Response of Ranking Manipulation Companies to Apple's Algorithm Adjustment: Can Crack It in Half a Month

China's App Store free chart rankings have undergone a major change, with previously popular online games all falling out of the TOP100. An employee of a chart-rigging company stated that this time Apple’s algorithm adjustment was quite thorough, but it would take about half a month to crack.

As Tencent's "Everyday Love Elimination" and WeChat climbed in position, users noticed that mobile online games that were previously ranked high on the free list had disappeared. Data from third-party ranking tracking website Appfigures showed that from July 24th to August 9th at noon, "Million Arthur" dropped from fourth place on the free chart to 253rd, "I Am MT Online" fell to 104th place, and "Sword of Kings" dropped to 298th place.

The aforementioned employee mentioned that this adjustment started around late July. The specific algorithm adjustment method is unknown, but apart from reducing the weight of download volume, there must be many other adjustments. Currently, they have suspended taking orders, but this will not cause a fatal blow to their business. It will take about half a month to crack the algorithm.

Currently, most of the apps on the App Store free chart are tool-based products. According to sample queries from Appfigures, most applications experienced natural growth.

Apple's previous algorithm adjustment was in early July, but just a week after the adjustment, the algorithm was cracked, and the chart-rigging companies resumed accepting orders. From the current rankings, the paid chart and best-seller chart have not been significantly affected. It is understood that these two charts are also controlled by chart-rigging companies.

Netease Technology conducted undercover investigations into multiple chart-rigging companies, and their quoted price was 140,000 yuan per week. For tool-based applications that have not yet formed scaled revenue, this is not a long-term solution. However, for popular online games with monthly revenues reaching millions, this cost is not too high. Compared to other channels with a 55% revenue split, App Store's 30% commission seems much cheaper, and the 20% difference is more than enough to cover the cost of rigging the charts.

It is understood that App Store remains the most important promotion channel and income source for mobile game companies on iOS. This time, Apple's targeted crackdown on the free chart has proven effective, which will inevitably have a significant impact on the income of popular mobile games.