Whether you’re a developer, a mobile industry professional or simply someone who enjoys playing mobile games, you’ll know that there are generally 3 ranked systems that help users to determine what the best games are on the market – Top Paid Apps, Top Free Apps and, of course, Top Grossing Apps. Developers, along with marketing and advertising companies consider all three of these charts when developing, producing and promoting their game, often to determine which chart their game could reach the top of and how to market it to do so. In a shocking announcement by Apple, just 24 hours ago, however, the end of an era has come for Top Grossing App Charts, as they removed the ranking system to leave just Top Paid Apps and Top Free Apps in the iTunes store. It is not only iOS users that will see this massive change of direction in apps stores, however, with Android gamers to see a similar change as Google announces that they too plan to remove the Top Grossing Chart from the Google Play store in the coming months.
Source: http://www.gamezebo.com/news/2014/04/01/apple-removes-top-grossing-charts-app-store
So, why the sudden change from these two mobile gaming giants? Well, in both cases, the companies have released statements outlining their concerns that marketing ploys may just be allowing agencies to buy their way into the top ranks of the charts, with multi-million dollar advertising and marketing campaigns. A spokesperson from Apple said “We’ve noticed, as many of you have, that the games in the Top Ranking Lists have not changed in the past year. We suspect it’s because the game companies in the Top 10 are spending millions of dollars a day to keep their position, but it could just be coincidence. So, we decided to take the high road and give game companies the opportunity to compete on merit than money.”
The team at Gamezebo raised a valid question about this move, one which I’m sure was on the minds of many others, querying what impact this move would have on the future of the remaining to charts, along with the popular ‘cost per install’ ad model. Gaming heavyweights like Candy Crush Saga and Clash of the Titans may be in for a rude awakening when this change comes around, after spending the majority of the last 12 months glued to top positions of the highest grossing app charts.
After 5+ years in development, we're excited ... 
