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Smurfs’ Village on iPhone making more money than Angry Birds

Freemium staking a claim for the App Store’s future

Smurfs’ Village on iPhone making more money than Angry Birds
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The sales juggernaut Angry Birds is still gripping tightly to the top of the App Store charts, its claws seemingly unable to let go of the Top 10 unless a big franchise drops to 59p for the day.

Yet despite Angry Birds being currently the UK’s second best-selling iPhone app (behind Sleep Talk Recorder), a quick glance at the Top Grossing chart reveals another cartoony game revelling at the top.

Smurfs’ Village, based on the 52 year-old Belgium comic (and later cartoon) about a group of blue things that replace every verb with ‘smurf’, has managed to smurf its way to the very top of the chart, purely through in-app smurfing.

It’s a not-so-subtle reminder about the money-making possibilities of the rapidly-growing freemium sector – games supplied for free that make money via virtual currency or items.

Is it something that should be worrying to iOS gamers, or do you think it’s all just part of the burgeoning App Store ecosystem? We’d love to hear your smurfs in the comments box below.

Will Wilson
Will Wilson
Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).