Owlchemy Labs’ Snuggle Truck dropped its price to free on the iOS app store last week, and has been downloaded 1.3 million times in the past nine days. In a developer post discussing the success, we see the move earned the app serious goodwill in iTunes reviews, resulting in over 4,000 new levels made using the in-game editor. China has downloaded the game nearly a quarter-million times since the switch.
We asked Owlchemy founder Alex Schwartz if the company had earned more revenue in the past nine days than it did with Snuggle Truck as a $2 app. “Even though less than one percent of our players are buying anything [using the in-app store],” he said, “we have been able to make more revenue over the past nine days than we totaled the previous month.
“Making more money is great for us as a company, as it enables us to continue making games, but the pride factor of having over a million new players playing a creation you’ve put blood, sweat and tears into certainly rivals the positives of making money.”
Schwartz told us the most popular in-app purchase item has been the zoo truck skin for $0.99. Owlchemy is looking to bring more customization to the game, including some DLC that isn’t exactly in-game based.
“Our friends at Dejobaan Games joked about creating an in-app purchase that awards the buyer with ‘a no-expenses-paid trip to Boston and the unique opportunity to buy the developers dinner,'” Schwartz said. “I’m curious what would happen if we put that in our next title. NO REALLY. What would happen? Maybe we need to make this happen in order to find out?”
Snuggle Truck downloaded 1.3 million times in 9 days after going free originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 24 Nov 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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