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Tiesto tracks released inside Tap Tap music game
Disney's always had kind of an identity complex with Tap Tap Revenge. The brand is one of the oldest on the App Store -- it was originally called Tap Tap Revolution, and was eventually picked up by Tapulous and turned into Tap Tap Revenge, a sort of DDR-style music game. Then, of course, Tapulous was bought by Disney, and its CEO, Bart Decrem, was put in charge of Disney's entire mobile division, where they've had significant success with other titles and brands. But Tap Tap has always been an interesting one. It has definitely benefited from Disney's ties to the music industry, and there's no question that the in-app purchases of popular songs help the app's profitability. But at the same time, it seems Disney isn't quite sure what to do with Tap Tap. The company, along with Decrem's insight, keeps coming up with different ways to try to tie together the relatively ancient Tap Tap gameplay with the Disney empire at large. And here's another one. DJ Tiesto is planning to release a new album, called Club Mix: Volume Two Miami, and he's signed a deal with Disney to debut it in the Tap Tap Revenge app itself. Starting today, fans will be able to download certain tracks from the album for free in Tap Tap Revenge, and then over a two-week period, various songs will be available to play for a limited time, allowing for a preview of the entire album. Disney's also giving away copies of the album in the game itself, and the two brands are just generally promoting the heck out of each other. It's not a bad idea at all, and it'll probably work. Tiesto's audience probably lines right up with the people playing this game, and spinning an album for the first time through an app is an intriguing strategy. But it definitely feels like Disney is poking around for something that works with Tap Tap Revenge, and if this doesn't, they'll have to dream up something else.
Disney reports 40% jump in iOS downloads from holiday 2010
Disney is the latest company to announce some crazy numbers from last year's holiday season (with Rovio having announced big numbers earlier this week, and the App Store overall seeing a big boost in sales over the holiday). The biggest title in the company's catalog was Where's My Water, which saw more than 6 million downloads over the holiday week, across both iOS and Android. And Disney Mobile saw a 40% increase in iOS downloads overall, as compared to the same period last year. TUAW previously spoke with the creator of Where's My Water, who started out as a QA tester at Disney and moved up the ranks to create hit iPhone games. This time around, we heard from Bart Decrem, Disney Mobile GM (and former CEO of Tapulous, the company that Disney acquired a few years ago). He says that "freemium" is the current word in mobile gaming: "2012 will see freemium models around many types of gameplay -- as is already being shown by the success of Temple Run." Temple Run isn't a Disney Mobile game -- it's created by a two person husband and wife team at Imangi Studios, and despite its relatively humble origins, it recently landed on the top grossing pile over this past holiday season. So if Decrem is right, we'll see more titles like it; games that intelligently combine solid gameplay with a very lucrative in-app purchase system. Disney itself says more updates are planned for Where's My Water and its other titles, and we'll have to wait and see what else the House of Mouse has up its sleeve for iOS this coming year.
Daily iPhone App: Tap Tap Glee
I don't purport to be a fan of Glee at all -- honestly, when it comes to musicals and dancing, I just don't get it. But I can't deny that the most recent Tap Tap app, based on the Glee TV show and its songs, is shooting up the charts on the App Store. So if you happen to be a Glee fan and want to tap along to some of your favorite tunes, here you are. The app itself comes with 11 free tracks to play with, along with a new free song every day, and if you want to explore further, there are over 50 songs and more to pick up via in-app purchase. Gameplay is pretty standard in the Tap Tap Revolution vein -- a series of notes come down the pike at you, and you need to tap on the screen to the rhythm of the music. This is a Glee game, so there's also some trivia to play and learn, including some fun extras from the Glee movie. There's social connectivity as well. Tapulous' Nine Inch Nails Revenge is a little more my personal speed, but each to their own. Tap Tap Glee is now available on the App Store for the low, low price of free.
