Although they admit the “average iPhone/iPad gamer is more interested in pleasantly passing time than being intellectually engaged or challenged,” indie darlings and World of Goo creators 2D Boy view App Store games as the future of video games. At least the kind of games they make — really awesome and clever puzzle games. To whit:
World of Goo’s launch on iPad gave us a new perspective on that discussion. In the first month of sales on the iPad App Store, World of Goo sold 125k copies (thanks to being prominently featured by Apple). In comparison, World of Goo’s best 31 day period on WiiWare was 68k copies (thanks to a mass mailing by Nintendo), and on Steam it was 97k copies (thanks to two promotions at discounted prices). So far, the iPad version is by far the fastest selling version of the game, both in terms of number of units sold and in revenue generated.
What makes this even more amazing is that this is a two year old game released on a platform that is less than a year old. The iPad doesn’t have the benefit of an install base built up over several years.
In the short term, we still think that if an independent developer can get their game on a console it’s a safer bet than playing the App Store lottery, but one might wonder whether, in the long run, it even matters who wins the PSN / WiiWare / XBLA race.
Whatever happens, what this really means is that prices for video games, even Nintendo ones, must fall. When that happens, we all win, people!
