Setting the release date after the approval date can affect the game

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Setting the release date after the approval date can affect the game

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Started 7 months ago by itlgames
Latest reply from pfg2009

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itlgames
Moderator

See what happened to @vashpan and his (great) game Commander Pixman, he set the release date for the 29th but got approved on the 27th, guess what happened, his game was released on the 29th BUT the date was 27th, so that affected his position on the "Newest" list games. That's totally unfair.

Weird enough, I had the same situation a month ago, but my release date was couple of weeks after approval date, but on my case my game was release with the correct date and was on top of the "Newest" games.

I think this is serious, as it can badly impact on sales, as we all know those few days on top of the new games is our only chance. Any more experiences?

Posted 7 months ago #
MikeSz
Member

We have the game awaiting the review with a specified release date about 10 days from now, I'll let you know what happened

But the "newest" ranking was always really broken - back in the day it featured updates as well, so everyone was making update after update to boost the sales

Posted 7 months ago #
abitofcode
Moderator

We had the same thing happen with STAPig in March last year, at the time I thought I'd done something wrong.

Posted 7 months ago #
itlgames
Moderator

What I don't understand is why my game was released under right date, maybe, just a theory, cos I set the release 2 weeks after approval date, that would put me completely off the newest list, so they put you on top with release date, BUT if the difference is let's say only two days, you still get into the newest list (but bottom on the list) so they use the approval date.

@abitofcode what were your release and approval dates if you remember?

Posted 7 months ago #
abitofcode
Moderator

Can't remember exact details, I believe we set the date a week ahead but it got bundled in the new releases the day it was approved. There were a tonne of releases for some reason so we were well down the list even on that day.

Posted 7 months ago #
Aorata
Member

Can anyone add more info about this?
My game was approved just now, and I´m really not sure what to do...

Posted 7 months ago #
Aorata
Member

anyone? some one had experiences of this sort?

Posted 7 months ago #
Shogan
Member

Mine was set to release a couple days after it was approved for sale. I am quite sure it missed out a few days on the new list - it was up there, but not as long as I expected. I haven't got any solid data on this though.

Posted 7 months ago #
callaght
Member

Noooo! Thats really dodgy!

I've had an app approved about a month ago which I've scheduled for 1st Nov. So without knowing, my app is pretty much dead in the water.

How do I delete it and re-submit it with out losing the app bundle id name or whatever the confusing term is? Will rejecting the binary suffice, or do I need to do something more drastic?

Posted 7 months ago #
Blue Ether
Member

With my previous company, we had an experience with our first app release over two years ago, where the release date was set for a few days after the approval date, and we had the same problem, it didn't show up in the store until the release date, but it was sorted in the "new" list by its approval date, not by its release date. So it was already buried.

Anyway from that point onward we always just went with whatever the approval date was. If they were different, we would change the release date so that they matched as soon as we got the approval notice.

It's a really stupid system though. After they implemented the "hold for release" option for updates, it was mystifying to me that they didn't have a similarly friendly system for initial releases.

I didn't know that there was anyone out there who had a good experience with holding initial release dates. Now I'm really mystified. Why would some apps get sorted by release date and some get sorted by approval date? It might be possible that it is necessary to delay by more than a week, but there's too little information.

Posted 7 months ago #
itlgames
Moderator

Little information yeah, unfortunately. Only information so far is ourselves, that why I created the post. As I said, it seems if the delay is more than a few days, like week or two, it should be fine.

@callaght if you delete the app you won't be able to reuse the name I think. In any case, just rejecting the binary will do. But if I'm right, you should be ok as the delay is more than a few days. But do whatever you feel is right, as mine is just a theory. In any case keep us posted.

Posted 7 months ago #
Wayne
Member

I did that once about 2 years ago and had the same thing happen. When the app does go online, the " new releases" sorting is still by approval date, not your chosen release date.

Ever since then, as soon as I get the email from Apple that the app is approved, I rush to iTunes Connect and set the release date for the current day. If I'm not sure to be available, I set the release date to the current day, every morning. This at least lets your app be in the new releases list on a day that it can be in the first page or two.

Posted 7 months ago #
Aorata
Member

If you rename the app and then delete it, you CAN use that name again. BUT I only tried it before it was approved.

My game was approved the 7th, I changed the release date to the 8th and for some reason it showed on the 9th in the new games list.

Posted 7 months ago #
Codemattic
Moderator

So the choice is?:

A) Release the game sometime after its approved so you have time to send out promo codes to review sites. Hopefully it gets reviewed which helps exposure. But your game isnt anywhere on the top of the new release list which hurts exposure.

B) Release the game as soon as its approved. You are able to do less marketing but your game is near the top of the new releases section.

Also, if you go for A, how much time to leave between approval and release. How much time do you give review sites to review your game? Like if they dont give it a review in X number of days they probably arent going to review it anyway so no need to wait longer. What is X please?

Posted 7 months ago #
itlgames
Moderator

There is another factor, it seems the difference between release and approval date also affects, so if the difference is, like, 2 or 3 days, Apple seems to put the game on newest releases with approval date (bad, down the list), but if the difference is bigger (my particular case), they put on newest with release date (good).

Posted 7 months ago #
callaght
Member

@itlgames - cheers, I think I'll test your theory and reject the binary, but leave everything in place.

