Following EA's aggressive scheme to price 54 iPhones and 14 iPad games at 99c, the results in terms of App Store chart positions are clear to see.
Six of its games are in the UK iPhone top 10, and EA has 29 of the top 50.
And expected, due to the platform's higher average price, this trend is heightened on iPad. EA has all 10 of the UK top 10 games, and 15 of the iPad top 20.
Between the lines
Success then. Well maybe.
When it comes to the top grossing chart, the strength in depth of the wider App Store is demonstrated.
EA only has 3 of the UK top 10 top grossing iPhone games - with Angry Birds, Infinity Blade, N.O.V.A. 2 and Real Racing 2 in the top 5 - and 13 of the top grossing top 50.
Its position is also knocked back on iPad, although it has 7 of the UK top 10 top grossing games and 12 of the top 20.
Can't hold back the tide
What's more interesting to consider is how long EA can expect its 99c games to stay so high in the charts?
Even with a weekend ahead of it, if the company wants to increase the price of its games just before Apple locks down iTunes Connect and the chart positions on December 23 - as many expect - its games will have to remain solid in the top 20 for the next five days.
In this context, it should also be pointed out that none of EA's games has peaked in terms of chart position.
Yet the sheer quality and volume of recent releases from other companies - further reinforced today by World of Goo, which is already the US top grossing iPad game - suggests EA's cunning plan may have been triggered a couple of days too early.
Feature
Contributing Editor
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.
Top Stories
News
May 4th, 2024
PocketGamer.biz Podcast Week in Views E10 - Brawl Stars smashes 2023 revenue, Square Enix’s extraordinary losses, and Haaland signs for Clash of Clans
News
May 3rd, 2024
Week in Views - Apple back themselves bigstyle, Clash bags Haaland and dreams come true at King
Events
LA Games Conference 2024 | North America | May 6th |
Mobidictum Meetup Berlin May 2024 | Europe | May 7th |
Valencia Indie Summit 2024 | Europe | May 16th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
Develop: Brighton 2024 | Europe | Jul 9th |