How Death Rally became a hit with little marketing

Alan Wake wasn't the biggest hit at retail. Developer Remedy needed to refill its coffers after that expensive project. Death Rally achieved just that, recouping its own development costs in three days and going on to build an audience of millions.

A new Forbes feature details just how Remedy got Death Rally to take off. The developer spent only $10,000 on marketing, the article notes -- $5,000 on PR, and $5,000 on a FreeAppADay offer. Two months later, the price dropped to $0.99, at which point the game hit a worldwide #1 on the App Store.

Then the game went free, and any losses have been offset by in-app purchases.

The rest of the story is familiar for iOS hits -- frequent updates and expansions, and a potential Android release. Remedy EVP Aki Järvilehto told Forbes that he estimated Android gamesto generate roughly 30% of the revenue of the same iPhone game.