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How to Contact Apple About Your Game

tl;dr;

Getting featured by Apple is incredibly difficult. Their criteria is completely subjective. Large AAA companies are favored over all. If you're an indie developer, it's unlikely you'll get featured.

Background

I'm the creator of A Dark Room iOS. It's a minimalist text based RPG that went viral and became the #1 app. Here's a list of all the things this game has accomplished.

Even with all of these accomplishments. Getting any of my games featured is an uphill battle. You need to understand this. To reiterate, there is very little chance that your game will get featured.

But I'll try to provide some tips that will put you in the best position possible.

The Ugly

Publishers are not created equal. It's something I learned very quickly when trying to understand the App Store feature mechanics. If you are Warner Brothers, SquareEnix, Kim Kardashian, King, etc, you get a red carpet to getting featured. You can release whatever trash or shoddy port you want, and you'll get featured. So you have two options, accept this and play by the rules I'm about to lay out, or don't participate.

A List of Do's and Dont's

Here's the list of tips you need. You really need to do all these things. It's how you show Apple that they can take you seriously as a game developer.

Do: App Preview Video

Your game needs a preview video. Without a preview video, you significantly limit your chances of getting featured. There are plenty of examples of good preview videos out there, so make one for your game if you are serious about getting featured.

Do: Good App Description and Screenshots

Your game needs to have a compelling description and good screenshots. Look at other featured apps to see what constitutes a good app description and screenshots.

Do: Localized?

Is your app localized? It isn't? Good luck getting a feature (this is the primary thing that's keeping A Dark Room from being considered for anything other than the Best New Game Updates category).

Do: Email After Your App Is Approved

If your app is new, you need to make sure your game is already sitting in the "Ready For Release by Developer". Additionally, you need to give Apple at least three weeks of lead time for consideration. Even if you have an incredible game, if you only give Apple a couple day's notice, you wont get featured.

Don't: Releasing During a Holiday Week

Don't submit feature requests during holiday weeks (unless your game is holiday themed in nature). There is so much competition against AAA game companies along with an influx of shovelware related to holiday X. You'll just be lost in the noise, so take those months to do polish releases, minor bug fixes, etc. Don't release during New Years, Valentines, Christmas, Thanksgivings, etc.

Don't: It's Your First App

Apple wants to showcase developers that have experience. If this is your first app/game, it's unlikely you'll get a feature (unless the app is exceptional).

Don't: Spinoffs/Clones

If you're going to pitch "Crossy Road, BUT BETTER!!", just don't bother. It's a great way to get immediately dismissed.

Do: Buy Featured Games (Know Your Competition)

If you don't buy featured apps, how can you objectively tell if your app can compete? You don't have to buy apps by AAA companies, just apps by other indie devs. Here's my list:

  • Monument Valley
  • Hoplite
  • Alto's Journey
  • You Must Build a Boat
  • A Dark Room
  • Device 6
  • The Room
  • Downwell
  • Her Story
  • ALONE...
  • Plague Inc.
  • Lifeline...
  • Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
  • Desert Golf
  • Deemo
  • Cytus
  • Tiny Wings
  • Leo's Fortune
  • Sometimes You Die
  • Blek
  • Dark Echo
  • Piloteer
  • Prune

Do: Use New Apple Features

Using these techs will help you get Apple's attention:

  • SceneKit
  • SpriteKit
  • 3D Touch
  • Replays
  • Apple Watch
  • Apple TV
  • Game Center

Do: Release Every Six Weeks

Apple wants to see apps that are updated frequently. If you don't get featured as a new game. Don't lose too much hope, you can always get featured as an update. Updates should be non-trivial. If you are doing just bug fixes/minor tweaks, you won't get featured for that. So make your updates enticing. Updating (and sending feature requests) too often overloads the Apple team. A six week release cycle seems to be a good sweet spot.

How to Contact Apple About Your Game

Redacted. Sorry guys. You gotta figure this out yourself.

2016 Dates You Should and Shouldn't Release and Why

Here is a list of dates in 2016 that you should and should not release on. Always release Wednesday night. Thursday is when Apple features apps and games. So releasing on Wednesday will put you in the running for best new games and game updates. You want to have your app approved and "Pending Developer Release" three weeks before your release date so that the editorial team (and company) has a chance to preview your app and see if they want to include it in their feature list.

