The Inside Network Job Board is dedicated to providing you with the best job opportunities across social and mobile application platforms.

Here are this week’s highlights from the Inside Network Job Board, including positions at Stealth Mobile Startup, FashionPlaytes, Inc., PlayMesh,  Atari, King.com, TinyCo, Addmired, RealNetworks, Inc., Mob Science, XMG Studio,  Konami, SponsorPay, GREE International, Inc. and Social Point.

Stealth Mobile Startup

• Senior Android Engineer

• Social Game Designer

• Backend Game Developer

• Monetization Analyst – Mobile/Social Games
• Acquisition Marketing Manager – Mobile Games
• Mobile Producer
• Mobile Advertising Sales Manager
• Business Development Director – Mobile Games

• 3D Artist
• IT Support Engineer
• Game Developer – Social and Mobile Games
• Ad Operations Traffic
• Senior Producer, Social Games – King.com
• Product Manager Network

• Data Analyst
• Product Manager
• C++ Game Engineer
• Game Designer
• UI Artist

• UX Artist
• Erlang Infrastructure Developer
• C/C++ Game Developer
• Tools Engineer
• Scalability Engineer
• Build/Release Engineer
• Senior Producer/Project Manager
• QA/CS Director
• Senior Operations Engineer
• Acquisition Manager/Mobile Ad Buyer

• Product Manager

• Game Designer

• Data Jockey

• Marketing Manager

• Director of Developer Relations

• Senior Manager, Corporate Development

• Product Manager (Video Games)
• iOS Developer
• Senior Systems Administrator

Listings on the Inside Network Job Board are distributed to readers of Inside Social Games, Inside Facebook and Inside Mobile Apps through regular posts and widgets on the sites. Your open positions are being seen by the leading developers, product managers, marketers, designers and executives in the Facebook Platform and social gaming industry today.

The iOS version of California-based Robot Invader’s side-scrolling platformer Wind-Up Knight is seeing more than 10,000 downloads an hour after switching to a free-to-play model.

Robot Invader originally released the iOS version of Wind Up Knight on Dec. 15 as a $0.99 paid title, but made the game to a free-to-play on Feb. 21. According to Robot Invader’s co-founder and former Android developer advocate Chris Pruett, Wind-Up Knight typically had a few hundred downloads a day before going free, but by the beginning of the month the app had dropped off the radar.

The effect of going free-to-play was immediate — yesterday Pruett tweeted the game had seen 20,000 downloads within 12 hours of the change and at 9:00 am this morning Pruett followed up, stating the game is now seeing more than 10,000 downloads an hour. According to Pruett the game has added approximately 100,000 new users in the last 24 hours.

The game is also currently being featured as the free app of the day on the popular promotion site Freeappaday.com, but so far Pruett isn’t sure how much influence the feature is having.

“It’s pretty impossible to separate the Free App A Day influence from the general buzz about the app going free (there are many aggregators that noticed the price drop and reported it anyway), but regardless we are very happy with the result,” he explains.  “I think it is likely that Free App A Day brought a huge number of users today, and the real test will be to see how long we can sustain a position in the top charts once that promotion ends.” Pruett used to work as a senior developer advocate for games on Google before heading off to do his own venture.

If the popularity of the game keeps pace, Wind-Up Knight may be the latest free-to-play indie game to find big success on iOS. NimbleBit’s hit games Tiny Tower and Pocket Frogs have each racked up more than 10 million downloads and Imangi Studios’ Temple Run has seen more than 36 million downloads. U.K.-based developer Hogrocket has also weighed in on the strength of the free-to-play model, saying their next game will be likely be free, even though their game Tiny Invaders has been successful using the paid model.

Readers may remember the free-to-play Android version of Wind-Up Knight made our Nov. 11 roundup of the top free Android apps in the No. 39 spot shortly after its release.

It’s that time of year again. Now that all of the gaming companies have reported earnings, we’ve made our quarterly cheat sheet for industry observers summarizing smartphone earnings and growth. We’ve also added in annual earnings too.

For the whole of 2011, revenues on Android and iOS came in at between $25 and 75 million for publicly-traded companies that I could tease out smartphone earnings from. Quarter-over-quarter growth accelerated following the iPhone 4S launch and during the holidays, as it typically does. This year, we’ll probably see a few companies comfortably cross the $100 million in revenues on Android and iOS.

Publicly-Traded Gaming Companies

There are a few publicly-traded companies like Sega, Take Two Interactive (which owns Grand Theft Auto-maker Rockstar Games), and Caesar’s (which owns Playtika), that we didn’t include because they don’t break out mobile earnings at all.

