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Brawl Stars App Store Screenshots Spotlight
September 29th, 2020
by Anh Nguyen
COO & Co-Founder at Gummicube, Inc
What message do you want your App Store Screenshots to convey? For apps and mobile games, the screenshots need to convey core features and the biggest draws of the app early on. For one example of how screenshots do this, we can look at Brawl Stars, a mobile game currently featured by Apple in its list of “Games to Help Pass the Time.” How well do its screenshots convey functionality while engaging with users? We’ll look and see in today’s App Store Spotlight.
App Store Screenshots
Brawl Stars’s creative assets are displayed in landscape mode, in order to best match the mode the game is played in. On the App Store, this means users will see the video when they find the app in search results. When Brawl Stars appears as a Search Ad and the #1 result for the same search, the organic search result will display the screenshot while the Search Ad will show the video.
Once the video gets clicks, the screenshots will still have an important job to do for conversions. Brawl Stars uses the same screenshots on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, so users will see the same information on both pages.
Value Propositions
Brawl Stars uses screenshot copy at the bottom of each image. The copy consists of short value propositions in a large font, placed on a field of purple.
The screenshot order lists the top values upfront, including:
- 3v3 Battles
- Battle Royale
- Team Up With Friends
These are some of the most important aspects of the game, so presenting them early on is advisable. The variety of characters and game modes comes secondary to those, although they are also included.
The screenshots do relate to the copy, although the “3v3 Battles” and the “Battle Royale” screenshots are very similar in terms of visual content. They are both from different battles, but they don’t show anything unique; both are 5-6 players on a screen fighting.
The following screenshots are more varied, showing the team setup and stats, character selection and stage selection.
Potential Improvements
There is always room to grow, especially for App Store Optimization. There are a few areas where Brawl Stars has potential to improve.
Brawl Stars uses five screenshots on both stores. The Apple App Store allows for up to ten, while the Google Play Store allows eight. This means that Brawl Stars is leaving potential screenshots on the table. Adding additional screenshots could present more value propositions or showcase additional aspects of the gameplay.
Since Brawl Stars uses multiple characters, it could include them with the screenshots to add additional visual elements to the screenshot copy. Many mobile games include character art alongside the copy to emphasize their variety and showcase popular characters; this could potentially work for Brawl Stars as well.
In the case of all changes, Brawl Stars would need to run A/B tests. If users respond better to including character art, the tests will show as such. If adding new screenshots and value propositions has a beneficial effect, running A/B tests will help identify it. Testing updates is essential for ensuring an app is optimized.
Competing Apps
What kinds of screenshots do competitor apps use, and how do they compare to Brawl Stars?
Clash Royale
A major competitor to Brawl Stars is Clash Royale. On the Apple App Store, Clash Royale uses portrait mode screenshots to reflect how the game is played, which means the first three creatives will appear in search results.
Clash Royale’s first few screenshots call out new updates, focusing on the addition of Clan Wars 2 and new game modes. The following screenshots are similar to Brawl Stars, focusing on “1v1 battles” and “team up with friends.”
Comparing the two, we can see both apps highlight similar value propositions. As Clash Royale uses eight screenshots, compared to Brawl Stars’ five, it has more room to focus on new features and additional elements such as special events.
Badland Brawl
Badland Brawl is a competing brawler game on Google Play. While the game also calls out the multiplayer/PvP aspects in its screenshot copy, it presents the copy in a very different way.
Each screenshot includes text highlighting the value proposition, but rather than using a large single-colored block, the text is contained to a smaller space and accompanied by a character. This adds a different element to the design, highlighting characters while leaving more of the screen visible.
Overall
Brawl Stars has a good foundation for its App Store Screenshots and their optimization, focusing on core features and highlighting them in screenshot copy. With that secured, it can now focus on testing improvements, such as additional screenshots, highlighting the battles more clearly in the opening images or adding additional visual elements.
Testing and updating screenshots is key for achieving maximum conversions, so app developers should always be thinking about how they can improve.
Want to learn more about App Store Optimization? Contact Gummicube and we’ll help get your strategy started.
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