting as a contractor in the niche you are proficient already. You may also think about teaching, that is put up some unity course in your city and try expanding your structure.



In every case, it is a very nice story and I hope you can reach the break even (and much more) very soon.

[benthroop]

Martin - thanks a ton for sharing man.

[Jessy]

You made the MacRumors front page! Hopefully that'll result in a sales spike?

[ProjectOne]

Thanks for sharing, hopefully it will keep growing from here.

[Yorick2]

thanks for sharing

[Dreamora]

Thanks for sharing Martin

[marty]

Martin rules. Thanks for the insightful info!

[Brady]

Nice work, Martin! Ironically, I found this via MacRumors rather than the Unity forum. Great work. BTW, the game is very nice! I had to force myself to stop playing it.

[artrev]

why the "peak oil" label?

[Martin Schultz]

Thanks for the nice words guys!

Will be interesting to see if the Macrumors article makes a spike in the sales. I'll post it here!

Perfect timing that the iPad 2 version of the game was released last night!!
http://itunes.apple.com/en/app/hard-...444455003?mt=8

@Jessy: Is Emerald City Confidential a game you made? Looks great!

[Eagle]

Great work Martin! Makes me even more excited about developing with this engine~

Eagle~