Appsterdam: building a haven for app developers in Amsterdam
Mike Lee, formerly of Apple and Tapulous, has moved to Amsterdam and is looking to set up a new application development community. Lee left the US after he became disillusioned with how the country and the development community was headed. He was frustrated with not being able to afford heath insurance as a self-employed worker and was put off by the fast, money-focused lifestyle of Silicon Valley. He chose Amsterdam for his new Appsterdam project after traveling the world looking at prospective cities. It has the right combination of affordability and is centrally located in Europe. Amsterdam, he notes, is already filled with creative and marketing people. He hopes to provide a pool of talented app developers. Lee already kicked off his Appsterdam project with a weekend of tours and has designated official hangouts where developers can collaborate. Local investor Floris van Alkemade is offering his support by establishing a seed fund that will provide investments of 10-50,000 EUR (US$14,000- $70,000) per company.
TUAW's Daily App: ClubWorld
ClubWorld may not exactly be your kind of game. It's sort of a mashup of popular freemium gameplay elements. ClubWorld includes Farmville-style time sinks as you build your club up, social environments to customize and share with friends, and even some music-based mini-games. The look and the aesthetic are more tuned towards younger players than the average gamer, and most people old enough to buy an iPhone for themselves probably won't be too interested. But that's not really what's interesting about ClubWorld. What is interesting is that it's from Tapulous, the company that's had so much success on the App Store that it was bought by Disney last year. While Tapulous has been moving towards the freemium model with its Tap Tap Revenge series, ClubWorld is a complete embrace of that model. This looks like a Facebook game more than anything else. There are even in-app purchases for "energy items" (called sugar here) and iTunes referral links to music. Looking at this game, I'd almost call Tapulous a social gaming company rather than an iPhone developer. ClubWorld does take full advantage of Tapulous' music expertise, using lots of fully-licensed tracks in the various clubs you can create and play with, but this is much more a stab in the direction of We Rule and even Booyah's Nightclub City. It's a very interesting turn for the company; we'll have to see how it works out. Meanwhile, if you want to give it a try, ClubWorld is a free download right now.
Android's in-app billing makes a dent: Dungeon Defenders free on Android Market
Dungeon Defenders: First Wave cost $3 when it first came out. This week, the iOS version will cost you ninety-nine cents. But if you want to play the Unreal Engine-powered tower defense game today, you can have it for free -- developer Trendy Entertainment is now leaning on Android's new in-app billing system to pay for the whole thing. We can't give Trendy all the credit, of course, as Glu Mobile's Gun Bros and Tapulous' Tap Tap Revenge 4 are doing the same thing, but to our knowledge both of them were free to play from day one. Free-to-play gaming has been a controversial proposition in the console and PC gaming space -- most publishers would just like to sell a game once, and call it a day. On phone, however, where apps are expected to be cheap, it could indeed make more sense to charge users for items and upgrades than to have users "buy" the game. Either way, we penny-pinchers are pleased as punch with the idea. PR after the break.
GDC 2011: The latest from Disney Mobile
Disney's mobile gaming division had a table claimed in the company's hotel suit during GDC 2011, and I stopped by to see Disney's Jeff Nuzzi and check out the company's latest offerings. There were a few titles on display to be revealed later this year, but the current focus was on JellyCar 3, the latest in Disney Mobile's most popular line of casual gaming apps. The game (the original version of which was designed by a Disney developer in his spare time) is due for an update very soon, which will add new cars, the ability to import your own pictures for cars and a new level pack called "Time and Space" to play around with. Nuzzi also talked to me about the Tron app (released with the movie last year) and how the company's general strategy around iOS apps is going. Read on for more.
