Interview

100 million downloads is just the start for us, says JoyBits' CEO Paul Baldwin

Doodle God dev has the whole world in its hands

100 million downloads is just the start for us, says JoyBits' CEO Paul Baldwin
Perhaps the first thing to say about JoyBits - the developer behind Doodle God and Doodle Devil - is that it's nothing to do with Lima Sky's Doodle Jump.

There are some interesting similarities between the two companies, however.

Both released their signature paid games for iPhone in the early days of the App Store; Doodle Jump in 2009 and Doodle God in 2010. 

Both have demonstrated a dogged attitude to their products, particularly in terms of regular support when it comes to updates.

And combined with a solid gameplay experience, it's this determined struggle for market acceptance that's seen both companies find eventual success.

But while Doodle Jump has received plenty of press attention and been namechecked on shows such as The Big Bang Theory, the St Petersburg-based JoyBits has been more of an underground hit.

At least until now.

The old order has passed

Kicking off a new stage in the company's profile comes news that its games - Doodle God, Doodle Devil and Doodle Farm in their various forms - have been downloaded more than 100 million times.

That includes phone and web versions on portals such as Miniclip and Kongrate, although mobile makes up the majority of the company's sales and is its future focus. 

JoyBits also appointed a new CEO, Paul Baldwin.

Previously the chief marketing officer at Talking Tom Cat developer Outfit7, and before that with Eidos US, Baldwin's role is to build aggressively on the firm base created by co-founders Anton Rybakov and Sergio Manucharian.

"JoyBits has always been profitable, we're now over 20 people, and have opened an office in San Francisco," Baldwin enthuses about company's potential.

That expectation is driven by the various projects JoyBits has in development. These include revisiting the Doodle God brand from the ground up in for a free-to-play sequel with an iPad focus.

That's not due until 2014, but in the meantime, amongst other titles, JoyBits will be expanding the concept with Doodle Kingdom. Again this will be a free-to-play title with RPG elements and coming to iOS and Android in September.

"We're poised for tremendous growth. This is only the beginning," he says.

Baldwin is happy to put numbers to the vision too. 

Sales in 2013 are predicted to be around $2 million, but 2014's revenue is expected to be 3 to 5 times that. No wonder that the company is also looking at possibilities of external investment.

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.