Emerging Top-Grossing iOS Apps: The Heist, Talking Tom Cat 2, & Weber's On the Grill Rise
Though yesterday showed a great number of new rising apps on the top paid iPhone chart and a rise of many Electronic Arts titles on the iPad, today’s top grossing list is far more tame than one might expect. Even so, many of the apps from yesterday’s lists have made their way up the top grossing charts as well, though beyond these it took expanding out to the top 40 to find a full gamete of new and interesting apps.
Even the top paid EA games that gave rise due to a Memorial Day sale have begun dropping quickly. Though they are not highlighted today, some, like yesterday’s #1 iPad title Tetris for iPad (#27 on top grossing) still meander around the top 30.
New Titles Within Top Grossing iPhone Apps List
The Heist — As one might expect, the #1 paid ($0.99) iPhone game is also rather high on the top grossing iPhone apps list as well, holding strong at #3. The Heist is a new game (released May 24th) from U.S. developer tap tap tap that is actually a meta-game made up of four different types of puzzle mini-games. The idea is that players must solve these very different types of puzzles (e.g. slide and Sudoku-style puzzles) to strip away the defenses of a vault. Regarding the developer themselves, tap tap tap is an iOS app maker that isn’t unfamiliar with success. In fact, their Camera+ app surpassed the 2 million download mark back in April, and has earned over $1.9 million in revenue.
Touchgrind BMX — Another top paid app rises this week on the top grossing list in the form of Touchgrind BMX. A sort of toy app, similar to predecessor Touchgrind, it has players navigate a course with a BMX bike, steering and performing tricks and stunts with it using their fingers. The game currently holds the #13 spot on the top grossing iPhone apps list and is made by Swedish Android and iOS developer Illusion Labs. Touchgrind BMX was released May 26th and costs $4.99.
WordFoto — WordFoto marks the last top paid iPhone app from yesterday to appear today, coming in at #31 and costing $1.99. An artistic application, the title allows users to take any photograph or image and turn it into a collage of typographic artwork. Released May 19th, the app is made by six-year-old Swedish art and entertainment tools developer bitCycle AB.
Talking Tom Cat 2 — Outfit7 is a Slovenian developer whose credo has been making “toys for kids” on the iOS platform. Talking Tom Cat 2 is the latest release in the company’s growing lineup of virtual character apps (which has earned the company over 100 million downloads and about 15 million a month). In this new app, which was released May 27th, users can interact with Tom via talking, petting, poking, pulling his tail, and so on. The big gimmick, however, is that Tom now interacts with his neighbor, Ben the dog (from Talking Ben the Dog) whom users can coax into picking on Tom in ways such as smacking him with a pillow. Like the previous Outfit7 apps, Talking Tom Cat 2 monetizes through in-app purchases, but is free to download. The new game is ranked at #35 on the top grossing iPhone apps list and #25 on iPad.
Gun Club 2 — In at #37 is Gun Club 2. Another free-to-play application, the title is a gun simulator with a rather extensive collection of armaments. Players can give any number of weapons a test drive, ranging from those of World War II to today’s modern military to the mafia. As such, the game monetizes by selling different packs of themed weaponry, and was last updated May 25th to include guns from the U.S. Coast Guard. Gun Club 2’s developer is The Binary Mill, a young Australian independent games developer who hosts around 30 different iOS titles; many of which revolve around guns.
New Titles Within Top Grossing iPad Apps List
Weber’s On the Grill for iPad — Memorial Day is a day for grilling in the backyard, and as such yesterday’s #12 paid app is now #11 on the top grossing iPad apps list. Weber’s On the Grill runs $4.99 and is essentially a digital cookbook, complete with videos, shopping lists, and sharing, that has 250 Weber grilling recipes and 40 for rubs, marinades, and sauces. A quality companion for barbecues, it is developed by Weber-Stephen Products Co., and international company out of Illinois whose products are grills and grilling accessories. Weber’s On the Grill was last updated May 20th, adding new recipes.
Plants vs. Zombies HD — Seattle-based casual games developer PopCap Games holds the #16 spot this week with its popular Plants vs. Zombies HD title. A variant of the tower defense genre where players use a variety of aggressive plant life to stem the tide of encroaching undead, it has always done well on all the top charts. However, this app (last updated April 21st) rose to #2 on the top paid list yesterday due to PopCap’s “Crazy Dave’s Deal Days” special. The special marks down the price of a random PopCap game — up to 75% — for a limited time every 48 hours. Plants vs. Zombies’ sale ended on the 28th.
Vegas Towers HD — Vegas Towers HD is a free-to-play title that isn’t too terribly old. The game is essentially a virtual space app in which players are tasked with the building of their own luxury hotel and casino on the Las Vegas strip. As a freemium game, its monetization comes from in-app purchases, most of which are between $0.99 and $9.99 (though some are as high as $49.99). The game is developed by a fairly enigmatic developer by the name of SiuYiu Limited, but appears to be an iOS developer based out of San Francisco. However, SiuYiu has developed about half-a-dozen other apps on iOS. Vegas Towers HD was last updated May 3rd.
GQ — In at #37 is yet another digital magazine from the folks over at Condé Nast Digital, the digital branch of New York-based magazine publisher Condé Nast. This time, the rising magazine is GQ, the lifestyle magazine centered around topics like men’s fashion and everyday life. Like with all of its predecessors, the app was updated (May 24th) to include subscriptions. Users can now purchase individual issues for $4.99 as well as subscribe monthly for $1.99 or annually for $19.99.
My Clinic — My Clinic is a recently-profiled freemium game that has breached the top lists before, but never really made it terribly high. Released May 19th, it is currently holding the #39 spot and is a business sim in which players must construct and manage their own hospital. Free-to-play, the game monetizes with the in-app purchasing of virtual currency or earnable in-game currency for prices ranging from $1.99 to $99.99. The game is made by Russian incubator company, Game Insight. Focused around social games for both the web and mobile (iOS and Android), many of their past titles — such as Paradise Island HD — have risen high on the app charts as well.
