There's nothing like being right about a hunch.

Putting their faith in Android back in 2008, Etienne Jambou joined by coders Nicolas Sorel and Emmanuel Robles launched Magma Mobile.

Today, Jambou has a lot to be happy about.

Magma boasts 100 million downloads on Android devices alone - just two and a half years after opening the flood gates with Android's first pinball game.

So as the studio branches out into the App Store and Windows Phone, we talk strategy, success, and the future of this promising French developer.

Pocket Gamer: What's the company's background?

Etienne Jambou: The company was started in 2009 by Nicolas Sorel, Emmanuel Robles and myself.

Nicolas and Emmanuel had developed a very successful web site, codes-sources.com - a code sharing web site. I met Nicolas and Emmanuel while working at Google.

Already in 2008, we felt Android could become a major mobile operating system. It had been designed to appeal to a large array of manufacturers, developers and users alike.

At the time, the market share of Android was quite small but we believed the platform had amazing years ahead and that we could be part of this amazing story.

Thanks to the success we have had on Android, we had the opportunity to grow the team. We are now 13 people focused on providing a joyful escape to millions of users around the world

What challenges did you face as a start up in 2009?

The main challenge was to develop ideas and concepts on what was at the time a very early development framework. We also started from scratch and did not have any visibility on Android.

As we brainstormed a few ideas, we set ourselves the objective of creating the first pinball game on Android. It was an immediate success. The game has been downloaded over 15 million times since and it still works for all Android 1.5+ devices all the way to Android 4.0 devices.

What is it about Magma Mobile's strategy that's led to your 100 million milestone?

We are a French company but only four percent of our users are in France. This is mainly due to the fact that we have always strived on creating games with a wide global appeal. Bubble Blast 2 has been translated in 23 languages to make its appeal as large as possible.

Another key factor was also to be humble enough not to think that we knew what the secret recipe was.

We embarked on a Black Swan strategy (see Nassim Taleb's book) in developing technologies enabling us to push new games and concepts out into the world as quickly as possible. Once in the market, we can quickly evaluate how well the game is perceived and whether we should keep on investing resources on the game.

Your games are free, so how good are in-app adverts in terms of generating revenue?

In-app advertising can be very effective when it is well integrated. As a developer we are very keen on understanding the user experience and above all respecting the user experience.

We never integrated intrusive advertising which could disrupt the experience. When playing Bubble Blast 2, whether on iOS or Android, you will never have ads while playing. We care a lot about our users.

Business models can be adapted however to adapt to the users and their needs.

The lack of advertising options on Windows Phone 7 led us to choose a paid model. On iOS, some users wanted to have additional options which we provided through in-app purchasing.

When choosing a business model, we think of the users first but also take into account the restriction,s whether commercial or technical, of a given platform.
Bubble Blast 2 has been your most successful game. What do you think are the reasons?

We wish we knew exactly what it takes to create a successful game each we time we try.

However, we think people really do like the challenge the game provides and how the difficulty evolves nicely as you progress through the game. Finally I think our users all over the world love our Bubble Blast character.

Earlier this year you made the move to iOS, how's that been working out?

We are indeed one of the few game studios who opted for Android first before moving to iOS.

We have ported nine games since January and are happy with how games such as Bubble Blast 2 and Connect'Em have been received by iOS players.

What's the mobile development scene like in France?

France is one of the biggest mobile countries in terms of iOS and Android. Not only are there a lot of users but there are also a lot talented game designers, game artists and game developers.

Prior to the emergence of mobile gaming companies, France was already well known as a major game production country. We are happy to evolve in such a dynamic environment.

However, we always remind ourselves that our users are global and that thinking of ourselves as a French company would be too restrictive. We are a global company who happens to be located in France.

What's next for Magma Mobile?

When you take a look at all the games we have developed, you realise how much we have grown in the productions we are pushing to the market.

In 2011, we brought in game artists into the company to make our games stand out more. Today, as we are pushing our games to other platforms, we also want to invest in new areas such as 3D. There's much more to come in the coming months.
Thanks to Etienne for his time.

Keep up to date with Magma Mobile via its website.