Glu Mobile:
Fourth-quarter smartphone revenue: $10.1 million, up threefold from the same quarter a year ago when it earned $3.1 million in the fourth quarter. But quarter-over-quarter growth continues to slow with just a $400,000 increase over the previous quarter. The chart below Glu shared below is based on non-GAAP revenue, which isn’t in line with generally accepted accounting principles.
Smartphone revenue for all of 2011: $35.1 million, more than triple the $9.87 million Glu earned the year before.
Market capitalization: $239.5 million, up from $205.3 million the last time we published this sheet.
Hits: Contract Killer and Gun Bros continue to perform well, contributing $1.9 and $1.5 million respectively in the holiday quarter. But one of the new titles, Stardom, seems to be performing well on the grossing charts as well.

Capcom’s Mobile Unit (also known as Beeline Interactive):
Revenue (Smartphone & Social Networking Sites): We calculated that Capcom’s mobile and social gaming unit pulled in $17.8 million in the quarter ending in December. The company had said the unit had earned $50.1 million in the first nine months of their fiscal year (which starts in March) and then in a previous statement, it said the unit made $32.3 million in the first half. It’s not clear how much of that came from the Facebook version versus the iOS version of the Smurf’s Village, Monster Pet Shop or Snoopy’s Street Fair.
Mobile & social gaming revenue for all of 2011: $70.7 million and Capcom expects to see $75 million for the full fiscal year ending on March 31.
Market Capitalization: $1.42 billion, down from $1.82 billion the last time we did this sheet.
Hits: Snoopy’s Street Fair, Smurf’s Village

Gamevil:
Smartphone Revenue: $12.8 million this quarter, up by more than fivefold from a year ago. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, that’s almost twice what it was in the third quarter, when smartphone revenues were $7 million.
Smartphone gaming revenue for all of 2011: $27.7 million
Market Capitalization: $357.9 million, down from $378 million the last time we did this sheet.
Hits: Zenonia, Baseball Superstars

Electronic Arts:
Mobile revenue (includes feature phones): $70 million last quarter, up 19 percent year-over-year. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, mobile revenue is up $15 million.
Annual mobile revenue (includes feature phones): $252 million
Market Capitalization: $5.7 billion, down from $7.6 billion the last time we did this sheet
Hits: Monopoly Hotels, Plants vs. Zombies, NBA Jam, Tetris

Gameloft:
Overall & Smartphone Revenues: Gameloft did 47 million euros ($62.2 million) in the fourth quarter. It said smartphone and tablet-related sales were 41 percent of total sales, or 19.3 million euros ($25.5 million). That’s up 64 percent year-over-year.
Smartphone gaming revenue for all of 2011: $74.3 million
Market Capitalization: $514.6 million, up from $421 million when we last did this sheet.
Hits: Gangstar Rio: City of Saints, The Oregon Trail, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, Modern Combat 3

Zynga:
Revenue: Overall third quarter revenue was $311.3 million. Zynga does not break out mobile revenue, but it did say that it had 15 million daily active users on iOS and Android. Total annual revenues were $1.14 billion.
Hits: Words With Friends, Zynga Poker, Dream Zoo
Market capitalization: $9.11 billion

The Japanese Mobile Gaming Platforms That Are Trying to Crack The West

DeNA:
Net Sales & Income: The Japanese company, which is trying to make headway into Western and Chinese markets with its Mobage platform, said net sales rose 16 percent year-over-year to 34.2 billion yen ($448 million). But net income declined by 25 percent to 6.08 billion yen ($79.2 million) as additional headcount ate into the company’s margins.
Net sales for all of 2011: $1.7 billion
Market Capitalization: $4.73 billion, down from $5.29 billion the last time we did this sheet.

GREE:
Net Sales & Income: GREE has a pretty remarkable quarter with after more than tripling its net income from a year earlier to 12.7 billion yen ($158 million). It nearly did the same for its overall revenue with net sales reaching 41.5 billion yen ($516.9 million).
Annual net sales: $1.37 billion
Market Capitalization: $6.93 billion, down from $8.22 billion the last time we did the earnings sheet.

Privately-Held Gaming Companies

Funzio:
Funzio added a second hit game this quarter with Modern War, a military-themed version of the engine it used to power Crime City.
Hits: Crime City, Modern War
Funding: The company took $20 million in Series A funding from IDG Ventures and IDG Capital Partners.

Backflip Studios:
It turns out that Dragonvale, from Colorado’s Backflip Studios, had some incredible staying power this quarter in spite of tough holiday competition. The company also recently released Ragdoll Blaster 3.
Hits: Dragonvale, Paper Toss, Ragdoll Blaster 3
Funding: They haven’t revealed any venture funding to date.

