Paul Bettner: Newtoy to become a “Nintendo of the iPhone”

NewToy’s Paul Bettner an ex programmer at Ensemble Studios was one of the first to start up a new games company out of Ensemble’s ashes. Paul is now talking to Gamasutra about the new start up company and how he in-visages the companies future. Paul hopes that NewToy can appeal to the unique iPhone market taking into account the platforms easy connectivity and user interaction. The Gamasutra article explains how well the “Chess with Friends” application has been doing since launch, although missing out on the Top 100 the game has had some excellent download numbers:

Chess With Friends came from that philosophy. The game got good support from Apple, which featured the game prominently on the App Store as Pick of the Week in March. The vote of confidence led to a nice jump in sales.

But it still didn’t break the top 100 Apps on the sales ranking list on the App Store, meaning visibility for the game would be low. For iPhone developers, making the top 100 is a crucial requisite for having a successful game.

Bettner said he didn’t pack up and go home. There is a life outside of the Top 100, and it involves sustained growth of a game’s sales and good consumer retention, two things possessed by Chess With Friends and its Scrabble-style counterpart, Words With Friends, he said.

Combined, Chess and Words, which both have ad-supported free and paid versions, have been downloaded 500 million times so far. They draw 50,000 active users daily, and are tracking 200,000 for September, Bettner said. The ratio of free to paid versions is 5:1.

Check out the full article on Gamasutura.

As NewToy continue development on new and exciting applications such as the much awaited “World War Robot” with acclaimed artist Ashley Wood. 

Good luck NewToy!