Previously pitched as something of a sideline to its main business as a user interface specialist, London-based ustwo – the developer behind Whale Trail – has launched a dedicated games studio.

The new outfit, which it appears will simply operate under the ustwo name, has been bolstered by three new members of staff as its first game Blip Blup hits iOS and Android.

Three for all

Leading the line of new hires is producer Dan Gray, who previously worked at both Hello Games on the critically acclaimed Joe Danger series, and the Microsoft-owned Lionhead on Fable.

"We're not looking at limiting ourselves to a specific genre of game or audience – our aim is to experiment and innovate," said Gray of the news.

"Complimenting our gaming experience with ustwo's core visual design and user experience heritage, we're committed to making the best mobile gaming experiences for players."



Also coming on board is visual designer Ken Wong – the man behind Hackycat – and Ian White as 3D artist, having previously worked on Aliens vs. Predator and Sniper Elite V2 at Rebellion Games.

The paying game

The formation of the studio comes almost two years after Whale Trail hit the App Store, initially in premium form.

Despite amassing 100,000 paid downloads in its first 25 days, ustwo's outspoken 'chief wonka' mills went on to claim that the game's 'poor performance' signalled the death of the premium model for the studio, with Whale Trail later switching to the F2P model.

"We had invested a lot of money making and marketing a game for the masses and it failed to reach the masses," said mills at the time of Whale Trail's debut.

"Although we're still getting around 500-700 downloads a day on iOS, we quite rightly feel it's not enough for a game of such quality. So our conclusion is that we were wrong to go premium."

Interestingly, however, Blip Blup launches on iOS both via a paid £1.49/$1.99 version and an ad-supported free release. Conversely, Android gamers can only access the free version, which can be upgraded with a £1.49/$1.99 in-app purchase.