Facebook for iOS, Tapulous see big iOS downloads over the holiday
As expected, we're starting to see huge download numbers for iOS from over the weekend. As people unwrapped their new iOS devices, they also took to the App Store to pick up new games and apps as soon as they could. Facebook for iOS saw a gigantic jump in users -- as you can see in the chart above, the app saw an increase of a million users just over the holiday weekend, and it has gone up by almost 5 million users since Thanksgiving. That's pretty phenomenal, even considering that we knew the App Store would be busy. We probably haven't seen the last of the record numbers, either -- Tapulous says that its new Tap Tap Revenge 4 app saw twice the downloads this year that the last version did last Christmas. The peak downloads for that app (which is number one on the free App Store chart during the current freeze) reached 45,000 per hour over the weekend, which is just huge. I have a feeling that a lot of devs saw some really high sales and download numbers over the Christmas holiday. We'll keep an eye out for more as the next week goes on. [via DF]
Bart Decrem on Tap Tap Revenge 4 and the Disney acquisition of Tapulous
Tapulous (purchased by Disney earlier this year) has released Tap Tap Revenge 4, the fourth iteration of the extremely popular iOS music game, and the new version brings a whole lot of new features to the series. The game is now compatible with the Retina Display, includes Game Center integration, and has quite a few new social modes that let you "like" various songs, as well as see which of your friends have also "liked" that same music. Like Tap Tap 3, it's a free app that sells music packs and avatars as in-app purchases, with music from artists in all genres, from Linkin Park to Rihanna, The Killers, and quite a few more. Earlier this week, TUAW sat down to chat with Tapulous CEO Bart Decrem about the new game, and how his company has changed since it was not only acquired by Disney, but since he was placed in charge of the entire Disney Mobile operation. Read on to find out just how well Tap Tap Revenge 4 is doing (it's showing "the biggest download numbers ever," according to Decrem), and how he sees Disney's future in the mobile app space.
Billboard nominates music app awards
Billboard has announced that it will be giving awards out for iOS music apps (of all things). At the Music App Summit on October 5th, Billboard will choose winning iOS apps in six different categories, from Best Artist App and Best Music Creation App to Best Branded Music App. You can find the full list of nominees after the break, and there are some recognizable names on there, including a Phish touring app, TUAW favorite I am T-Pain, and the now Disney-owned Tap Tap Revenge. Winners will be announced at the summit, and they will be selected by a panel of judges that includes (not kidding about this) MC Hammer and a bunch of CEOs and marketing folks. It seems silly (and let's face it... it is), but Billboard is a big deal in the music industry, and this means that the dinosaur-like recording giants are at least starting to notice the effect that apps have on artist profiles. Plus, it's good to see LaDiDa get a little more attention -- I liked that one.
Tapulous integrated into Disney Mobile, releases Katy Perry Revenge
Disney buying Tapulous was one of the most high-profile App Store acquisitions so far, and here are the first fruits of that partnership. First up, Disney reports that Tapulous has been integrated into the rest of the company -- the studio is now fully part of the "Disney Mobile" division, so all future releases will come from the Disney Mobile name rather than the Tapulous brand. That contradicts with the actual App Store listing at the moment -- there's no mention of Disney in any of Tapulous' app listings. But that information can take a while to change, so we'll have to see if Disney updates those listings. Second, the studio's first game under the Disney banner is out now -- Katy Perry Revenge is a Tap Tap Revenge-style title built specifically for Katy Perry songs. There are ten songs from the pop singer in the app, from "I Kissed a Girl" to "Teenage Dream," and there's lots of other fan-specific material, as well as a Facebook connection to share scores and updates. It's available for US $4.99, the same price as Tapulous' other artist-targeted Revenge titles. So it sounds like things are both different and the same for Tapulous -- they've been brought into the company as a whole, but they're either cleaning out the queue of old projects (this new game easily seems as if it could have been done without Disney's help), or continuing to work on the same type of app as before. We'll have to see what Tapulous releases in the future now that they're brought into the Disney Mobile division.
Disney acquires social game firm Playdom
Stick with me on this one -- it's not strictly Apple-related, but I think it will have a big effect on the App Store in the future. Last week at Comic-Con, I saw the head of Disney's mobile gaming division, and I had to congratulate him; the company's Toy Story 3 app nabbed over 1.7 million downloads from the App Store. That's huge for them; as he'd originally told me at GDC earlier this year, the Toy Story app was part of a test to see if "selling" an app for free would increase its audience (which could then be sold on in-app purchases and add-on content). That test was apparently passed with flying colors. Then, of course, Disney purchased Tapulous a while back, and now they've picked up Playdom, an online social game developer, for a whopping $563 million. Connect the dots there, and it's pretty apparent that Disney has big plans for both gaming and the App Store. Social networking games are the hottest thing around in terms of in-app purchases, so I would not be at all surprised to see Disney combine its brands and marketing experience with Playdom's online gaming savvy and Tapulous' iPhone development talent in order to go big on some major free-to-play titles for the iPad and iPhone. And let's not forget that a certain black-turtlenecked CEO happens to be on Disney's board of directors, too. I doubt that he's solely masterminding any of these purchases, but Jobs would definitely have the access and intelligence to see the power of free downloads on the App Store, and how those apps can use programs like iAds and in-app purchases to make a big splash. I expect we'll see some really big initiatives by Disney thanks to these Tapulous and Playdom purchases -- it's only a matter of time.
