When releasing a new application developers have a few options: They can choose one platform and focus all their efforts on making that version a success; they can go mobile-only on a couple of the top mobile platforms simultaneously; they can settle on some combination of mobile and web; or they can go all in and spread their application across every platform they can think of.
Each of these approaches has its pros and cons. If you support only one or two platforms you’re automatically limiting your audience and potentially making future users angry by forcing them to wait for the newest hot app. At the same time, however, focusing on one platform exclusively allows you to make the app awesome without spreading your team too thin or disappointing users with unequal quality across platforms.
Go to the opposite end of the spectrum – supporting many, many platforms – and the problems invert. You give everyone access, but keeping up the quality is much more difficult (especially if you’re still refining the application and its feature set).
A few success stories come to mind of companies who stuck with the one platform approach (Angry Birds for Android was released nearly a year after the birds made their debut via iOS). But what if you don’t want to exclude users? Just how thin can you spread yourself and still be successful? How’s 13 platforms sound?
JoyBits has created a successful series of games (Doodle God, Doodle Devil and Doodle Farm) that are available and continually supported on thirteen different platforms. The company’s thought process behind this approach was a desire to get users from anywhere and everywhere and, this is important, keep them as they move between platforms. From All Things D:
CEO Paul Baldwin said that even if going to those smaller platforms doesn’t pay off within each walled garden, his goal is to spread the Doodle God brand broadly because of the porous nature of user acquisition. If someone doesn’t buy a second Nook, for example — yes, Doodle God is on the Nook — having downloaded the game there still makes him more likely to download one of the Doodle Gods on his iPhone later on, Baldwin said.
The approach seems to be paying off for JoyBits. The company just reached the 100 million downloads mark. Users are downloading the games on multiple platforms, which does two things: Ups the company’s download numbers and keeps the games in front of users no matter what device they’re looking at.
JoyBits’ announced milestone includes 20 million iOS downloads, 10 million Google Play downloads, and 1.5 million Windows 8 downloads.
But how did they get to 100 million? By including 60 million online play sessions on Flash gaming sites like Kongregate, in addition to nearly 10 other, smaller platforms than those listed above. So the “real” number of unique people who have downloaded Doodle God, Doodle Farm and Doodle Devil is much lower than the ceremonial “downloads” stat, but these sorts of press release-y milestone numbers are often wobbly anyway.
Read the full article at All Things D >>>
The key to making an approach like this succeed is making sure users have a consistent (and good) experience everywhere they turn. If the Flash game is awesome, but the mobile versions are sub-par, users might abandon the game or not download it on another platform. If you’re relying on in-app purchases for revenue (which the Doodle series is increasingly doing according to All Things D) it’s vital that users spend as much time as possible in your apps. Making the app enjoyable across all the supported platforms is the best way to accomplish that.
JoyBits is proving its feasible. Doodle God has an average Applause Score of 74 across mobile platforms, the lowest score is a free Android version with a 50. Doodle Devil has an average Applause Score of 78. Likewise, Angry Birds, which now has a multi-platform presence, puts an emphasis on consistent quality across its titles and platforms, pulling in scores in the 80s for the most part (though a few of the offerings fall short of the rest).
It all amounts to living proof that it is possible to successfully support a range of platforms and give users an experience they’ll enjoy across the board.