Here are a list of dates to release on for 2016:

  • Jan 6: First week of the year. The competition will be high, but revenue in general is higher during the beginning of the year. Everyone one has a brand new iDevice to buy apps for.
  • Jan 13: Another good day. It's at the beginning of the year and there are no looming holidays around the corner.
  • Jan 20: All clear. No holidays around the corner, still in the first of the month!
  • Jan 27: This is a no go day. Super Bowl is just around the corner and so is Valentine's day. It's unlikely that your app will get featured during this time period.
  • Feb 3: Nope. Super Bowl 50 is on the 7th. Don't release on this day because the only apps that will be featured will be those promoting football by AAA companies. Double no because February 8th is the Chinese New Year.
  • Feb 10: Nope. Valentine's days is around the corner.
  • Feb 17: Valentine's day is over and this is a great time to get your game out ahead of Spring Break.
  • Mar 9: Nope. St. Patrick's Day on the 17th. AAA games that decide to add a four leaf clover to their app will get featured.
  • Mar 16: Nope. St. Patrick's Day on the 17th. AAA games that decide to add a four leaf clover to their app will get featured.
  • Mar 23: Nope. Easter Sunday on March 27th.
  • Mar 30: Nope. Baseball season starts on April 4. No dates in March are good really. Besides, Spring Break will be in full swing, so you should get some good revenue if you hit the February 17th release date.
  • Apr 6: Good time to release a game. Usually games don't get much branding for tax season. This and most AAA companies will be preparing for big summer blockbusters. Same with movies that will create a ton of Shovelware. The chance to get featured in April are generally higher I'd say.
  • Apr 13: May not be a terrible day to release, but Father's day is around the corner.
  • Apr 20: Earth day around the corner. AAA games will get first shot at Earth themed updates (plus proceeds will go to saving the Earth charities).
  • Apr 27: Probably not as good as the other days in April. Cinco de Mayo and Mother's day is just around the corner.
  • May 4: No way. Mother's day on May 8th. May the fourth be with you. Revenge of the fifth! And then a Captain America movie comes out on the 6th.
  • May 11: Good time to release.
  • May 18: Also a good time to release and possibly get featured.
  • May 25: Memorial day is just around the corner. Chances of your apps getting featured over bigger names is unlikely.
  • Jun 1: Apple events around the corner. They may turn off the App Store.
  • Jun 8: Good day, other than the Warcraft moving coming out.
  • Jun 15: Good day!
  • Jun 22: Nope. Independence Day Resurgence will release during this time. Expect alien invasion games to get featured along with ID4 shovelware.
  • Jun 29: Nope. July 4th is just around the corner.
  • Jul 6: We are into the summer days at this point. You'll need to watch for when summer blockbuster movies will come out.
  • Jul 13: Good day I think. Depends on how much hype the Ghostbusters and Jason Bourne movies gets.
  • Jul 20: Star Trek beyond is coming out. Expect a lot of space games to get featured during this time period.
  • Jul 27: Godzilla movie hitting the box office July 29th. Why is there always some hurdle for us indie devs to overcome?
  • Aug 3: Looks like a good day to release for a chance to get featured.
  • Aug 10: Same here. You have to again keep an eye on blockbuster AAA companion apps or other movies. But generally speaking it looks like this would be a good time to release and reach out to Apple.
  • Aug 17: Same here. Again, keep in mind that summer is a busy time for apps and fun in general. It'll be competitive, but relatively a good time to push new updates to your apps.
  • Aug 24: Probably safe to release.
  • Aug 31: Labor day around the corner. Can't think of any game themes centered around labor, so it may be fine to release. If you have a solid game and a good number of reviews, I'd wait it out until the holiday is over.
  • Sep 7: Everyone will be in full swing developing things for the holiday season. Surprisingly, this would be a good time to release your games and gain some visibility
  • Sep 14: Same as September 7.
  • Sep 21: Same as September 7.
  • Sep 28: Same as September 7.
  • Oct 5: NBA playoffs and Columbus Day are around the corner. Other than that, it may be a good time to release before the holiday season. That and beta release of the new OS should be dropping around this time. So you'll probably be busy with play testing and regression.
  • Oct 12: Most apps are going to have their reviews reset at this point (because they are releasing updates in preparation for the next version of iOS). This is a good time to do the same.
  • Oct 19: Same here as Oct 12 and Oct 5.
  • Oct 26: Halloween. Got a scary game? It may be a good time to talk to Apple. Remember to start the conversations with Apple early. Your game should be "Pending Developer Release" three weeks before the Wednesday you plan to release.
  • Nov 2: Holiday season begins. All the big companies will be getting games out ahead of Christmas. It's unlikely you'll get featured.
  • Nov 9: Same here. Probably best not to release/update your game. Concentrate on getting your games supported for the new devices that are coming out and prepare for a January update (unless you are using deprecated API's at which point you have to release).
  • Nov 16: Turkey day is approaching, and holiday season in general. You'll be hard pressed to get a feature during this time period.
  • Nov 23: Turkey days and holidays. Unlikely you'll get featured.
  • Nov 30: Out of the holiday Wednesdays, this would be an okay day to release.
  • Dec 7: Out of the holiday Wednesdays, this would be an okay day to release too.
  • Dec 14: I'd refrain from releasing or updating before Christmas. Having a solid review count and good App Page is more important.
  • Dec 21: Nope. Christmas.
  • Dec 28: Nope. New Years is around the corner.