Fruit Ninja does 6 million paid downloads on iPhone in 10 months

There might not be a physical link between the fruit pulverised in Fruit Ninja and the genuine sort grown around the globe, but that hasn't stopped developer Halfbrick attempting to create a mental one.

As such, the announcement that Fruit Ninja has topped 6 million paid downloads on iPhone since it launched in April 2010 has been met with the news that the Australian developer is partnering with the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (FTPF).

With a somewhat comical tone, Halfbrick claims contributing to the foundation – which plants orchards around the world to benefit both communities and the environment – will go some way to making up for the 150 billion pieces of fruit sliced in play.

"It's important for players to know that wasting fruit won’t result in sweet high scores, awesome combos and frenzy moves to show off to their friends," said lead designer Luke Muscat

"Sensei is a Fruit Ninja master, and will always teach you the ways of virtual fruit destruction – but there won’t be any more fruit to slice if we don’t plant trees!"

As part of the partnership, Halfbrick has committed to sponsoring a fully functioning orchard in a low-income Native American community as part of FTPF’s Reservation Preservation program.

Providing a source of long term income for the tribe, Halfbrick claims the project will be managed by the FTPF, publishing progress updates on both its own and Halfbrick's website.