In the history of Oxford-based outfit NaturalMotion, the firm's horse simulator – the appropriately named My Horse – may prove to be something of a landmark title.

Back in September, the developer unceremoniously announced it was shifting its focus from paid titles to free releases, with the aforementioned My Horse the first game to fly the freemium flag.

Two months on, and NaturalMotion has revealed My Horse is generating 500,000 daily active users (DAU), all clocking up 2 million game sessions in the process.

Making the jump

"This is an incredible sign for us as we have barely spent anything on user acquisition," said CEO an co-founder Torsten Reil, adding a spot on Apple's 'game of the week' resulted in the game hovering between #60 and #140 on the US top grossing charts during October.

Indeed, the performance of My Horse appears to have rejuvenated the company, which is perhaps best known for it character animation technology, deployed in the likes of Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

The firm's in house games output, nonetheless, remains an important part of NaturalMotion's make up.

"Our games business is a business in its own right," added Reil.

"We know how to use our technology so we come up with concepts internally and then work with other firms. Having third parties come to us is not something we’re doing at the moment."

[source: Inside Mobile Apps]