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Monument Valley successfully sold its expansion pack to free users

Despite the hullabaloo over its paid expansion pack, and the fact that the game itself is a premium title in a market that doesn't support them well, it's seen a lot of success.

Christian Nutt, Contributor

January 7, 2016

1 Min Read
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"There was a really good upsell rate for Forgotten Shores. Roughly 35 per cent of all iOS players have purchased the expansion. That upsell rate was never going to maintain when you go free, but it still stayed pretty high -- about 10 per cent of free users actually felt compelled to spend money and buy the expansion."

- Ustwo Games studio head Dan Gray 

In a new interview with Develop, Ustwo Games' newly installed studio head Dan Gray shares stats on the success of Monument Valley, its beloved mobile game.

Most interesting, perhaps, are the stats above -- especially the fact that 10 percent of iOS players who got the game for free (during a legitimate promotion, not via piracy) shelled out for its expansion pack.

There was something of a dust-up with players at the expansion's initial release, so it's also information in light of the bad word-of-mouth it generated.

24 million players now legitimately own the game across iOS and Android, including seven million who recently downloaded it via an Apple Free App of the Week promotion. 

There's more over at Develop.

Ed. note: It's worth noting that it unclear what "players" and "users" exactly mean in the above quote. Given the fantastic conversion rate, it's unlikely that "users" are merely anyone who downloaded the game for free, for example. 

The original version of this story implied that 10 percent of free downloads resulted in paid DLC purchases. Since we don't have the exact data, we've amended the story and changed its headline. 

We've contacted Ustwo to find out more.

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