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[Aniki]

Hi all,
I am currently developing a mobile game (interactive fiction like) and I am still far from being ready to release it, but still I am wondering if there is a best timing to release a game on mobile platforms ?

I know this is an important matter for PC and console games but not sure if it is the same on mobile.
I plan to release my game by the end of this year, and I thought I'd better avoid the Christmas period, but I don't have any idea actually 

Do you guys have some clue about this ?
Did you pay attention to this when you released your mobile game ?

Would love to hear your thoughts, advices

[Orymus]

Thursdays.

I realize this sounds weird, but that's when the appstore re-indexes, and most of the bigger mobile developers know this.
If you get your game to RELEASE on a Thursday (12:01AM) (not submit, mind you), then you're likely to get a lot more exposure from being featured, etc.

I unfortunately have no data on time of year to release your game. Most definitely not on any major holiday (Christmas, Halloween) as you'll see a bunch of re-skinned clones being published on these days (true story).

[Aniki]

Thanks Orymus

Thursdays.

I indeed already heard about this 'magic' day, but thanks for the explanation !

Most definitely not on any major holiday (Christmas, Halloween) as you'll see a bunch of re-skinned clones being published on these days (true story).

Makes sense, I'll keep this in mind !

Question though, this Thursday thing, is it the same for both PlayStore _and_ AppStore ?

[Orymus]

Apstore only.
As far as I can tell, GooglePlay does give you much in lieu of results through promo.
In a lot of ways, GooglePlay's "shovelware" is both a blessing and a curse: it means you can get pretty much anything on there, very quickly, without fear of being rejected through submission, but likewise, it means you're likely to compete against a lot more apps, many of which are just cheap clones of the same idea.

Similarly, revenues from GooglePlay for the average bloke are generally much lower, despite being very useful for building up a player base and getting recognized (and quite honestly, if you're making your game in anything multi-platform, such as Unity, why not right?).

[alexp]

I'd say probably not, about 500 apps get released to App Store each day alone! I'd do it on a Monday or Tuesday and avoid big holidays where big publishers will do big releases or updates where you will be buried.

[Aniki]

Thank youy guys for your inputs.
Btw, I discovered 'A dark room' recently, I really liked the game.
It has been a great success and the developer shared his experience in a book : https://leanpub.com/survivingtheappstore

Definitely worth reading.

[forsbit]

I would definitely recommend avoiding Christmas period, unless, of course your game is Holiday themed. First of all there will be annual iTunes Connect shutdown, so you won't be able to upload or make changes to you release on App Store. Also, review times will be longer and there will be rush of promotions, specials, etc from big name games and publishers and big wave of submissions of Holiday themed games like Santa Trackers, etc.

The best time to release would be in January. People will be actually looking for new games to load on their new devices they got as Holiday gifts. There will be less submissions from major publishers so you get increased chance of featuring. And if you you plan to try paid promotions, CPI will be lower.

[Aniki]

Thanks for your valuable inputs forsbit
Our game shall be ready by the end of the year, if we can we may try to release it in November, but if we can't make it then we'll probably delay it to January.

[Tanshui]

Thursdays.

I realize this sounds weird, but that's when the appstore re-indexes, and most of the bigger mobile developers know this.
If you get your game to RELEASE on a Thursday (12:01AM) (not submit, mind you), then you're likely to get a lot more exposure from being featured, etc.

I unfortunately have no data on time of year to release your game. Most definitely not on any major holiday (Christmas, Halloween) as you'll see a bunch of re-skinned clones being published on these days (true story).

I thought the conventional wisdom was because it re-indexes on Thursday (and Thursday is also when the features refresh) - you want to release on Wednesday.  At least that's why TouchArcade and other sites seem to do all of their New Release This Week on Wednesdays?

[Orymus]

There's also a bit more to it.
Though it may no longer be accurate, for a time, based on workload time and sorting of content, one had easier chances of getting featured when releasing on a Thursday.
There area lot of variables to this, but it was a trend.
Haven't noticed this pattern the past few months, particularly since they've mentioned their new review system (and the likelihood of not closing the queue in December this year!)