Disney buys iPhone music game giant Tapulous
If you own an iPhone or iPod touch, there's a pretty good chance you've played one of the Tap Tap Revenge games. Like, for instance, Nickelback Revenge. Well, Disney has evidently been keeping an eye on the developer of those games, Tapulous, because it's gone and struck a deal to make the company a wholly-owned subsidiary. (Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.) Tapulous founders Bart Decrem and Andrew Lacy will take on new -- yet still key -- roles within the Disney Interactive Media Group. As for the Tapulous development staff, they're staying put, but will be required to wear comically large white gloves from now on. (We kid. Hopefully.) Steve Wadsworth, president of DIMG, commented on the deal, saying, "We welcome the Tapulous team to the Disney family and look forward to integrating their popular games into Disney's offerings." Yes, Tapulous will keep making games for iDevices -- they'll just probably feature more anthropomorphic animals.
Tapulous acquired by Disney
Disney has bought Tapulous outright, according to Techcrunch. The iPhone gaming company was one of the first on the App Store, and has been extremely successful with its Tap Tap Radiation and Tap Tap Revenge music titles. There's no word yet on how much money was involved in the deal, but Disney has been interested in both gaming and the iDevices for a while, and obviously Tapulous proved that it could meet the Mouse House's needs. Bart Decrem, Tapulous' CEO, will reportedly become a VP at Disney. Very impressive on Tapulous' part. There are more details coming, according to Techcrunch, so we'll update this post when we see any other news on the deal.
Nickelback gets own Tap Tap Revenge, suddenly considers music games 'very cool'
Tapulous, maker of the popular Tap Tap Revenge rhythm games for iPhone, has announced the arrival of the latest entry in the series: Nickelback Revenge. Now, this normally wouldn't rate very high on our interest-o-meters, if not for the critical comments about music games made by Nickelback signer Chad Kroeger back in late 2008, telling gamers to "put down the Guitar Hero" and start real bands. Today, Kroeger is signing a different tune. "The combination of our music and Tapulous' gameplay is very cool," the band's frontman said of the game. "We're excited to give our fans a fun, interactive way to experience our music." Surely not more fun or interactive than playing a real guitar, in a real band. Right, Chad? Right? Hey, at least Nickelback hasn't let its music appear in any other music games, let alone one that uses plastic guitars. What? Oh. Nickelback Revenge (Tapulous, $4.99): App Store Link
360iDev: Game Jam creations
Tuesday night at the 360iDev conference in San Jose, around 60 developers gathered in a room on the eBay campus around 8pm as security locked them in for the night (one developer joined the group via Skype -- that's him on the big screen above). Their goal? A game jam. Before 8am the next day, they would put together working prototypes of games, either based on their own ideas, or revolving around the night's theme of "Tiny." Not all developers were there to make new games -- a few were there to work on current projects or offer up their help to others. But up until 2am and beyond (that's about when I chickened out and let them work), the room was full of developers punching away on their keyboards, writing code, designing art, and, well, developing. I originally thought that it was just a lark; a fun project that gave everyone an excuse to spend the night on the eBay campus. But no, this was serious stuff -- apparently at least one App Store game has its origins in past game jams at these conferences. So while developers were just testing their skills at putting their ideas into motion, it's possible that we may see some of these prototypes show up on the App Store eventually as working products. After the break, we'll provide a look at what a few developers were up to at Tuesday's game jam.
