How to Get Your Game Featured in the App Store: A Guide for 2020

6 min readJan 22, 2020

Getting your game featured in the App Store is the ultimate dream of every developer. It puts your game on the map and helps with the overall mobile game marketing strategy. However, achieving that is not easy. Apple strives for excellence and that is reflected in the apps and games its editors choose to feature.

Also, Apple has different requirements than Google Play. Therefore, strategies to get your game featured on Google Play might not work for Apple. The App Store puts a lot more focus on new games and games that have a unique story. However, some things are the same. For example, an intuitive user interface and outstanding user experience are important for both.

To find out what it takes to get your game featured in the App Store, read this guide.

Top Benefits of Getting Your Game Featured in the App Store

Better game visibility
Increase in downloads
More high-quality players
Higher App Store ranking

App Store Lists You Can Get Featured On

Today Tab
Games Tab
Apps Tab
Themed lists
Game and App of the day
You can also get an editor’s choice badge

How to Get Your Game Featured in the App Store

The first step to getting featured is, of course, creating an awesome game. That should go without saying. However, that’s not enough. There are many other deciding factors you should know about.

Here are the most important ones.

Have a Unique Story

What’s unique about the App Store is that its editors write short articles about featured games. In order to get a piece written about your game, it must have a captivating and unique story. In other words, something that makes it interesting and different. Think about what’s your USP and what makes your game outstanding.

For example, App Store editors often write about the developers, give users a behind the scenes look of how the game was made, or what makes the game so unique.

So it’s not enough to have a high-quality game, you also need to have a cool story around it to get the editor’s attention.

Focus on User Experience and User Interface

When it comes to design, Apple is all about simplicity and that is reflected in the apps they choose to feature. The App Store won’t feature games that are not easy to use or poorly designed.

So when working on user interface and user experience, make it simple, intuitive, and clean. If you keep Apple’s design aesthetic in mind, you can’t go wrong.

To check out Apple’s UI guidelines, go here.

Localize Your Mobile Game

Here’s how the App Store works. There are actually 155 App Stores with local editors for each one. The local editorial teams determine whether a game is interesting and relevant to their users.

Therefore, you need to localize your mobile game.

That means you need to translate your game to other languages. It’s a long and painstaking process, but trust me, it pays off.

App Store Optimization

Another big factor in getting your game featured in the App Store is, of course, app store optimization. Most Apple users discover games by browsing the App Store. Therefore, your goal should be to improve your ranking and show up high in search results. It’s the best way to improve the visibility of your mobile game.

There are many factors that affect App Store rankings. Here are the most important ones.

The first is keywords. Unlike Google Play, Apple’s App Store has a keyword field. You have 100 characters to enter keywords that best describe your game. This is where you need to be strategic and use keywords users would type in to find your game. The key is to achieve a balance of highly competitive (popular) keywords and keywords that have less competition.

Other factors that help you rank higher in the App Store are having a memorable game name, writing an attention-grabbing description, and choosing the right primary category.

Learn more about app store optimization in this in-depth guide.

Get High Ratings for Your Mobile Game

If you look at apps and games that are featured in the App Store, all have high ratings. For mobile games, it’s a rating of 4.4 or above. Granted, that’s very high, but Apple is adamant about featuring only the best mobile games out there.

What you can do to get higher rankings is to ask users to rate and review your game. Another technique you can use is gamification. It means offering in-app rewards to users in exchange for rating the game.

Have High Replay Value

There are many mobile games out there that you play once, and you’re done. Those types of games have a low chance of getting featured in the App Store.

So what makes a mobile game replayable?

One of the big factors is gameplay depth. Having additional content, unlockable features, or new characters also helps. The key is to keep players engaged and coming back for more.

Final Thoughts on How to Get Your Game Featured in the App Store

After you have completed these steps, there’s one extra thing you can do to get your game featured in the App Store. There’s a form you can submit to Apple’s editors to be considered for featuring. Think of it as pitching your game and the story around it.

Even though submitting doesn’t guarantee you’ll get your game featured in the App Store, it’s worth trying.

The final thing that should be mentioned is that you need to be ready to get featured. Here’s what means.

When you finally get your game featured in the App Store, you’ll suddenly get many users playing it. If you’re not prepared, your game could crash or experience other issues. That, in turn, results in a lot of low ratings and you end up buried deep down in the App Store where no one can ever find you.

I’m not trying to scare you. The point is to be prepared and make sure your game doesn’t crash when you experience a sudden surge of new players.

Did you find this guide helpful? Let me know in the comments below!

About Udonis:

In 2018 & 2019, Udonis Inc. served over 14.1 billion ads & acquired over 50 million users for mobile apps & games. We’re recognized as a leading mobile marketing agency by 5 major marketing review firms. We helped over 20 mobile apps & games reach the top charts. Want to know how we make it look so effortless? Meet us to find out.