Direct hit for Disney: Where's My Water? joins 100 million club

Having set out to deliver the kind of all-conquering IP the firm has previously enjoyed on the big screen, it appears Disney's Swampy the Alligator has achieved its goal.

Stats released by Disney claim Where's My Water? has now passed 100 million downloads, with the firm dubbing the game as the "breakout mobile game of the past year."

The milestone handily comes just as the game turns one, leading to the firm publishing an infographic illustrating the game's progress over the course of the last year.

Indeed, Disney's strategy to raise the profile of its first 'app star' has seen it try out inventive strategies.

At the start of 2012, the publisher moved to associate Swampy with Conservation International's Fresh Water Initiative.

The idea was to tap into Disney's wider Friends For Change campaign, with a $50,000 donation to the initiative – which looks to protect and restore freshwater sources – followed up by a free version of Where's My Water? loaded with fresh water facts and iconography.

In essence, Swampy's success will further validate Disney's desire to adopt the approach it's mastered elsewhere in its business in the mobile field.

It's a trend that looks set to continue.

"I want to release 12 games a year," Disney Mobile's SVP Bart Decrem back in June.

"I want one new character like Swampy. We need to be taking chances with new characters. Once a year, I want to make a game based around an event, like Brave. And I want to bring existing Disney characters into new games."