GamesBeat: Do you remember how you guys came up with that idea, the spark for that idea? I think that’s one of the reasons Temple Run was so successful in the first place. Essentially, we were the ones that created the genre, which is now filled with countless other examples doing similar things, or doing a twist on a similar idea.
Shepherd: We were the first 3D-type endless running game that used that slide mechanic to control your character. GamesBeat: Going back to the beginning, I didn’t remember whether you guys were the very first endless runner, or if you were inspired by something else. It’s one of those things that always evolves over time, as the landscape changes and different technologies become available. Maybe, instead of trying to sell ads ourselves, we could incorporate those types of ads in our game. Not being an ad company, we didn’t want to spend all our time working on that technology for our game, so that revenue stream dried up.Īt that point we thought, “Okay, what’s a way we can replace that?” We started looking at some of the ad networks that were out there. That’s something our little ad-hoc ad network didn’t have the capability for. Time went on and the whole industry changed to be more of a user acquisition-driven market, where everyone’s looking for ways to buy users and track them, from the point of clicking an add all the way to installing an app. We experimented with that for a while, running a little ad network on our own within the game. We could take that spot and offer that as something we could sell to advertisers.”
Then, one day, we said, “Well, we have this huge audience. We didn’t have any ads in the game other than, once a week or so, we would do a little pop-up and cross-promote a friend’s app or one of our other apps. When it got to this viral success, we had this built-in channel to cross-promote other games. We’re always trying to think about how we can monetize, how we can make this product support itself on the financial side. That’s something we always have our eyes on a bit. That’s when it hit that viral critical mass.
Imangi studios temple run oz free#
We had a great launch and it was doing well, but it wasn’t until we made it free that it really took off. It was 99 cents, and it had in-app purchases. To give an example, when we originally launched Temple Run, it was paid. Business models are always shifting and creating different ways to monetize. Shepherd: It’s one of those things that evolves. GamesBeat: Playing the game, it seemed to me that the most obvious way this would make money would be through ads. The structure is pretty similar as far as the actual monetization. There are in-app purchases that you make to buy coins in addition to earning them. We monetize through a lot of different ways. Shepherd: Temple Run and Temple Run 2 are set up pretty similarly as far as monetization. GamesBeat: What’s your best means of monetization? Did that change from Temple Run to Temple Run 2? Three top investment pros open up about what it takes to get your video game funded.
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