Punch Entertainment reports 500k online players for Reign of Swords
No wonder they're working on a sequel
Punch Entertainment CEO Tobin Lent has told PocketGamer.biz that more than 500,000 people have played his company's Reign of Swords multiplayer strategy game since it launched in early 2008.
What's more, the company's servers have processed more than five million online battles for the game, which has been available for mobile handsets, iPhones and PC.
Lent says the game's popularity is down to player buzz around its networked features, as well as its popular Mobile Battles community website.
"Thousands of players discuss singleplayer campaign strategies, talk about multiplayer strategies, issue challenges and suggest improvements," he says.
"Very few mobile games have a community like this, particularly one that players will leave the game for in order to access. We attribute the multiplayer and community as big factors in driving viral growth of the game, and giving it the staying power it has had."
Lent says that the most active players are playing on both mobile and PC.
Punch is hoping to capitalise on this success with Episode II of the franchise, which is due out in early Summer, and will offer new maps, terrains, units and gameplay elements.
Interestingly, there'll be advantages for existing players, such as the ability to bring across their army from the first game, and access to some unique units.
The danger is whether this makes the game less appealing for new players, who won't have those advantages unless they go back and play the older title first.
Punch is also launching a version of Reign of Swords that will be playable within web browsers and social networks.
