Dave Castelnuovo on expanding Pocket God beyond iPad, dolls and comic books to Java, Brew and Xbox
App Store is only the beginning for the three million seller
With its iPhone sales almost at three million, an in-app purchase total standing at 440,000 and a peak of 250,000 daily users whenever a new update goes live, it's clear Bolt Creative's Pocket God ranks among the biggest App Store success stories.
Not bad for an idea that Dave Castelnuovo and Allen Dye thought up in a week over the 2008 Christmas holidays, even if they have been worked to the bone updating it ever since.
Success breeds success however, so the question for the duo has been how to make the game -beloved of teenage boys that lets you torture your tribe of pygmies in increasingly sophisticated ways - into a franchise.
To the stars and beyondThe firstfruits of this expansion have been seen with the announcement that a new standalone title based on the characters and revolving around mini-games will be released for iPad in the form of Pocket God: Journey to Uranus.
A limited set of plush dolls are also in production, while printed and digital comic books, produced in conjunction with Ape Entertainment, are due for release in September.
That's certainly not the limit of the ambition however.
"We're trying to create a franchise," says Castelnuovo. "The eventual goal is to have games on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, so we're slowly working on building up the Pocket God profile a little bit at a time."
For example, together with publishing partners, Java and Brew versions of the game are being considered; something that's already proved successful for another popular iPhone game Doodle Jump.
Its developer Lima Sky hooked up with RealNetworks' division GameHouse for production and distribution.
One step at a timeCastelnuovo says he doesn't want to do too much, too quickly though.
"We're not doing the comic books and dolls to make a lot of money, although we do want the comic books to be Ape's most profitable IP. We're doing them to create a bigger story about the game and its characters," he says.
"I've worked in companies where you think you're going to be a zillionaire overnight. I think there's the potential for Pocket God to go through the roof, but we're being level headed about it."
