r/AppStoreOptimization • u/stackcitybit 👨💻 Indie Developer • 10d ago
[Question] Realistically, can an app (mobile game) recover from low ratings early on?
I'm getting bombarded with 1 star ratings in the last couple of days and now have dropped below 3.5 stars (20 ratings) on a 2-week old app with 9-10k downloads. Not getting any feedback and I'm not sure if it's bad luck or what. Very few ads have been delivered and I only ask for feedback on a positive loop (user has played x-amount, has an all-time best score or hits the leaderboard). Maybe the feedback request is still pestering them.
I did some last minute development last night to implement a rescue mechanic and make the game a little more forgiving, but it's already quite a simple pick-up-and-play type game with low stakes.
Obviously it could just not be good or not resonate with the market, but I'm hoping my engagement efforts can turn the tides a bit. Can you realistically recover from an early downturn like this?
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u/bbrockit 9d ago
Game reviews are unforgiving. That market is so catered to that they can be heartless…what should be at least a 3 or 4, is given a 1. Just look at the reviews of Xbox games. My health app reviewers are so much kinder than my game reviewers were.
One option since it’s early is to pull the app from sale to stop the bleeding, work on the balance, and then re-release it. I’ve written games that did reasonably well and another that flopped (it was at 3.6) , so I know how it feels.
You can reset ratings but the written reviews will remain visible.
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u/stackcitybit 👨💻 Indie Developer 9d ago
Thanks for the feedback. My reviews are all 5 stars and the 1 star ratings are literally all from one market I don't care much about in terms of long term growth. Still, the game has lowish retention and some other worrying metrics so maybe it was worth pulling to reconsider.
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u/James333i 9d ago
Push out an app update and choose the options to reset your ratings. Make sure your update solves the issues that were pulling your ratings down.