Why isn't Minecraft Selling Well? Or, How Accurate is the Top Paid Games List?

coip

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I have been monitoring the Top Paid Games list on the Windows Phone homepage / Windows Phone Store for more than a year now, as well as on App Annie (which I think just gets its data from the Windows Phone homepage), and I am very dubious about how accurate it is.

For instance, in that year of monitoring, pretty much the same four games have been in the Top 5 Paid Games list the entire time: 1. Plants vs. Zombies, 2. Sonic CD, 3. Cut the Rope Exp, 4. Cut the Rope, and 5. Survival Craft.

I highly doubt those 5 games have really been uninterrupted best sellers for the past year because,
1. they're all old games,
2. there have been some great sales via Red Stripe Deals of the Week on many other better and newer titles during that time period that should've popped in to the list,
3. if there is believed to be a correlation between sales and the number of user ratings a game has, then it seems unlikely that any of those games sold as well as implied (e.g. Sonic CD has only 665 reviews in the U.S. market), and, finally,
4.SurvivalCraft in particular is merely a ripoff of another game that is in the store (Minecraft), a better game with more name cachet that should sell better but apparently is not.

That last point, in particular, is quite perplexing, because Minecraft has dominated the Top Paid Games list on iOS and Android for years now. That it is one of the most popular games of all time and was just released on Windows Phone but a few months ago means that it should be dominating the Top Paid games list on Windows Phone too, like on iOS and Android, yet, according to the Top Paid Games list and App Annie, it is not. What's going on here?
 

Jack Janik

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Never looked into it as much as you, but I've noticed such things as well. Maybe its a section that's secretly another "featured" that they gave places to bigger publishers to develop for WP ?
 

AdamInTx

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I can't say why other people didn't buy it but for me the 6.99 price tag for a game I already own on three other platforms is a bit steep. Added to that is that the game just isn't as nice to control on a touchscreen as it is with a mouse or controller. Would I pay 3 bucks for the game? Absolutely. Would I pay 7 bucks for the game? Nope.
 

coip

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I can't say why other people didn't buy it but for me the 6.99 price tag for a game I already own on three other platforms is a bit steep. Added to that is that the game just isn't as nice to control on a touchscreen as it is with a mouse or controller. Would I pay 3 bucks for the game? Absolutely. Would I pay 7 bucks for the game? Nope.

The game is the same price in the Windows Phone Store as it is on iOS and Android and on those two platforms it has topped the best-selling games list for like 3 straight years. That kind of longevity on those two platforms--platforms with a much more competitive store--suggest the game should sell well everywhere. Perhaps it's not selling well because it lacks Xbox Live integration (I know that's why I didn't buy it yet), but that still seems surprising since it was such an anticipated game and has only been on WP for a few months.

That said, I still think the Top Paid list is dubious. There's just no way that those five games I listed above have been the Top 5 best-selling games on WP for a year+ now.
 

Ali Assaedi

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The game is the same price in the Windows Phone Store as it is on iOS and Android and on those two platforms it has topped the best-selling games list for like 3 straight years. That kind of longevity on those two platforms--platforms with a much more competitive store--suggest the game should sell well everywhere.


about that, i feel that "most" WP owners are out of the app loop.. or they dont care much really.. if they did, they would have gone to andriod/IOS in the first place.. im not talking about people here in the site, but the majority of ppl that went WP coz of low price, simplicity or just bought WP randomly.

i wont go far enough and say that the WP store is in a different dimension from that of IOS/Android. but the user's knowledge/interests are a bit different.

ma 2 cents :p
 

rhapdog

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about that, i feel that "most" WP owners are out of the app loop.. or they dont care much really..
I really think you nailed it there.

DISCLAIMER: The following talks about MOST users of Windows Phones, which are not comprised of the many whiners that seem to make up this site, so don't think I'm talking about you, or that your situation is the way everyone is. If you really believe everyone is like you, then you need to get over your narcissistic self.

Most people who choose Windows Phone do so knowing there is an "app gap". They choose it anyway because they love the OS, it is "affordable", fluid, easy to use. They don't choose it for the apps, because they assume the apps aren't there. That means they don't play games so much. If they wanted phones for games, they probably would have chosen iOS or Android devices.

This is also why it remains to be less profitable for developers to develop for Windows Phones, because only a small percentage of Windows Phone users are interested in apps much outside of what is already built into the phone, other than a very few.

Yeah, I know. I said it. Let the outrage begin. ;)
 

RumoredNow

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What's a "Minecraft?"

I mean I've heard about it and what a big fat hairy deal it is, but I've no drive to see it and no idea what it does...

What's a Twit? Why Book your Face? Asphalt 27, who knows?

I think rhapdog is onto something there...
 

coip

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Actually, a sizeable chunk of Windows Phone owners are Xbox aficionados who bought Windows Phone because it allowed them to play mobile Xbox games. These are hardcore gamers, much more likely to buy games than the more casual gamers who comprise the iOS and Android user bases. That $5 games like Sonic CD have been on the top of the Top Paid games list for more than a year straight is pretty good indication that the list is inaccurate. Likwise, if Mojang ever patches Minecraft to include Xbox Live integration, I've no doubt it would shoot to the top of the list.
 

rhapdog

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Actually, a sizeable chunk of Windows Phone owners are Xbox aficionados who bought Windows Phone because it allowed them to play mobile Xbox games. These are hardcore gamers, ...

