PlayFirst's decision to make its Dash series of games universal on iOS – i.e., one app for both iPhone and iPad – has been vindicated according to stats released by the company.

Since the change was made in January, PlayFirst claims downloads of the series' flagship, Diner Dash, have risen by more than 85 percent – equal to more than 2 million downloads.

Other games, such as Wedding Dash and Hotel Dash have also benefited from the change, while the firm states Cooking Dash climbed to #5 in the top free games charts on iPad (presumably in the US) after going universal in February.

Dash for downloads

The result is that 80 percent of PlayFirst's revenue is now generated by in-app purchases.

"By taking advantage of new platform opportunities we're seeing a surge in demand for games that are, in the case of Diner Dash, over two years old on iOS," said VP of products and strategy Chris Williams, who spoke about the company's approach during his GDC 2012 talk.

"This proves that when a great game is delivered in a way that feels native on the device, players will respond. Our universal Dash apps deliver a high quality experience to users regardless of which iOS platform they are on."