Imangi Studios
This husband-and-wife team came literally out of nowhere with Temple Run, which recently hit 36 million downloads. Time will tell if they can make their success repeatable.
Hits: Temple Run
Funding: None revealed to date.

Storm8:
Storm8, which was bootstrapped by a few Facebook alums and the team that would go on to found Funzio, continues on a roll. Despite increasing costs and competition, the company is still holding up some very longstanding titles like World War on both Android and iOS. 
Hits: World War, Fashion Story, iMobsters, Bakery Story, Restaurant Story, Vampires Live
Funding: No external funding to date. It seems that a rumored round that would peg the company’s valuation at $1 billion didn’t happen.

Mojang:
This Swedish indie developer also popped up on the charts after releasing a mobile edition of Minecraft in November. Given the game’s rabid fan base, it hasn’t been too much of a surprise to see it stay on the grossing charts.
Hits: Minecraft
Funding: Bootstrapped

Pocket Gems:
A more challenging quarter for Pocket Gems as it was the first time the company’s placement in the top 10 grossing apps really faced a lot of competition from all fronts (and especially from Zynga). Tap Pet Hotel seems to be holding up well and Pocket Gems has been busy releasing a slew of new titles including Zombie Takeover and Tappily Ever After.
Hits: Tap Pet Hotel, Tap Zoo
Funding: $5 million from Sequoia Capital, angels. An unknown amount of funding from Redpoint Ventures, which was said to be mainly founder liquidity.

Rovio Mobile:
After teasing Angry Birds: Space, it seems like it’s about time for this company to release a brand new game. Rovio has been relying on extensions of its core hit on iOS, Android and Facebook. It hasn’t launched any totally new intellectual property in some time as it focuses on extending Angry Birds’ reach into other mediums like TV and toys. 
Hits: Angry Birds and all of the brands’ extensions.
Funding: $42 million from Atomico Ventures and Accel Partners.

Kama Games:
This bootstrapped developer all the way from Vladivostok in Siberia is still reliant on Texas Poker, which has slipped a teeny bit thanks to competition from Zynga’s poker game. 
Hits: Texas Poker
Funding: No outside venture funding. The company was founded by a supermarket magnate in Siberia.

Game Insight:
Game Insight continues its roll on Android. Because it was one of the first to launch and take advantage of in-app purchases, it gained an advantage against late-comers on the Android platform. Today it has about three or so apps in the top grossing charts there. 
Hits: Paradise Island, My Railway, Enchanted Realm
Funding: This Russian company run by five women is bootstrapped.

Nimblebit:
This fiercely independent studio created Apple’s game of the year Tiny Tower. The game, which had more than 1 million daily active users at the beginning of the year, sees about 5 percent of its base pay $10. NimbleBit recently publicly harangued Zynga for making a similar title Dream Heights.
Hits: Tiny Tower, Pocket Frogs
Funding: Bootstrapped

Halfbrick Studios:
The Fruit Ninja-maker has another solid hit on its hands with Jetpack Joyride. Both games have a bit of longevity. Jetpack Joyride, which sits at #34 on the grossing charts, was released in Sept.
Hits: Fruit Ninja, Jetpack Joyride
Funding: $3 million in grant funding from New South Wales’ Interactive Media Fund

TinyCo:
TinyCo’s most recent game Tiny Village also figures into the recent clone wars, after Z2Live criticized the company for making a title that’s too similar to its games Battle Nations and Trade Nations.
Hits: Tiny Zoo Friends, Tiny Village
Funding: $18 million from Andreessen Horowitz

Crowdstar:
Crowdstar recently iterated on its female-focused approach by releasing Social Girl, which is kind of like a touch-up to Top Girl. But Top Girl is also staying up on the charts too.
Hits: Social Girl, Top Girl
Funding: $23 million from Intel Capital, Time Warner, The9 and other angels.

The Playforge:
Also founded by a husband and wife team, Playforge has been trying to branch out from its original zombies-meets-Farmville hit Zombie Farm. It released Zombie Life, a sim game that hasn’t quite had the same sticking power as the company’s original hit. 
Hits: Zombie Farm
Funding: They’re bootstrapped, and have no public interest in pursuing funding.

Booyah:
City builder My Town 2 has had some staying power this quarter and is ranked around #45 on the charts. Booyah has had a bit of a turbulent history, moving from iOS to Facebook and then back. It changed chief executive officers in the latter half of the year.
Hits: My Town 2
Funding: The company has at least $24.5 million in funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers’ iFund and Accel Partners.

