April 18th, 2012 by Dawn Siris Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »
Zeptolab is an average-sized game developer based in Russia, with Misha Lyalin as its chairman and CEO. For a small company, Zeptolab sure made its mark by releasing a couple of games that really hit it big a couple of years ago. However, the most popular game that the company created and continues to be one of the most downloaded apps for handheld devices is Cut the Rope Game. The app, since being released in 2010, has been well-received by critics and became a sensation among gamers who are particularly into puzzle games.
Cut the Rope is a game where you will need to move the candy towards the direction of Om Nom, a frog-like creature. The objective of this game is to have him eat the candy by means of cutting ropes and working your way around various obstacles as well as avoiding hazards along the way. Simple enough to play and matched with stunning visuals, Cut the Rope has the level of excitement that you can get from playing Angry Birds or other popular titles. On the other hand, this game is more challenging because it involves physics and a keen eye on your part in order to accomplish every level which makes it even more interesting to play. Every “box” of this game contains 25 levels, and Zeptolab releases updates that the player can download to add more boxes in this app.
Due to its immense popularity among gamers and positive feedback from critics, Zeptolab created a sequel for the game which bore the title Cut the Rope: Experiments in 2011 with distribution under Chillingo. Even selling for just a Dollar, this game received commercial success like its predecessor. What’s more is that there is development for a comic book that will be a stand-alone app for iOS devices in the near future. The comic book will delve into the back story of Om Nom, as well as introducing some new characters as well.
Starting a company, regardless of size, to create and develop games surely is risky business. Besides factoring in the “fun” factor of playing the app, one can never be truly sure if the game will hit it big. Counting gaming apps alone would very well make you lose count in the thousands. Zeptolab is very fortunate in being able to create a game that placed the company on the map, which will ensure its growth in the future.
