How My Mobile Game Got 365K App Store Downloads in 2 Weeks (And Why I Quit Indie Game Dev)

I had what many would consider a dream start as an indie mobile game developer. My fourth game, Frantic Architect, racked up over 410,000 free downloads in its lifetime, with 365,000 of those coming in just the first two weeks after launch. I was 21 years old, had built the game largely by myself, and suddenly had hundreds of thousands of people playing something I created. It seemed like the perfect jumpstart to a successful indie game dev career.

Fast forward a year and half later – and I‘ve completely quit developing games. Frantic Architect is no longer on the App Store, and my time is now spent running a server hosting business for the sandbox game 7 Days to Die. So what happened? While my game‘s launch numbers were impressive, the process of getting there and the aftermath made me realize that indie mobile game development is an extremely tough way to build a viable business, at least for the kind of casual games I was making. Here‘s the story of Frantic Architect‘s rise and fall, and the key lessons I learned.

Building Frantic Architect as a Solo Dev

Frantic Architect was my fourth attempt at making a mobile game that would get publisher interest. My background was in game design and programming – I had released a few small Flash games in high school and worked on some game prototypes in college. For Frantic Architect, I decided to build with the tools I knew best as a primarily web-focused developer: JavaScript, HTML and CSS.

Using the Phaser game framework, I put together a prototype of the core mechanic in a few days – the player would draw a floor plan and then watch cartoon-style characters attempt to construct it in real-time, with the building‘s integrity affected by how well-designed the layout was.

The full game took about 4 months of part-time development to complete, fitting in a few hours each day around college classes. I crunched hard in the final weeks, pulling frequent all-nighters to finish implementing additional level mechanics, an upgrade system, and meta-goals.

On the technical side, I used Cordova to wrap the HTML5 game in native iOS and Android webview shells. This allowed easy cross-platform development and a quick build process. In retrospect, the HTML5 route likely sacrificed performance compared to going fully native. But for this 2D puzzle game, it ran well enough and let me move quickly as a solo dev.

The Tough Road to Getting Published

With a decent prototype ready, I started pitching to mobile game publishers. This was critical as an unknown indie dev, as getting featured by Apple or Google essentially requires a publisher with existing editorial relationships to put your game in front of them.

I sent my pitches to dozens of publishers that focused on casual mobile games. The process was brutal – mass form rejections, total silence, or occasionally a bit of initial interest that would quickly fade to nothing. I‘d usually wait a few weeks after each batch of pitches, then move on to a new prototype to try again with a different game concept.

After 3 failed games, Frantic Architect finally caught the interest of a major casual game publisher, BulkyPix. I signed a contract granting them full IP rights in exchange for covering the remaining development costs, handling the release, and giving me a revenue share. At the time it felt like a huge win.

Launch Week Featuring Brings a Flood of Downloads

The launch of Frantic Architect exceeded all my expectations. BulkyPix had submitted it to Apple and Google weeks in advance for featuring consideration, and their efforts paid off massively. The game was selected for a global "Best New Game" featuring on iOS, putting it on the front page of the App Store in over 100 countries.

The featuring rocketed Frantic Architect up the charts. It reached the top 5 overall in dozens of countries, and hit #1 on the puzzle games chart in many major markets. The download numbers were staggering – over 50,000 organic installs per day at the peak.

In total, Frantic Architect racked up over 365,000 downloads in its first two weeks, and over 410,000 in its lifetime (before being removed from the stores a year later). It was the kind of success most indie devs only dream of. But the numbers only tell part of the story.

Behind the Downloads – Lackluster Retention & Revenue

While the download totals were incredible, a closer look at Frantic Architect‘s metrics reveals some major issues. The game was free-to-play and monetized solely through ads and a single $0.99 IAP to remove them. With such a massive influx of new users, surely the game must have been raking in cash, right?

Not so much. The game‘s revenue was paltry compared to the download numbers. Only a miniscule fraction of players purchased the ad removal IAP. And with no other IAPs, the game was almost entirely reliant on ad revenue.

The eCPM (effective cost per 1000 impressions) for mobile ads tends to be quite low, especially for banner ads. Even with Frantic Architect‘s large player base, I was likely making less than minimum wage when accounting for the hours put in. And that‘s before the publisher‘s cut of the revenue.

Even more concerning was the retention curve. While Frantic Architect received a massive featuring boost upfront, the long-term stickiness simply wasn‘t there. Check out this graph of the daily active users:

[Insert graph showing huge initial spike and then sharp, continuous decline in DAU]

The game just wasn‘t holding onto players. By the second month after launch, the active user base had declined by over 90%. It turns out most of those featured-driven downloads were incredibly low-quality – people who just installed the game because it was put in front of them, played for a few minutes, and never came back.