Happylatte:
Happylatte is a Beijing-based company that used to do technical outsourcing work. But as margins on that business declined, they switched to building games. They have a promising start with a game that has been pulling in more than $1 million a month over the summer, but now need to prove they can be more than a one-hit wonder.
Hits: High Noon
Funding: The company is bootstrapped.

Addmired:
This YCombinator-company recently released a more social version of its mafia-themed RPG. There’s now real-time chat that lets players interact with each other. 
Hits: iMob2, Global War, Original Gangstaz
Funding: Addmired has seed funding from incubator YCombinator.

Z2Live:
Z2Live extended its Trade Nations franchise with Battle Nations back in November. That game brought player-versus-player combat and invasions. 
Hits: Battle Nations, Trade Nations, MetalStorm: Online
Funding: The company raised a round of undisclosed size from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Madrona Venture Group.

Ziggurat is a new iOS title from independent developer Action Button Entertainment. It’s available now as a $.99 Universal app from the App Store.

Ziggurat is an extremely simple game that, like some of the most successful and popular iPhone games of all time, tasks the player with one job only: survive as long as possible. Standing atop a pyramid and unable to move, the player is challenged to fend off increasingly chaotic waves of cycloptic alien invaders using a laser gun. Over time, a wider variety of aliens with differing attack patterns appear, culminating in an attack by the aliens’ mothership.

Rather than adopt a simple “virtual joystick” approach for the shooting action, Ziggurat instead includes two different control schemes. The default, known as Precision Mode, simply requires players to slide their finger along the lower portion of the screen to choose the angle of their shot, then release their finger to fire it. An optional “aim guide” line can be switched on to assist with finding the right direction for a shot. Action Button describes this system as being a means to allow the game an easy to understand control system while preventing that age-old problem of touchscreen games — fingers blocking the action.

The alternative control scheme, known as Slingshot Mode, requires players to “pull back” from the on-screen player character, then release to fire. This mechanic has been included to cater to those familiar with slingshot mechanics in other games such as Angry Birds, Squids and Neko.

As the aliens approach, their single eye grows and shrinks in size. Likewise, the player’s energy bolt grows and shrinks prior to firing. Hitting an enemy when both the eye and the energy bolt are at the largest size creates a large explosion which can cause chain reactions. Mastering this mechanic is key to success in the game, particularly when the onslaught becomes more and more intense. There is no score displayed on screen during gameplay, meaning players don’t find out how well they have done until the game has ended. This allows for full concentration on fending off the incoming hordes without the distraction of trying to beat a previous high score.

The game favors a consciously retro aesthetic, featuring pixel-art visuals strongly reminiscent of 16-bit computers and consoles such as the Super NES, and a chiptune soundtrack similar to that which would have been heard on Nintendo’s 8-bit NES console. The developer has also made the game’s soundtrack available for purchase via “pay-what-you-want” music service Bandcamp as an additional revenue stream.

The game’s simplicity means that it is easy for new players to pick up and play, but 16 Game Center leaderboards covering everything from “most kills in a single game” to “longest survival” and “most complete games” provide dedicated players with the means for healthy competition in a variety of categories. The game also supports OpenFeint, meaning that cross-platform competition in the future isn’t out of the question if Action Button decides to produce an Android version. It’s also possible to post top scores to Facebook and Twitter, with achievements and leaderboards encouraging players to do this as much as possible, helping to promote the game — though since the Twitter-themed achievements are called “Spamsquire” and “Spamlord” it’s fair to say that this encouragement comes with a healthy dose of self-deprecation.

Ziggurat is currently ranked at No. 264 in Top Paid Apps, No. 324 in Top Paid iPad Apps, No. 132 in Top Paid Games and No. 160 in Top Paid iPad Games. The game has only been available for a matter of days, however, and has shown strong growth in that short period. With the aid of the game’s inbuilt virality and word of mouth, it’s possible that Ziggurat’s simple gameplay and charmingly retro aesthetic will see some modest success.

You can track Ziggurat‘s progress through the App Store charts with AppData, our tracking service for social and iOS games and developers.

Facebook added additional settings to help native iOS applications get traffic from the mobile News Feed, search and other avenues, the company announced today in a blog post.

Developers can optimize distribution by allowing single sign-on and deep linking. Apps that enable Facebook SSO can get distribution from the Facebook iOS app in News Feed, Timeline, requests, bookmarks and search. That’s why Pinterest, for example, is discoverable through mobile search, but Yahoo’s web-based social reader is not.

Today Facebook is adding more granular control to how developers can route potential new users to their apps with “deep linking.” Deep linking can take a user to content inside the app instead of its landing page in the iTunes app store. A media app, for example, might want to take a new user to a news story or a music track first before prompting them to download the app.

Continue reading on our sister site, Inside Facebook.

