Soap Creative’s gaming unit SMG Studio’s ‘OTTTD’ exceeds $100k revenue in 10 days
Almost a year after digital agency Soap Creative launched its dedicated gaming unit SMG Studio, the four person team has announced its debut game OTTTD ‘Over The Top Tower Defence’ has raked in AUD$100k in just under 10 days.
The game is a unique spin on the popular tower defence genre, featuring an array of crazy weapons, heroes and enemies over 20+ levels. The over-the-top gameplay reflects the resurgence of hardcore games after a period where mobile was dominated by casual gaming. The game was developed in Unity 3D and is available for all mobile and tablet devices, with a desktop version slated to launch on Steam in Q3/2014.
The game has been well received by gamers earning glowing reviews from influential gaming sites Pocket Gamer and Touch Arcade as well as a “Best Games of May” feature on the iTunes Store. With no media spend it has reached the top 6 paid games in Australia and top 25 paid games in 34 other countries. For launch, SMG collaborated with well-known YouTube 
animator Mick Lauer, better known as Ricepirate, to voice the characters & create an animated launch trailer with over 100,000 views.
SMG Studio was one of just ten companies funded by Screen Australia’s $20 million Games Enterprise grant before it was cut. Ashley Ringrose, founder of Soap Creative and SMG Studio noted the absence of funding won’t affect SMG and that Soap will continue to develop the business through its operations in Sydney. Prior to establishing SMG, the Soap team had developed other mobile titles including Thumbzilla, selling over 150,000 copies before transitioning to an ad-supported model with 3 million downloads and Diggin Dogs published by Chillingo, publisher of Angry Birds and Cut The Rope.
Says Ross Raeburn, managing director: “Soap has a twelve year gaming heritage, having developed over 300 games for brands wanting to use light entertainment to engage their audience. The decision to launch a dedicated games unit is an investment in our culture and ‘Soap’s Play. Make. Do’ philosophy.”
Says Ringrose: “We don’t want to be another agency talking about innovation, we want be the agency that does what many of our clients do – make compelling products that consumers love.”
Soap’s interest in gaming reflects the broader shift in media consumption and entertainment choices of Australians. The 2014 Digital Australia report1 revealed the extent of gaming, finding 93% of households have a gaming device and that on on average Australian’s play an hour each day, with 81% of mums and 83% of dads playing. The report also noted that the average in-game purchase was $5 per month. Raeburn cited Lynx Lunar Racer, a game the agency developed for Unilever Australia’s LYNX brand, as an example of how advertisers are reaching these households.
Says Raeburn: “Branded content has become synonymous with long and short form video, but gaming presents a greater grab at audience attention spans, plus it provides far greater revenue opportunities.”
OTTTD is available on mobile and tablet devices for $2.99 from the iTunes Store, Amazon Store & Google Play.
1 DA14 / IGEA Bond University http://www.igea.net/wpcontent/uploads/2013/11/DigitalAustralia2014DA14.pdf
2 Comments
Amazing achievement from the Soaperheroes
So this story belongs on Kotaku or something.
This blog right here, this is for the a-d-v-e-r-t-i-s-i-n-g eh Lynchy.