British computer games company Future Games of London has achieved remarkable success this week on Apple devices worldwide, and the US in particular. “Hungry Shark – Part 1”, originally released in April, has achieved No.1 Free Game in over 40 countries this week and is currently being downloaded 250,000 times a day. The free promotional version released at the start of US Shark Week has proved hugely popular, taking No.1 slot in the US Free Apps within days.
Part 1 of Hungry Shark includes a link to the $0.99 “Hungry Shark – Part 2” and has generated a tidal wave of sales for the paid version which is now No.2 in the US App Store. The game was developed by Future Games of London and in the 3 previous months has enjoyed No.1 slots in over 14 countries, including Germany, Japan and Korea.
Chris Dawson, FGOL’s Creative Director said: “We had already sold over 250,000 Sharks globally but needed to find a way to bring the product to the attention of US iPhone gamers. By issuing a free version we got immediate chart recognition on the iTunes store and our paid download sales went through the roof. Shark week in the US is enormously popular and our game has clearly benefited from this additional interest.”
Ian Harper, Commercial Director said: “The rapid rise in sales in the USA is remarkable, and makes you wonder how far Hungry Shark can go. I think this success shows that the era of traditional games publishing is now over, and the companies that are now successful are innovative small design studios.”
Future Games recently released their second game, Pool Bar which is currently Top 10 in 10 countries on the iPad App Store. They are currently working on new original titles for release later this year. The company handles all of its own distribution and marketing. Their goal is to design, devlelop and publish multiple original IPs with long sales life in smartphone markets worldwide.