Any publisher that puts the freemium model at the heart of its business needs to ensure their titles have the tools to drive enough revenue to make it worth their while.
Glu's free-to-play push which, according to CEO Niccolo De Masi, resulted in the firm becoming a greater freemium force than both EA and Gameloft back in January began with the launch of Gun Bros last autumn.
If the firm's latest stats are anything to go by, things are going rather well.
Gunning down the downloads
Total downloads now sit at 6.8 million across iPhone, iPad and Android (5.5 million on iOS downloads and 1.3 million on Android) up from 2.8 million back in December and the game managed to generate $610,000 in non-GAAP revenue in its first two months.
The secret of Gun Bros' recent success, according to Glu, is its employment of Tapjoy's monetisation tools.
"The success of Gun Bros validates our strategy of building high-quality, freemium games that monetise through microtransactions, in-game advertising and offers," said Glu VP of marketing Michael Breslin.
"Tapjoy is an ideal partner to help us both monetise and distribute our games because they truly understand what it takes to build a successful freemium business on mobile platforms."
Ad happyThe publisher claims the employment of Tapjoy's alternative payment platform which allows players to earn virtual currency for free in exchange for taking part in advertising offers or downloading other apps - is what resulted in Gun Bros' healthy monetisation rates.
The game also gained a vital promo push by appearing on Tapjoy's pay-per-install network.
"We feel that offers deliver a much better user experience than other forms of advertising because they put users in a completely different mindset," added Breslin.
"Consumers are trained to tune out ads that are intrusive and interrupt game play, but [Tapjoy's] offers are a much 'softer' sell and they allow users to get something of real value in return for their loyalty to the game."
A full case study looking at Glu's partnership with Tapjoy can be found on Tapjoy's website.
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.
Top Stories
News
9 hours, 57 minutes ago
EU ruling gives Apple six months to bring iPadOS into line with DMA demands
News
11 hours, 40 minutes ago
Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen joins LEGO’s board of directors days after Squad Busters’ soft launch
News
12 hours, 58 minutes ago
A Thinking Ape lays off staff across game design, software engineering, art teams and more
Feature
12 hours, 7 minutes ago
King’s Paula Ingvar: a games industry journey from "I’m not worthy!" to Candy Crush Soda’s VP of product
Feature
Apr 29th, 2024
Hot Five: Supercell’s Squad Busters levels up, retro Nintendo on iOS, and Genshin Impact’s worst month yet
News
Apr 26th, 2024
Week in Views - Squads busted, Apple crushed, War zoned and Snoozin' with the Snorlax…
Events
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 |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
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
News
Apr 25th, 2024