Apple’s editorial team looks to highlight exciting new games in their recurring “What We’re Playing - New Games We Love” Today tab feature on the iOS App Store. Among the latest class of games is a new reimagined experience of the highly popular Mega Man X series, Mega Man X DiVE.
This new take on the classic platformer takes place in the “Deep Log” - an internet world where all of the collected gameplay memories of Mega Man fans through the decades reside.
Players will encounter enemies and levels familiar to those who have been playing Mega Man X since its Super Nintendo debut. Some new twists mean that Mega Man X DiVE may not stay one-hundred percent true to its predecessor Mega Man X, but any fan of the classic shooter game series will feel nostalgic playing this new mobile installment. Mega Man X DiVE definitely has brand recognition and a nostalgia factor in its arsenal, but in today’s App Store Spotlight we take a look at where it’s well equipped and some new power-ups it can acquire from an ASO perspective.
The app’s listing makes adequate use of the Title and Subtitle fields, though there is still room for improvement. The title incorporates a title tag and employing high volume keywords. The full title “Mega Man X DiVE - Mobile” - already has a long branded-title taking up half of the allotted keyword space. Adding the title tag “Mobile” denotes that this is Mega Man X brought to mobile devices, however there are six additional characters allowed here that, with the proper restructuring, could boost this game’s visibility.
The Subtitle “The best action mobile game” certainly hits on a few desirable phrase building keywords. There is a misstep though, relating to how Apple indexes apps based on the Subtitle field. The term “mobile” was already used in the Title, and doubling up keywords does not improve ranking on the iOS App Store. Instead of wasting this space with a duplicate keyword, the game’s visibility could be improved by adding in some more genre or gameplay related terms that could both explain the app to users and help the app index better in search.
A common trend among many heavy-hitting mobile games is incorporating high volume terms tied to gameplay descriptors. Keywords like “platformer” and “shooter” describe the type of game that Mega Man X DiVE is while also being high search volume. ASO tools are available to help developers discover which keywords will best suit their app.
The top ranked games for the term “shooter” tend to indicate “online” or “offline” either in their title tag or their Subtitle field. This helps the app get discovered on these terms, and can also bolster conversion by communicating to users if it is the type of game they are looking for.
When it comes to creative assets, Mega Man X DiVE is doing a fantastic job in incorporating some ASO best practices trending among its category. Through their icon, screenshots, and Preview Video, the game’s features and gameplay are readily discernible. Furthermore, the action-packed intensity of the game is clearly communicated in the listing’s App Preview Video.
Character-centric game icons have been shown to attract more users to convert. This is especially true when the characters pictured evoke emotion through expressions and eye contact. Mega Man X DiVE features the titular X in the icon giving the user a challenging stare-down, which could entice a competitive player to download the game.
The game’s screenshot set is bold, colorful, and incorporates some excellent App Store Optimization strategies. The first screenshot shows the full lineup of characters available in the game, and throughout the set each screenshot highlights a different character. The backgrounds of each image use colors that match the featured character, and employ action lines like lightning bolts and starbursts to provide movement across the set. Additionally, there are stellar text callouts that communicate the game’s features in a large font, though the legibility of the text treatment could be improved on a few of them.
As the app moves away from its Today Tab feature, the order of screenshots, design treatment and even simple color changes should be tested to see which treatment has that “X” factor leading to the best conversion.
Coming in on its US launch day at #3 in the Role Playing category and #10 in the Action category, in part due to the influx of downloads from being featured, category rankings have since declined to #41 and #81 respectively. While the excitement of a new-yet-familiar game and a prominent Today Tab feature can give an app an initial boost, implementing ASO best practices can help provide lasting advantages for stable discoverability and conversion long-term.
Any fan of the Mega Man series has Zero reason not to check this game out! The listing may have a few areas of improvement when it comes to the metadata, but the creative is overall a solid representation of the game’s features and gameplay. That being said, testing to fine-tune conversion and capture demographics that previously passed up the game is always vital.
With a few tweaks and some restructuring, Mega Man X DiVE could have what it takes to maintain its visibility and ranking once the excitement from its global launch and Apple’s featuring fades.
Want to learn more about App Store Optimization? Contact Gummicube and we’ll help get your strategy started.
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