So how has Dare the Monkey been doing one month after launch? Really great actually. We’ve been featured on the App Store, had a very healthy number of downloads, and also received several thousand 5-star ratings. It’s safe to say things are going better than I dared imagine.

I’m guessing you guys are desperate for some more detail so here’s a quick breakdown for you.

  • Over 150,000 downloads
  • Featured in the ‘New Games We Love’ section
  • Over 5,000 five-star ratings
  • Made it into the Top 100 Free Games section in the UK
  • 1,200 in-app purchases
  • 2,000 followers

Download wise we’ve had a very healthy start, with over 150,000 downloads in the first four weeks. Of course, we were very fortunate to be featured on several App Stores across Europe. During that one-week period we amassed approximately 70,000 of our total downloads. It was the ‘New Games We Love’ section where Dare got featured and considering the icon’s position was off-screen and near the end of the list, I’m pretty chuffed with the actual number of downloads we managed to get. Oh and during that time the app managed to push into the UK’s Top 100 Free Games chart, which is no mean feat.

What’s also extremely encouraging is the fact that players seem to be loving the game. We’ve had over 5,000 ratings on the App Store, with an average rating of 5-stars. The sheer volume of ratings is something I hoped for but didn’t really expect. Almost 1,000 of those ratings are from the UK while another 2,000 are from the US. So a huge thank you to everyone who has taken the time to rate the app and/or write a review.

We’re also seeing that people are playing the game for a significant length of time. They’re also coming back each day, trying to push even further into each of the game modes. Dare currently has 40% day one retention. Seven days later, 12% of users are still hanging on in there, which is great to see! Three weeks later we’re at 5%. Those are likely to be the hardcore gamers who’re close to the end of each of the game modes. Considering the number of great games to pick from in the App Store I’m delighted that so many people are coming back to Dare day after day.

In-App Purchases have been very strong over the last few weeks. The App Store feature has probably been a great help but there was definitely an upward trend before then. The last week has seen the revenue from IAPs more than double. The most popular IAP has been the ‘remove ads’ option. Lucy has been the most popular character purchase. And of all the game level unlocks, Level 6 from the game’s main campaign has been the most purchased.

And finally, I’ve noticed that the number of followers on Twitter has started to grow more organically. I now have over 2,000 followers, which is great considering the short space of time I’ve actually been tweeting for.

So what’s next for Dare? We have a few minor updates coming up soon and one significant update penciled in for March. But I’ll leave the details of those for some future posts.

Thanks for reading and thanks everyone for playing Dare the Monkey!