Alternative app store publisher Flexion have reported that their partnership with Top Games on their title Evony: The King’s Return has led to a 12x increase in revenue.

Top Games had previously self-published the game, but had handed over publishing of the game to the Amazon Appstore onto Flexion when they chose to pursue alternative storefronts. This, say Flexion, has led to a significant increase in revenue.

CEO of Flexion, Jens Lauritzson explained how the partnership had benefited both Flexion and the studio. “Top Games can do everything we do for themselves, it’s just that it doesn’t make economic sense. We have around 100 people working on the success of each game and have spent years developing services and platform relations. That gives us a huge advantage when it comes to generating revenue,” he explained.

However, it wasn’t just the use of an alternative app store that boosted revenue, but the strength of the overall partnership. “Continual updates and new content are vital to a game’s success. It builds user loyalty and that’s reflected in retention numbers," he went on. "Good retention is a major factor in triggering in-app purchases and building revenue across all platforms. That is rightly where Top Games has its focus.”

Flexion’s business model

Flexion focuses on publishing to alternative storefronts, such as the Huawei AppGallery or the Samsung Galaxy Store. Although the use of alternative storefronts is often seen as an afterthought, there are many benefits, as according to Flexion the audience for Evony also increased by roughly 4x after it was published onto the new storefront.

CEO of Top Games, David Guo, agreed. “The extra revenue is adding to the game’s overall success. When we handed over managing the alternative distribution to Flexion, we freed our people up. But we have also been delighted to see the scale of audiences that Flexion has reached for us and the boost in revenue they have achieved.”

Flexion also takes pride in their service package including bringing updates to the Amazon Appstore, promoting the game, boosting user acquisition and platform relations. They have also made inroads into new markets such as Europe and Japan, a factor that has contributed to the growth in audience and corresponding growth in revenue.

As Lauritzson put it “Growing those markets has paid off. Because each user in those regions are likely to spend more in a game. That has meant our audience-building has given us a greater multiplier in revenue.”