A Publisher Goes Bankrupt, a Game Gets Shut Down

The final nail in the coffin for Frantic Architect was the shutdown of BulkyPix. The publisher declared bankruptcy just a few months after my game‘s launch. With the game‘s IP fully owned by BulkyPix, it immediately got tangled up in legal issues.

Within a year, Frantic Architect was pulled from the stores entirely. Even if I had wanted to keep the game alive, I had no control over the situation. The publishing deal I was so excited to sign became an inescapable liability.

Watching something I had poured so much effort into both creatively and technically get shut down outside my control was a gut punch. It made all the initial download numbers and momentary featuring success feel completely hollow in hindsight.

The Madness of the Mobile Game Market

On the surface, the mobile game industry can seem incredibly lucrative. Games dominate the top grossing charts on both the App Store and Google Play. People spent over $100 billion on mobile games in 2022 according to DataAI. Surely it must be a great space for indie developers to find success?

The reality is far harsher. The mobile game market is incredibly saturated and hit-driven. In the first quarter of 2022 alone, 94,654 new games were released on the App Store and Google Play according to Statista. That‘s over 1,000 new games per day competing for attention.

In this environment, the featuring slots and top chart positions are dominated by games from major publishers and developers. They have the resources to pour into user acquisition, analytics-driven optimization, and live events that keep players (and their wallets) engaged.

As an indie dev making casual free-to-play games, you‘re fighting an uphill battle on all fronts. Getting noticed without a massive marketing budget is near impossible. Converting and monetizing users is incredibly difficult when there‘s infinite competition and most players won‘t spend a cent.

Even a smash-hit launch driven by featuring is no guarantee of long-term success. If the underlying game doesn‘t have the hooks and social features to retain players, those initial downloads will quickly churn and the game will fade into obscurity, buried under a thousand copycats.

Lessons Learned & New Beginnings

Frantic Architect‘s brief success and rapid downfall was a major learning experience. It laid bare the challenges of building a sustainable business as a solo dev making free-to-play mobile games. The odds of finding a smash hit are incredibly slim, and relying on ad monetization is a losing proposition for most games.

In the time since, I‘ve directed my efforts to what I believe is a more viable path as an independent developer: building games for specific niches and core gaming audiences who are willing to pay for quality.

Instead of trying to chase broad casual appeal, I‘m now focused on serving the dedicated 7 Days to Die community with a high-quality server hosting service. It‘s a smaller addressable market than the mobile masses, but one with far more developer-friendly dynamics.

Players who are passionate about a specific game are much more likely to pay for things that enhance their experience. In this case, that‘s easily-deployable servers, mod support, and other power-user features. There‘s a direct value exchange that doesn‘t exist with a free mobile game supported by ads.

By controlling the full stack as a solo founder, I can also maintain full ownership of the IP and technology in a way that‘s impossible with mobile games. I‘m not beholden to any app store policies, publisher demands, or closed ecosystems.

This approach has allowed me to build a sustainable recurring revenue stream with a far smaller user base than Frantic Architect. And I have the peace of mind knowing that I control the destiny of the project and won‘t have the rug pulled out from under me.

Advice for Aspiring Indie Game Developers

For aspiring indie devs looking to build a career in games, I‘ll leave you with a few key pieces of advice:

1. Think hard about your monetization strategy from day one. How will you generate enough revenue to sustain development? Ads are likely a dead end unless you have a massive player base. Paid games and IAP can work but require a very polished product. Consider testing monetization early before sinking months into a game.

2. Target a specific niche or gaming community. Broad casual appeal is incredibly difficult in such a crowded market. It‘s much more feasible to build something truly great for a smaller audience than to reach millions of mainstream players. The indies finding success are usually laser-focused on a particular genre or style of game.

3. Own your IP and technology stack if possible. Being at the mercy of publishers, closed platforms, or third-party engines can limit your options down the line. Prioritize technologies you can fully control and don‘t give up ownership of your creations without very good reason.

4. Start small and iterate. My biggest mistake with Frantic Architect was spending months on a polished game before validating the market and monetization. Build small prototypes and test with real players as early as possible. Don‘t invest serious time until you have strong indicators of success.

5. Don‘t neglect the business and marketing aspects. No matter how great your game is, it won‘t matter if no one knows it exists. Set aside serious time to market your game, build a community, and think strategically about your studio. Simply putting a game on the store is not enough.

The dream of indie game dev success can be intoxicating, but the reality is often far more challenging. Frantic Architect‘s momentary success didn‘t translate to long-term sustainability, and I‘ve found far more success pivoting to a specific niche.

For indie devs just getting started, be realistic about the challenges ahead. Play to your strengths, target an audience you truly understand, and build something that people will happily pay for. There‘s still plenty of room for indies to thrive in gaming, but it takes a strategic approach and a willingness to diverge from the traditional paths. Best of luck in your own journey!