Monument Valley, the incomparably beautiful premium puzzler from developer ustwo, has broken the 1 million download milestone roughly three months after launch.
After starting out on iOS for both iPhone and iPad, the game quickly made the leap to Android, although the majority of downloads still came from the App Store due to Google Play's tendency to suffocate premium titles.
"That’s kind of indicative of the two marketplaces,” explained Monument Valley's producer, Dan Gray, speaking to TechCrunch about the challenges of surviving on Android.
"We knew that creating a game for $4 is a big ask in comparison to the competition on Google Play.”
Premium or bust
Speaking to PocketGamer.biz earlier this year, Gray insisted that free-to-play was never an option.
Monument Valley was designed to be a complete, engrossing, and captivating experience, and the team refused to sacrifice that vision.
"After delving into development we began to realise that the only way to fulfil the vision we had was to go premium," revealed Gray.
"We wanted players to be entranced by this world and the journey of Ida, their eyes transfixed on what was unfolding and the only way to achieve this was by avoiding any distractions. That meant forgoing leaderboards, pay walls and heavy social integration.
"People told us we were crazy but we still stand by that decision."
Like a protective parent about to send their child to school for the first time, Gray admitted that the team felt nervous about sharing their creation with the world.
The fear of rejection tormented the team as the game's launch crept closer.
"Sitting in the studio a week before release with no idea of what people were going to say about the game was tough," said Gray.
"Putting so much of ourselves into something and throwing it out into the world, knowing you now have no control over it and you can't make any changes."
[source: TechCrunch]
