TwoDots
Betaworks originally released “Dots” in April of 2013, the game became a viral success with over 20 million downloads. Shortly after, the company exiled half it’s dev team with the stated mission to build something “unique, fun and beautiful.”
Price $ FREE with in-app purchases
Current Version 1.1.0
Video Trailer Youtube
Website weplaydots.com
Like on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
History:
Betaworks originally released “Dots” in April of 2013, the game became a viral success with over 20 million downloads. Shortly after, the company exiled half it’s dev team with the stated mission to build something “unique, fun and beautiful.” The result was TwoDots, which launched on May 29th of this year. The new game is level based, with each level progressively more difficult. This addictive puzzle game allows you to challenge your friends and really get your brain working!
Statistics:
- Social media: 174.4k likes on Facebook; 41.4k followers on Twitter
- PR coverage: TechCrunch; Yahoo! Tech; Mashable; The Next Web; MacWorld UK
- Past TOP chart rankings: For a short period of time after the launch the game was listed on Top 5 Arcade category in 140 countries and hit Top 5 Overall in 95 countries (via App Annie)
- Current TOP chart rankings:
105 – TOP Free iPhone apps
253 – TOP Free iPad apps
37 – TOP Grossing iPhone apps
167 – TOP Grossing iPad apps
7 – TOP Previous Editor’s Choice apps
38 – TOP Free iPhone apps
133 – TOP Free iPad apps - ~40k 4.5 star ratings
ComboStore Review:
TwoDots and Betaworks have a lot of things going for them. But, there are some areas that were ComboApp driving their communications strategy, we would advise them to tweak to ensure continued success over the coming days, weeks, months and years of the game’s lifecycle.
While Betaworks is killing it on social media and their ASO is pretty much a “gimmie”, they aren’t backing up their efforts with traffic and PR to drive/support new user discovery and adoption. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of this app:
- 1. Fun and addicting game
- 2. Already a popular viral hit
- 3. Stylish but simple website design
Betaworks puts fun first: TwoDots has wallpapers and an original soundtrack you can download on iTunes for those uber-fans who live and breath the game
- 4. Game is translated into 13 languages
- 5. Popular social media accounts with relevant, funny and engaging content
- 6. Positive brand message – “a game about connecting”
- 7. ASO for game is easy to control: using major targeted keyword “dots”
A high volume downloads and +4 star rankings from existing users in order to be highly visible in the app store
- 1. Levels 50+ too difficult to win
Most one star reviews of TwoDots cite the difficulty of the top levels as a reason for their poor reviews
- 2. No Android version
- 3. Declining game popularity
- SensorTower shows dramatic decline in downloads over the past two weeks
– The game’s current TOP chart rankings are extremely poor
– TwoDots is more popular for iPhone than iPad - 4. Betaworks has no traffic plan implemented to drive new users to the app
- 5. Monetization model requires users to pay repeatedly for access to higher levels, which are too difficult to win
Recommendations:
- iPhone focused traffic campaign
- Deploy a series of new push notifications to re-engage current users
- Amp up social media content to re-engage current users
- Scaled PR to create renewed buzz for the app by promoting charming user stories like the “TwoDots marriage proposal”
No Comment