Developers looking for lucrative ways to make money from freemium releases certainly aren't short of options right now.
The popularity of in app purchases appears to be climbing steadily Flurry recently reporting that they now account for 80 percent of monthly revenue per user on iOS while the latest stats released by Backflip Studios suggests advertising can also fill the coffers.
It's now generating around $500,000 per month from advertising, up from the $500,000 per month it was generating from a combination of ads and game sales back in early 2010.
The latest numbers also confirm that its games - which include Paper Toss, Buganoids, Ninjump and Harbor Havoc 3D Free are notching up between 600 to 800 million monthly ad impressions in the process.
No pain, lots of gain
"We are currently averaging between 1.7 million and 2.25 million daily active users, and 15 million monthly active users," CEO Julian Farrior told Mobile Entertainment.
"This is about to grow significantly with two more free products launching in Q4, and NinJump coming to Android in a month."
Play time
Backflip's growing numbers aren't just impressive from a company perspective though they're also evidence that consumers continue to play free games long after their initial download.
As such, in game ads have a captive, long term audience, enabling Backflip both to make money and promote its own releases.
"This is using only about 60 percent of those impressions for thirdparty mobile ads. The rest are used for house ads to sell premium product and further extend the free impression network," Farrior explains.
Best things in life
As noted by Farrior at GDC, the flexibility adopting a freemium model gives a developer's business is priceless.
Backflip took steps to rescue what was considered its most ambitious title Harbor Havoc 3D at the time by releasing a free version after disappointing sales of the original paid release.
In total, Backflip has now amassed sales of more than 47.5 million installs on iOS and 5.5 million on Android.
[source: Mobile Entertainment]
News
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.
Related Articles
News
Jun 6th, 2017
Transformers: Earth Wars clears 10 million downloads just in time for first anniversary
Interview
Nov 7th, 2016
Backflip Studios on releasing DragonVale World five years after the original
Top Stories
News
Apr 27th, 2024
PocketGamer.biz Podcast Week in Views E09 - Supercell's Squad Busters goes global, Embracer Group splits, and Apple's Vision Pro flops
News
Apr 26th, 2024
Week in Views - Squads busted, Apple crushed, War zoned and Snoozin' with the Snorlax…
Feature
Apr 26th, 2024
Speaker Spotlight: Dubai Future Foundation's Faisal Kazim on leading Dubai's gaming charge
Events
Esports Future Summit | Middle East | Apr 27th |
Dubai GameExpo Summit 2024 | Middle East | May 1st |
The MENA Games Industry Awards 2024 | Middle East | May 2nd |
GameDev Atlantic 2024 | May 4th | |
Mobidictum Meetup Berlin May 2024 | Europe | May 7th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
Popular Stories
News
Apr 23rd, 2024
Supercell’s Squad Busters soft launches today with over 100,000 Google Play downloads
Feature
Apr 24th, 2024