April 12th, 2012 by Dawn Siris Posted in Companies & M&A, Marketing Strategies | No Comments »
Imangi Studios is a small company that specializes in mobile gaming, which is responsible for many good iOS hits, such as Hippo High Five and Harbor Master. If you are into mobile gaming, regardless of your smartphone device, you probably heard about its newest marvel – Temple Run.
Temple Run is an action packed game which is likely to pump up your adrenalin levels quite a bit. You embody an Indiana Jones-like treasure hunter that is gunning for a prestigious idol, located in an ancient temple. Once you grab it, a party of killer apes starts chasing you to salvage the idol from your hands. You have to duck, dodge and jump your way out in an obstacle ridden course, all at high speed.
At first, Imangi released Temple Run for $1, the usual price of any game in the Appstore. While the game did fairly well, it was nothing like the small team of developers had hope to. They aimed for groundbreaking success, so measures had to be made. With an act of brilliancy, the company decided to make a transition from a paid version to free and promote the game on FreeAppADay In September, just a month after its release, which in turn more than quadrupled the game’s revenue in a matter of days, due to in-game purchases.
When a developer releases a game, he is faced with several serious questions. Do I go with paid or free? Do I make in-game ads, or focus on monetizing in-game purchases? You see, creating a good game isn’t enough to make it successful; you also need a good marketing plan. While there isn’t a clear-cut one answer to these puzzling questions, history has proven time and time again that free is a very viable option. Just take a look at Google and Facebook, they are free to use, but their “in-game” purchases? Cha-Ching!
Due to the game’s immense popularity, hundreds of fan websites such as this great Temple Run Community were created to glorify the great game and chat with other addicted gamers, while other enthusiasts kept begging the company to release the game on additional platforms, such as Android, and their wish was granted recently in March 27, thus increasing profits even further.
With Imangi Studios being a part of the Apps Treasures venture, and the recent popularity Temple Run gained, it is safe to assume the company has a very bright future in store.
