It seems Gameloft has found a winning formula for an iOS game: use a model everyone likes, charge a cheap subscription, and get ready to update like crazy.
That’s what it’s doing with its latest big iPhone and iPad release, Order & Chaos Online. The game is a pretty nuts-and-bolts clone of Blizzard Entertainment’s extremely popular PC massively multiplayer online game, World of Warcraft. Blizzard enjoys 60 million subscribers all over the world (with 12 million in the U.S.), and it seems the appetite for online sword-and-sorcery role-playing games is enough to put Order & Chaos in demand, as well.
In just 20 days since its release, Order & Chaos has raked in a million bucks in revenue. This is impressive, considering the game is a $6.99 download in the iTunes App Store, and will charge a subscription fee of $0.99 a month, $1.99 for three or $2.99 for six, once the free three-month trial period for new players is up. That means that the million has come from app downloads and in-app purchases, and it suggests a big user base for the game even after a short time.
Part of the success of the game is that it’s well-made, picking up praise from critics and users. It’s a massive experience and runs well on over Wi-Fi, although it’s probably too big a beast for a 3G connection to support. Gameloft also has said the company is working on content updates for Order & Chaos to keep the game fresh, and has an Android version already in the works, according to a story from Pocket Gamer.
Another part of the success is Gameloft’s execution of in-app purchases, confirmed by the fact that the players are collectively dumping $50,000 per day on Order & Chaos, according to a press release from Gameloft. Most of the in-app purchases allow users to buy in-game currency for the collection of new weapons and armor for their characters, and it seems that at this rate, players are suitably engrossed in the experience; which is exactly what Gameloft had hoped would happen.
It also suggests that there’s an even bigger, more viable MMO market on iOS devices than most of us previously considered. Games such as Pocket Legends have been doing well and carving out a niche, but it seems that Gameloft’s iteration – and the significant investment and production values that obviously went into creating it – has struck a chord and showed the community to be large and expansive. If Gameloft continues to support Order & Chaos as robustly as it says it will, it sounds like the community could easily blow up to be one of the largest on iOS.
