The maker of Fruit Ninja has grownup hopes for China , and aims for the hit game to reach an additional 70 million downloads in the country over the next six months .
Fruit Ninja has been a strike on Apple ’s iOS devices .
Australia - based Halfbrick Studios loose Fruit Ninja in 2010 , first on Apple ’s iOS App Store , then to other mobile OSes as well as Microsoft ’s Xbox 360 . The plot has since gone on to attract 600,000 downloads per day , according to Halfbrick Studios chief executive officer Shainiel Deo .
Fruit Ninja has been a hit on Apple’s iOS devices.
But while most downloads for Fruit Ninja arrive from the U.S. , China has become the game ’s second gravid market place . Already , 30 pct of the biz ’s entire downloads , or 20 million , come from China , Deo said .
“ The Chinese market is our numeral one market expire forward , ” he said while being interviewed at an event in Beijing calledmobiTalk .
However , Fruit Ninja ’s downloads in China could be high if not for the rampant piracy in the nation . Deo estimates that about 50 percent of the Fruit Ninja games bring in the country are pirated version .
Halfbrick is working to change that . The ship’s company has partnered with a Chinese mobile play ship’s company called iDreamSky to avail Halfbrick disseminate prescribed versions of the game through channel like websites and app stores in China .
Halfbrick is also partnering with iDreamSky to germinate localized version of the biz for the Taiwanese market . At least five coming version of the game will be centered on Chinese contentedness , Deo said . At least two of those will be released by the end of the class .
“ When you see the pace of downloads per day and the pace its increasing , I do n’t think its pop off to be a enceinte lot to hit that object ” of 70 million , he said , append that the new version of the secret plan will help Halfbrick surpass that end .
To make money off the game in China , Halfbrick is exhaust free adaptation of Fruit Ninja that will feature ads and in - app purchases for practical good . The company also wants to license pre - loaded versions of the game for mobile gadget .
Halfbrick is just the tardy strange play firm totarget the Taiwanese grocery store , which has more than 900 million mobile phone users . The shaper of Angry Birds , Rovio , is also working to localize its game for China and target for Angry Birds to extend to 100 million downloads in China by the end of this year .
Like Rovio Angry Birds , Halfbrick wants to wrench Fruit Ninja into a major franchise . “ I think we are really following in the footstep of Rovio , ” Deo said , note that the caller plans to betray product in China and already has acquire an animation studio apartment to produce myopic film .
While Fruit Ninja has been a strike in China , the game has ironically not performed as well in Japan , Deo said . “ I think a lot of that stems from localization issues , ” he say , adding that Japan is another marketplace the society want to focus on . “ English is not that widespread in Japan . And that market is very unlike too . Apps seem to get along and go all the metre . ”
As for why Fruit Ninja took off in China , Deo say he did n’t know . “ We built the game to be approachable to a wide audience , ” he said . “ I ’m just grateful Formosan fans love it so much . ”