These days, its pretty commonplace to hear about teams of console developers announcing they have formed an independent studio to go into mobile development.

One of the many triple A-turned-mobile studios that has formed in the past year is U.K.-based Hogrocket, a three-man team that emerged from the ashes of Bizarre Creations after Activision decided to close the studio at the end of 2010.

Known for creating the Xbox Live Arcade hit Geometry Wars and the Project Gotham Racing franchise, Bizarre’s senior level designer Pete Collier, community manager Ben Ward and Geometry Wars creator Stephen Cakebread set out on their own in March 2011, forming a bootstrapped studio to take advantage of the opportunities in mobile development. The studio’s first (and so far only) game, Tiny Invaders has been a decent hit, and recently spawned a free-to-play spinoff.

Inside Mobile Apps recently had an in-depth discussion with Hogrocket co-founder Pete Collier to check in on the studio’s progress and ask him what the transition from console to mobile development has been like.

Inside Mobile Apps: How is Tiny Invaders doing? Are you happy with how its performing?

Pete Collier, co-founder, Hogrocket (pictured right): It’s doing very well. It’s hard to judge because you don’t really get that many download figures from other developers. It hasn’t been an out-and-out Angry Birds-type success or anything like that, so we’re not millionaires yet. I think its done very well considering its our first game. We launched Sep. 1 and we’ve always been featured in some capacity by Apple in that time. Over Christmas we were featured as a benchmark game so we’ve had a nice steady set of download figures since launch. Having come from the console space means we’re quite happy with that.

IMA: Tiny Invaders started out as a paid app, but at the end of January you put out a free app with an in-app upgrade. Why the change in tactics?

Collier: In November we had a really exciting event happen — we were featured in the Apple iPhone 4S announcement keynote, on the big screen while they were demonstrating some of the 4S features. But the thing was that it didn’t have the name Tiny Invaders scrawled over it, it was just a screenshot and we needed to capitalize on it and tell people that it was our game. To do that, we made the game free for three days following the keynote. In those three days we got just under a hundred thousand downloads. It was obvious to us at that point there were a lot of people interested in the game and lot of awareness around the game, but the premium price point and the fact that we were an unknown developer and not a known brand might have been putting people off.

IMA: How much did going free increase your downloads? Did you see the 10-fold increase other developers have seen, where a free app is downloaded about 10 times as often as a paid app?

Collier: It’s hard to tell without having prior comparisons, but I think our experience certainly seems to follow that. That promotion was on making our premium app free for three days, so that wasn’t a fair test, but we decided to make a free version of Tiny Invaders because of those three days. We are actually seeing about 10 times more downloads for the free version, which is good, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into people converting through in-app purchases. We’ve seen about three percent conversion, which is generally the accepted stat that you’ll hear from other developers.

IMA: Are you looking at taking Tiny Invaders to Android?

Collier: Yeah, we’re looking at it, but we’re really basing the decision on how well Tiny Invaders Free does on iOS because that will be what we release on Android if we are going to release anything. Premium doesn’t really work in that space.

IMA: So if you were to take it to Android you’d go free with an in-app purchase and hope for the best?

Collier: I think so. That’s really why we’ve been a little hesitant up to this point. Obviously it takes us time and therefore money to port it ourselves, so it’s one of those things that I think a lot of other developers do as well — they test the market with iOS and put it out, and if its successful enough they can then take it Android without as much risk. If you achieve a certain level of success on iOS it makes sense to bring it to Android. Tiny Invaders has seen a lot of success and a lot of exposure so we think it will work on Android, hopefully.

IMA: How has iOS development been for you, monetization wise? Are you feeling good about the decision to move from console development to mobile?

Collier: We’re certainly learning a lot about the mobile space. Looking forward to our next game we’ll certainly be looking more at the freemium business model as opposed to premium. I think if we’d known what we know now, we’d have been freemium from the start and perhaps designed the game so it supported that business model more. Premium has certainly been tougher than what we expected in terms of what we get back monetization wise. We launched [the game] at tier 3, which I think is the five dollar mark which is very, very high. We very quickly moved it down to 69p ($0.99).

IMA: Did you find sales increased significantly when you went to the tier one price point?

Collier: Definitely. It hugely leapt up once we went to 69p. We still debate about this internally but I think you have to be at 69p. It’s an interesting issue because I think it comes down to a trust issue with gamers in the marketplace. If you’re a known quality and a known brand, then you can afford to be premium because gamers know what they’re getting. If you’re an unknown quantity like Hogrocket and it’s a new IP that people don’t recognize, its quite a big leap for people to hand over any money at all, even 69p. I think free is certainly the answer going forward. Get people in and give them a chance to taste your game and then ask them if they’d be willing to hand some money over for extra content.