I scheduled it for 1st November, so I'll re-submit the binary end of Oct I reckon.

I'll let you know what the effect was when its released

Posted 7 months ago #
phil_me_up
Member

@callaght - I don't think that's what @itlgames was suggesting. He says that in his case, the release date was set as expected because it was approved a couple of weeks before release, not a couple of days. In that case, I would not reject the binary and simply wait till November.

That's the route I'm taking too. Approval was 6th October but release will be the 25th - I'm just hoping that everything works out!!!

Posted 7 months ago #
abitofcode
Moderator

I'm going to stir the cauldron counter clockwise next time, and I don't think powdered bat wings are a viable substitute for the real thing.

Still amazed that this part of apples business is left to run like this, fair enough there are lots of apps released so your moment in the sun is going to be very short, but after months of development you don't really want to be throwing a dice to get your fair place in the queue.

*mumble grumble*

Posted 7 months ago #
callaght
Member

@phil_me_up - we could do a little experiment here. You leave in place to auto release on 25th, I reject and resubmit on 20th Oct (hopefully would be reviewed and released, coinciding with your 25th scheduled date)

We can then compare.

I'm sure this would be very useful info for everyone on here - what do you reckon?

Posted 7 months ago #
itlgames
Moderator

Yes please, keep us posted! But after all, do whatever you think is best for your apps, missing those 2 exposure days is really a big deal.

Posted 7 months ago #
phil_me_up
Member

@callaght That's fine by me! I'd love to know how these decisions are made and I suppose that when you think about it, there are a lot of variables. Why the release date can't just be the first date of availability I'll never know!

@abitofcode The more I use iTunes Connect etc the more I realise that there are a few gaping holes which could be easily fixed. For example, I created my App ages ago when I had a standard, individual licenses and I can't remember what company name I used. I then upgraded to a company license (which was easy btw despite what I had heard) and I want to check what name the app will be released under (i.e. My name or whatever was put in the 'Company Name' box when I created the app). There is no way of checking this! After my 4th Email to Apple asking them to confirm the release name, I got fed up and I still don't know how it would appear. Surely it wouldn't be hard to show this information or even provide a 'preview' of the page on iTunes?

Posted 7 months ago #
callaght
Member

can't find the option to reject my binary. does anyone know where this option is? I'm assuming its somewhere in iTunes Connect?

Posted 7 months ago #
phil_me_up
Member

Yep, Go to iTunes connect, check your applications and then go to the app you want to reject. Once there, you should have a link that says 'Binary Details'. If not, click on the latest (probably only) version of your app - it might be in there (sorry, can't remember exactly).

Anyway, when you find the Binary Details link, you'll have a button in the header or footer which lets you reject it.

Took me a while to find too!

Posted 7 months ago #
callaght
Member

Finally got round to rejecting the binary this morning and it seems I cant reject my binary anymore!

I looked where you said but there was only a 'Done' button, but no 'Reject Binary' button anywhere

I wonder if because you didnt reject it within the first week or so you lose that option?

I've checked and the Release Date is 29th September 2011, so does that mean that I'll pretty much have to resign myself to the fact that my app will be buried from day 1?

Gutted

Posted 7 months ago #
renderplace
Member

@callaght What's the status of your app right now?

You might want to check https://itunesconnect.apple.com/docs/iTunesConnect_DeveloperGuide.pdf for details when you can actually reject the binary.
----------------
When the status of your app is Missing Screenshot (iOS only), Waiting for Export Compliance, Waiting For
Review, In Review, Pending Developer Release or Pending Apple Release you can reject the binary you have
submitted by clicking Reject Binary from the Binary Details page.

Posted 7 months ago #
phil_me_up
Member

Just filling you all in with some hot-off-the-press information.

My app, Wonton 51, is released on the 25th October. Right now, it has been released in New Zealand, Japan etc due to time zone differences (it looks like the app is actually released at midnight within each territory). It also appears as though planning the release date several weeks ahead of the approval date has worked as the app has the correct 'Release Date' listed (breath big sigh of relief!)

As soon as it's released in the UK I'll do some more checks to make sure everything looks ok and report back.

Posted 7 months ago #
itlgames
Moderator

Good to know! So the problem seems only when the release date is just a few days after the approve date.

Posted 7 months ago #
phil_me_up
Member

As promised, I checked everything out now it's released in the UK and yes, the release date was correct. The company name was wrong though (I think that's because I changed from an individual to a company licenses) but other than that... everything was good!

So, my advice is like @itlgames said - Either release immediatly or schedule it for a couple of weeks ahead of when you expect to be approved (for us it was approval on the 6th, release on the 25th).

Also, approval took about 4 working days for us. Much faster than expected.

Posted 7 months ago #
callaght
Member

My Release Date is 29th September 2011 and I've asked to have it listed on 1st Nov 2011 - so that means its not going to be buried on the 1st day?

Posted 7 months ago #
itlgames
Moderator

@callaght you mean your approval date is 29th September right? That's the date Apple approves your game, the release game is either the approval date if you don't specify otherwise, or the date you manually put. According to my own experience and @phil_me_up results, your app should be fine and will appear on the newest list on the 1st of November.

Posted 7 months ago #

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