I doubt it. The Windows Phone ecosystem is flooded with mostly 520s and other low end phones which really don't do gaming well at all. Perhaps many XBox fans have purchased, but I don't believe it is a sizable chunk. At least not at this point in time.
 

coip

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I doubt it. The Windows Phone ecosystem is flooded with mostly 520s and other low end phones which really don't do gaming well at all. Perhaps many XBox fans have purchased, but I don't believe it is a sizable chunk. At least not at this point in time.

One need only visit any of the several online communities geared towareds Xbox achievement hunters for proof that a sizeable chunk of them game on Windows Phone. Even if they only made up a measly percentage of all Windows Phone users, they likely comprise ten-fold that in terms of who is actually buying games in the Store--a non-trivial percentage of actual customers. For this discussion, it doesn't matter how many Windows Phone users there are and what phones they use; it matters how many game-purchasing Windows Phone users there are and what games they're purchasing.

Following that, the point remains the same: there is no way that $5 games like Sonic CD have been on the top of the Top Paid games list for more than ayear straight. That list is not accurate. The question now is, why is it inaccurate? It's Microsoft's site.
 

accursedvenom

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I moved to WP from BB because of Xbox integration (achievement *****) and how I could post to twitter/facebook/etc at once from the me tile. I've never liked anything made by apple and android is alright. I like what they've done with 8.1 and look forward to 10. That said, I've bought MC twice (360 and One) for $25 total. Don't see the point of paying another $7 to play on a 4.7" screen.
 

rhapdog

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Actually, a sizeable chunk of Windows Phone owners are Xbox aficionados who bought Windows Phone because it allowed them to play mobile Xbox games. These are hardcore gamers,

One need only visit any of the several online communities geared towareds Xbox achievement hunters for proof that a sizeable chunk of them game on Windows Phone. Even if they only made up a measly percentage of all Windows Phone users,

I never doubted that the stats are wrong. What I called into question was our assertion in your first quote here that a sizable chunk of Windows Phone owners are Xbox aficionados and hardcore gamers. Your second statement here seems to indicate you don't even believe what you said first.

While a sizable chunk of Xbox achievement hunter die hards may be Windows Phone users, that doesn't make a sizable chunk of Windows Phone users by any stretch of the imagination. However, this has nothing to do with whether or not the store is accurately displaying game categories.

The "top paid" games may not be the best selling, but the ones paid to be in that position. I notice there is a subtle wording there, "TOP" as opposed to "best selling". They don't say what they are top at. It only states "top." They could be "top selling", "top downloaded", "top in money $ earned by Microsoft", or any number other "tops". We really don't know how Microsoft is calculating this, unless they tell us. They won't tell us unless someone asks, I am sure.

What I would suggest is for someone to tweet whichever MSFT VP is in charge of the store and see if you can get a response.
 

Robinsonmac

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The answer is simple.....Not very many kids own & use Windows Phone or tablets. My 8 year old plays it on his IPad & I would bet that most of the IOS & Android downloads for it are for tablets, then phones. End of story.
 

MarkusDindu

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Windows Phones market share is made up of super cheap devices. People who buy super cheap devices aren't normally willing to drop $6 dollars on a game. This is also why developers ignore Windows Phone unless Microsoft pays them out. When Modern Combat 5 came out on all different platforms, I thought it would do really well on Windows Phone. Of course it didn't, but it did do well on iPhone & Android. Why the difference? It cost $5 bucks, that's why.
 

TonyDedrick

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Actually, a sizeable chunk of Windows Phone owners are Xbox aficionados who bought Windows Phone because it allowed them to play mobile Xbox games. These are hardcore gamers, much more likely to buy games than the more casual gamers who comprise the iOS and Android user bases. That $5 games like Sonic CD have been on the top of the Top Paid games list for more than a year straight is pretty good indication that the list is inaccurate. Likwise, if Mojang ever patches Minecraft to include Xbox Live integration, I've no doubt it would shoot to the top of the list.

What is a sizeable chunk? And how is this information measured?

I also dont think the Xbox Live integration on WP is that big of a draw. Every gamer I know (those who play hardcore and those who play casually) owns an Xbox of some sorts. Earning achievements is one of the few things I tout about WP. And yet, they absolutely show no interest other than slight amusement. I've also seen that a number of gamers are so elitist, not even achievements will get them to acknowledge mobile gaming as a valid form of gaming.
 

Dk92

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The Windows Phone store isn't good at advertising/marketing Triple A phone games and apps. I actually forgot Minecraft was on here. It always puts all the low budget apps on the forefront of New & rising and the Main page...no offense to developers.. The Windows phone store needs the Windows Store (beta)'s improvements.
 

coip

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People who buy super cheap devices aren't normally willing to drop $6 dollars on a game.

Again, this is undermined by the fact that Sonic CD, a $5 game that is super old, has been sitting in the Top Paid games list in the Windows Phone store for more than a year.
 

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