IMA: If you’re designing your next game as free-to-play, are you worried abut designing around monetization rather than gameplay?

Collier: I think developers will need to be really careful about where they draw that line. You can end up being quite cynical with it and that will detract from the gaming experience. To be honest I think gamers will speak with their feet and with their wallets. At the end of the day you’ve still got to develop a fantastic and fun experience. The way that you use the monetization part of it can’t become a barrier to entry. It’s different from the demo model we’re using now. I think that model only works when you’re trying to retrofit free-to-play. If you’re designing something from the ground up then you’ve got to make sure that the in-app purchase and the monetization is an enhancement to the game, not a block to getting anything out of the experience.

IMA: Which version of Tiny Invaders is more profitable for you right now? The free version or the premium version? 

Collier: That’s an interesting question. To be up front, the premium version is still making much more money than the free version, but I don’t think its a fair test to look at it as a model for the rest of the market. I think if we’d launched Tiny Invaders right from the start as the free version is now, then I think that would have been the best possible thing for the app. The premium version is still being featured by Apple, but the only exposure the free version gets is when people click on the premium version.

IMA: Has it been an adjustment to move from console development to mobile development? You’ve talked a few times about “what you know now.”

Collier: I think it was an adjustment for us. Perhaps we underestimated the marketplace in the terms of the trust issues and being a known quantity. We were a known quantity coming from the console space and coming from Bizarre, and we thought a lot people would know that, and therefore know about Hogrocket and be happy to pay a premium price. The reality of the mobile space is the marketplace is so vast and so great that the majority of market doesn’t read game industry stuff or gaming websites. The marketplace is substantially more varied.

IMA: Have you found people are willing to pay more for a console game and digitally distributed console games than a mobile game?

Collier: Yes, because it’s a completely different situation and platform. People that have consoles have bought them specifically to game and because they bought a console they’re much more inclined to spend money on the games for that console. On mobile the way people game on their device is different. It’s more about distraction and very brief sessions of distraction.That distraction can come in many different forms, not just gaming — talking, messaging, regular apps and gaming apps. It’s not a dedicated gaming device so I don’t think people are as willing to spend money on it because they’re not specifically gamers. That’s why the price points are a lot lower.

IMA: Why did you choose not to return to AAA console development? 

Collier:  AAA has stagnated a little bit for me. Creatively it wasn’t doing if for me. Mobile presented quite a fresh new challenge on the design side. You have to think about it completely differently because the device and how people interact with it is completely different. What’s really interesting is that the business of the company and the way you make money is completely integrated with how you design the games, especially with freemium. The way you design a game and monetize it is your business, whereas in the console space it’s a completely different proposition. You’re often separated from the business side of it and you’re part of a big team with a smaller sense of ownership.

IMA: Is that sense of ownership what’s driving former console developers like yourself to mobile? 

Collier:  I think that’s it. In the industry a lot has changed and people are able to do that now. It’s almost harking back to the 80s again in terms of game development. You can, as a small team, make a game. The barriers to entry are really, really light – it’s $100 for an Apple developers license. It’s really attractive to any creative to really, fully put your stamp on something.

On average, every app downloaded from the iOS store generates about $0.23 in revenue, argues Apple analyst Horace Dediu of Asymco. That means that as Apple is set to pass its 25 billionth app download, every one of the 335 million iOS devices sold has generated about $12 dollars in revenue for developers in the ecosystem.

Dediu bases his analysis on two well-known figures — first, Apple has paid developers $4 billion over the lifetime of its store, and second, the fact that Apple is just days away from its 25 billionth app download.

According to Dediu’s math, if the app store has paid out $4 billion to developers, it has earned $5.7 billion in gross revenues because Apple keeps an additional 30 percent cut of revenue. That means if you divide the App Store’s total revenue by the number of downloads, it each app has created about $0.23 in gross revenue and about $0.16 cents for developers after Apple’s 30 percent cut.

While those figures may be fairly loose estimates, they do roughly align with Apple’s most recent payout figures. In the fourth quarter Apple paid $700 million to developers, meaning the store likely earned around $1 billion in gross revenues.

Dediu assumes Apple has sold 335 million total iOS devices to date after the company reported it had sold more than 315 million devices in total in its fourth quarter earnings call on Jan. 24. That means that between the 25 billion apps downloaded, each device has generated 75 downloads on average. Multiplying $0.23 by 75 indicates that every iOS device sold has created $17 in gross app revenue and developers have taken home $12 of that.