360iDev: Mike Lee on changing the world with engineering
Former Delicious Monster and Tapulous developer Mike Lee (who now works for the mothership at Apple) took the stage to start off the last day of 360iDev in San Jose. He gave a wildly rambling speech about what it means to be an engineer and why programmers should not only make the best programs they can, but actually commit to changing the world for the better. Lee's speech was probably the most broad, and least technical, of the whole conference. While other speakers had covered using Core Data in apps or how to make the most money on the App Store, Lee spoke about his work with the Terrorist Watch List, the beauty and insanity of Van Gogh's Starry Night, and why he has to convince himself that he is really as cool as everyone says. As you can probably tell already, it was a heck of a thing to see. About halfway through the speech, summarized as best it can be below, Lee stopped flipping slides and just talked candidly and from the heart about his apps, his work, and his life. Read on for more.
Tapulous making a million a month off the App Store
Well, even with rampant piracy, review craziness, and that funky approval process, it's good to hear that someone can still make a truckload of cash on the App Store. According to Reuters, that someone is Tapulous, who is apparently making almost a million dollars a month thanks to twenty million downloads of their Tap Tap Revenge game. We recently talked to Andrew Lacy on the release of said game back in October, and he told us that the game's in-app purchase features (you get the game for cheap, and then have a chance to buy lots of extra music to play in packs and bundles) would be the "first big test of in-app commerce at a much grander scale." Looks like the test was a success. Of course, there's not too many details on how exactly that million dollars comes in -- I'm sure there was a flurry of sales right around the release of the app (as press was dropping), and you'd expect them to be a little higher during the holidays (sales of video games usually are, no matter what platform you're talking about). So it's not completely proven that this kind of income is necessarily sustainable. But still, it's good to hear from the folks at Tapulous that someone can release a game and roll in the cash from Apple's platform.
Of Wolf and Tap Tap Revenge: Metallica on iPhone
Tapulous, a company specializing in games for the iPhone, has added another to its ranks: Tap Tap Revenge: Metallica. The game is available right now in the App Store and fuses the band with the established Tap Tap Revenge experience, allowing gamers to poke their iPhone through some of the band's most famous ditties such as "One" and "Enter Sandman" -- with ten total tracks available. The new edition also sports some added functionality over its regular ol' boring Tap Tap Revenge counterparts: Aside from the usual career mode, there's now a more fast-paced arcade mode where players are "challenged with bombs and other special objects" and a new Bluetooth battle mode that lets players challenge others -- granted you're within the appropriate distance of each other -- to see who's the better iPhone-screen-poker. For those diehard Metallica fans who aren't satisfied with an entire game themed around the band, the title also has other features that allow one to stalk be more in tune (sorry!) with the band's current activities -- including a news ticker and a live message board. Tap Tap Revenge: Metallica ($4.99)
Devs quickly move to new models after in-app purchase change
It was just yesterday that Apple announced they would allow free apps to enable in-app purchases, and developers are already jumping on the "get the app for free, buy the content later" business model as quickly as they can. ngmoco came out swinging, as Touch Arcade reports, with both a free intro version of Rolando 2 out for purchase, with later chapters of the game as add-ons. They've also been working on a shooter called Eliminate, and we're now told that title will be free as well, with extra content to buy later. The creators of Urban Rivals, an app that is based on a virtual trading card game, have let us know that they too plan to go the free-with-microtransactions model as soon as their app is released, and though we haven't actually heard from Tapulous, Andrew Lacy told us outright that the only reason Tap Tap Revenge 3 had a 99 cent price tag on it was because of Apple's limitation, so we'll expect that app to go free as soon as it can. Clearly, there's a drive for this model on the developer side, but the question will be just how much this echoes with consumers -- certainly the "download a trial, buy more later" model has worked well on other platforms, so we can expect it to work here on the App Store as well. But on the other hand, just as when the App Store first opened for business, it's a very "wild west" moment -- everybody and their brother is offering up in-app transactions, and they're all of varying prices and quality. My guess is that we'll see a few "hits" -- a few free apps that everybody buys content for (Tap Tap Revenge 3 is a good guess; considering that because you know most of those songs, there's much less guessing on what the quality of the transactions will give you). At the same time, there will likely be apps that everyone agrees aren't worth the in-app purchase (it's the old story of "horse armor" when Xbox Live started doing microtransactions). Until we find a good balance, where quality meets price, odds are that it'll be tough for consumers to know just what's worth it, and thus tough for developers to convince them that their content is.