The Presidents Day edition of the paid iOS charts finds big developers like Rockstar and EA taking advantage of the holiday as an excuse to hold a $0.99 sale, a practice that seems to be a regular occurrence for EA. Elsewhere on the iPhone charts, not one but two scam apps have cracked the top 10, demonstrating Apple still has more work to do to police the app store.

This week’s top paid iPhone apps

[Update] Grand Theft Auto – Rockstar’s already popular iOS adaption of its PS2 classic Grand Theft Auto 3 rockets back to the top of the charts thanks to a limited time sale that has discounted the game’s price to $0.99 in honor of Presidents Day. The game has otherwise not been updated since it was released on Dec. 15. Grand Theft Auto 3 was ported to iOS by War Drum Studios.

Pokémon Yellow — Although Apple has begun to crack down on fake apps, the problem is still very much in force with the rise of what appears to be Pokémon Yellow to the No. 2 spot on the paid iPhone charts. The app is not actually Pokémon Yellow — Nintendo has made it clear many times it won’t be bringing core Nintendo IP to non-Nintendo systems — the app is a fake developed by Daniel Burford, aka, House of Anime that sells for $0.99 and has already racked up more than 1,200 negative reviews.

[Update] Clear — Productivity app Clear continues to perform well on the paid charts this week, holding the No. 5 spot. Developed by Realmac Software, the app is a slick to-do list manager with a sleek and colorful interface. Clear is on Sale for $0.99 as part of an introductory sale and was released on Feb. 16.

Temple Guns — Yet another app designed to trick buyers makes the charts this week in the No. 8 spot. Using a familiar-looking icon and an a name designed to make unwitting users think they’re getting a sequel to Imangi Studios’ Temple Run, Temple Guns is actually a typing game that has nothing to do with Imangi or Temple Run. The game is $0.99 and is credited to Fred Mansoon and Mansoon Soft.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars – Rockstar makes our list for a second time in the No. 21 spot with its other GTA iOS game, a port of the Nintendo DS title Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. The game has also been discounted to $0.99 and was last updated on Mar. 28, 2010.

This week’s top paid iPad Apps

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12 for iPad -- EA also gets into the Presidents Day sale action, discounting its golf game Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12 for iPad to $0.99, which has pushed the game up to the No. 7 position on the iPad charts. Last updated on Jan. 3, the game is a paid app, but also monetizes through in-app purchases of pro-shop cash and character upgrades. The game has four different modes and allows players to play against their friends in a Closest to the Pin Challenge mode.

[Update] Kingdom Rush – Armor Games also takes advantage of Presidents Day, discounting its strategy game Kingdom Rush to $0.99. A tower defense title, the game features 12 different types of towers and 30 enemies. Kingdom Rush is currently the No. 9 paid iPad app.

Pizza Vs. Skeletons – Riverman Media’s unique game Pizza Vs. Skeletons makes our list in the No. 14 spot. Currently on sale for $2.99, the game is a 2D platformer where the player controls a sentient, 25 foot tall pizza as it flattens hordes of undead skeletons in a variety of settings. The game features more than 100 levels and users can share their high scores via Facebook and Twitter.

[Update] Angry Birds Rio HD – Rovio’s Angry Birds Rio HD continues to ride high on the paid iPad charts, coming in this week in the No. 16 position. The game was last updated on Jan. 26 with 15 new levels featuring the new expandable Orange Bird.

[Update] Minecraft – Pocket Edition — The long awaited update for Mojang’s Minecraft – Pocket Edition finally arrived on Feb. 17, helping push the game back up the paid iPad charts into the No. 20 position. Updated to version 0.2.0, the game now features Survival and Creative modes, blocks for fences, doors and gates, flying in creative mode, sheep, zombies, day and night cycles in Survival mode, and different tools.  Minecraft – Pocket Edition costs $6.99.

Fairway Solitaire from Big Fish Games is an iOS remake of the company’s 2007 PC game. The game is available for free download as both an iPhone app and a separate HD iPad version. Both versions are actually limited trial versions, with the full game unlockable via in-app purchase. Both versions have performed well in the App Store charts, with the iPad version in particular still riding high at the time of writing.

Fairway Solitaire is a simple golf-themed take on solo card games. Players are challenged to clear various boards by playing cards that are either one value higher or lower than cards which are already on the table. If no moves can be made, the player draws another card from their deck and repeats the process until either the board is cleared (which is regarded as a “perfect” round) or the deck is empty of cards, at which point the player is given a golf-style score according to how many cards remain on the table. The game is structured like a game of golf, with the player aiming to finish various “courses” as much under “par” as possible.

Obstacles are added to the player’s efforts in the form of water hazards and sand traps. Face down cards are normally revealed when the card on top of them is removed, but sand-trapped cards remain face down until a special sand wedge card is revealed. Meanwhile, water hazard cards remain locked face down until all specially-marked “water” cards have been disposed of.

The player’s skill at forward planning (and luck) is rewarded with a “Great Shot” bonus mechanic which comes into play after five cards have been played without drawing from the deck. The more cards which are played without drawing, the higher the bonus on offer. The bonus in question is awarded in the form of Golf Bucks, which can be used to purchase “irons” for use as specific numbered cards during a hand, or for various powerups from the in-game Golf Shop. Golf Bucks are also awarded upon completing various trophies and achievements in the game, and can be purchased in the full version via in-app purchase. There are also occasionally “Wild Shot” cards hidden in the deck during a particular hand, which have the chance of either hindering the player or offering access to a number of minigames with Golf Bucks rewards.

The free version contains a generous amount of content, with all of the game’s first “course pack” available for play. These nine courses each contain at least three hands to play, and many contain more. While the physical arrangement of cards is the same each time, the exact cards which are used is randomized, meaning there is plenty of replay value even for those who do not wish to pay for the full version. However, making the purchase not only allows players access a much wider variety of courses, it also allows for the customization of the cards’ appearance, full access to the Golf Shop and more trophies to strive for.

The game is very polished, with excellent sound effects, music and cartoon cutscenes throughout. The player’s game is also accompanied by occasional voice commentary, most of which is memorably humorous in its nature. The high degree of care which has been put into this product coupled with its easy to understand yet addictive gameplay make it likely to be a big success — and the game’s user figures further prove this.

On iPhone, Fairway Solitaire peaked at No. 22 in the App Store Free App charts and is currently placed at No. 38. In the Free Games charts for iPhone, it peaked at No. 14 and is currently at No.23. On iPad, meanwhile, the game peaked at No. 2 in both Top Free iPad Apps and Top Free iPad Games, and is currently placed at No. 5 in both charts. To follow the progress of the game through the App Store charts, check out AppData, our tracking service for iOS and social games and developers.

NomNom Combo is a new puzzle game for iPhone from Vancouver-based studio East Side Games. It’ll be initially launching on the Canadian App Store. with a worldwide launch later in the quarter. The game is something of an experiment for the developer, which has previously focused on Web-based and social network games such as its previous titles Pot Farm and Zombinis. With NomNom Combo, the team is keen to see how their audience responds to what studio cofounder Josh Nilson describes as “addictive, fun, play through and miss your bus stop” mobile titles.

NomNom Combo is a puzzle game based on a Triple Town-like mechanic of matching three like objects together to “promote” them to a higher-value object. Rather than being a lazy clone of Triple Town, however, NomNom Combo adds a number of additional game systems for additional depth and variety that thoroughly distinguishes it from Spry Fox’s title.

On the game board, which, like Triple Town, is a six-by-six grid with one “holding area” space, players are able to place both “prey” and “predator” creatures. Matching three of the same-colored prey or predator together promotes them to the next level — bugs become mice, frogs become snakes, for example. Reaching a new level of creature for the first time in a game rewards the player with additional moves, allowing their game to last longer, so it is in players’ interests to promote their creatures as highly as possible for both higher scores and longer games. The game is primarily a single player score attack puzzle game, though it does carry social features in the form of Game Center achievement and leaderboard support.

The twist on the base Triple Town formula comes in the interactions between predator and prey pieces. If a prey piece is placed next to a like-colored predator, it will run in the opposite direction until it hits an obstacle — either the board boundary or another piece. If it has nowhere to run, the predator will eat the prey, rewarding the player with coins and removing the prey piece from the board. The higher level the prey and predator when eaten, the more coins the player is rewarded with. These coins can be spent on acquiring specific pieces to place on the board, purchasing “wild card” pieces or purchasing additional moves when the game is over. In the latter case, the more times the player chooses to extend the game with coins, the more it costs.

The game monetizes through in-app purchases of these coins. Players are able to acquire bundles of coins in denominations between $.99 and $24.99 and are also able to earn free coins via an in-app offer wall. These offers include deals with Tapjoy, Kerching Mobile Casino, Netflix, Big Fish Games and numerous others, and cover both free advertising deals and rewards for signing up to paid services. There is no obligation for the player to purchase coins, however, since the game provides ample facility to earn them through normal gameplay.

NomNom Combo proves that it’s possible to take an existing, established game concept and evolve it to produce a unique experience without having to resort to outright cloning. It’s a simple, fun and addictive game that is likely to enjoy some success with the puzzle-loving portion of the iOS market.

Once the game launches later this quarter, be sure to follow its progress through the App Store charts using AppData, our tracking service for iOS and social games and developers.