Until you’re employed in the cell sector, we’ll wager there is a good probability you’ve got by no means heard of Talking Tom. So it would shock you to study that this long-running franchise has racked up properly over 26 billion downloads.
That could be a phenomenal quantity – roughly equal to each individual on Earth downloading three Talking Tom video games every. It places the franchise in the highest echelons of cell success. For comparability, one of the most profitable cell titles ever, Subway Surfers, has been downloaded round 2.17 billion instances in accordance with AppMagic, whereas Sweet Crush Saga is on 1.41 billion downloads and Pokémon Go is on 696 million.
The 26 billion determine comes immediately from Outfit7, the writer behind the franchise, and the numbers make slightly extra sense while you realise that there have been a substantial quantity of Talking Tom video games down the years (round 40, though many have been discontinued). Plus a big portion of the downloads are in international locations corresponding to India, Brazil, and China.
Even so, there are discrepancies. In response to AppMagic’s figures, Outfit7’s video games as an entire have been downloaded round 7.9 billion instances – nonetheless an enormous determine, however a way quick of 26 billion. A spokesperson for AppMagic put ahead just a few the explanation why the numbers won’t match. For one, AppMagic solely counts distinctive downloads – and Outfit7 has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that its figures embody reinstalls. Plus AppMagic’s knowledge solely goes way back to 2015, and the Talking Tom sequence began in 2010.
For its half, Outfit7 is assured in the 26 billion determine. “These are the numbers that we stand behind,” says Jernej Česen, COO and basic supervisor at Outfit7, who provides that the firm solely counts installs when the person has opened the sport and begun to play it. “That is why I am extremely assured speaking about these numbers.”
Which results in the burning query: what’s the secret to Outfit7’s success?
Early doorways
The quick reply – which is more likely to come as a disappointment to anybody hoping to comply with in Outfit7’s footsteps – is just that the first Talking Tom sport received in there again at the very begin of the smartphone increase. As Česen says: “We have been in the proper place at the proper time.”
Outfit7 was based in 2009 by the Slovenian couple Samo and Iza Login, two pc science graduates who experimented with making numerous completely different apps again at the daybreak of the iPhone age. However the just one of their apps that noticed any important success was Talking Tom Cat, through which a cartoon feline repeated again what customers mentioned into the iPhone’s microphone in a high-pitched voice. Since then, Outfit7 has doubled and tripled down on the Talking Tom franchise, releasing a slew of subtle digital pet video games primarily based on Tom and an ever-expanding forged of anthropomorphic animals, like Hank the canine and a white-haired cat known as Angela.
In 2017, Outfit7 was purchased in a deal value $1 billion by the Chinese language chemical substances agency Zhejiang Jinke Peroxide Firm, which renamed itself to Zhejiang Jinke Leisure Tradition. An uncommon deal, maybe, however we have seen the same story earlier than. Leyou Applied sciences Holdings Restricted – which purchased Digital Extremes in 2014 and Splash Injury in 2016, earlier than itself being acquired by Tencent in 2020 – was initially a poultry enterprise known as Sumpo Meals Holdings Restricted.
Xinyu Qian was concerned in company investments at Jinke earlier than he moved over to Outfit7, finally changing into its CEO. It was a bit of a dream come true for the long-time gaming fan and DOTA devotee. “I used to be tremendous pleased to spend most of my time and efforts with the leisure and gaming individuals,” he says, “which was rather more enjoyable for me than an peculiar position in a standard monetary establishment.”
It is one factor for Talking Tom to have gained success again in these early days of smartphones, when each app was thrilling and new. Nevertheless it’s fairly one other for the franchise to have been capable of keep its success for 15 years. Qian places this down to 3 core ideas: inclusivity, world considering, and long-term dedication.
“First, we create for everybody,” he says. “Inclusivity is at the coronary heart of the Talking Tom & Associates model, from sport design to character growth.” Česen agrees, saying that their video games have to be designed in such a manner that “youngsters can play it, however dad and mom have to take pleasure in it, and additionally the grandparents will really spend a loopy good time hanging in the sport.”
The second level is that Outfit7 thinks globally, monitoring efficiency throughout areas and studying from cultural nuances. “That global-first mindset has been important in serving to us join with a worldwide viewers,” says Qian.
Lastly, Outfit7 builds for the future. “Our flagship titles – like Talking Tom and My Talking Angela – are nonetheless thriving greater than a decade after their debut,” says Qian. “We’re not targeted on chasing short-term traits; as a substitute, we’re devoted to creating lasting experiences that gamers can return to once more and once more.”
“We’re not targeted on chasing short-term traits; as a substitute, we’re devoted to creating lasting experiences that gamers can return to once more and once more.”
There has been a bit of trend-chasing in the previous, nonetheless. Numerous Talking Tom spin-off titles have aped in style genres, corresponding to 2015’s Talking Tom Bubble Shooter, which bears a hanging resemblance to Taito’s evergreen hit Puzzle Bobble. Nonetheless, like most of Outfit7’s spin-off titles, Talking Tom Bubble Shooter has now been discontinued – though the infinite runner Talking Tom Gold Run stays in style.
Ecosystem
Immediately, the Talking Tom franchise focuses on just a few core video games and characters that broadly match into the digital pet style. The purpose is to create an ecosystem, says Česen, the place customers “migrate from one sport to a different.”
“We attempt to hold the customers engaged by completely different channels,” he says. “So that you enter in a single sport, then by the [cross-promotional] mechanism, you can begin enjoying one other sport, you go and watch movies, you come again. And the actuality is that even at the moment our customers are enjoying multiple of our video games concurrently.”
Even after culling a number of of the older video games down the years, there are nonetheless loads of Talking Tom titles to select from. “We’ve got 24 video games,” says Česen. “They’re all performing very well. That is why we’re retaining them there.”
He provides that there are concepts to do “some type of retailer purification” and simply concentrate on just a few titles – however Outfit7’s knowledge exhibits that customers are nonetheless trying to find the older video games. That mentioned, there are six core titles that Outfit7 considers as its flagship apps, some of which have as much as 10 million every day lively customers. The cats Tom and Angela stay the hottest characters, says Česen, however Hank the canine can also be gaining traction.
Outfit7 is a fairly large operation lately. Česen says there are as much as 400 individuals working for the firm round the world, and it nonetheless has a big studio in Slovenia, though the agency’s headquarters is in Cyprus. Česen says the firm’s secret sauce is to not deal with video games as a “money producing machine,” as a substitute specializing in ensuring gamers will take pleasure in them and wish to spend time in them. “Then all the different issues will comply with.”
Viewers first
“We’re extremely robust in the China market,” says Česen, who notes that this was the case even earlier than the Jinke takeover. Moderately than partnering with a neighborhood writer in the nation, Outfit7 made its preliminary foray into China alone, and made certain to tailor its video games to the market.
“Given China’s huge inhabitants and industrial potential, we’ve made a deliberate effort to localize our content material,” says Qian, “incorporating culturally related options and celebrating key moments like the Lunar New Yr by in-game occasions that enchantment to each native and worldwide audiences.”
“China’s cell gaming ecosystem can also be uniquely complicated,” he continues. “With no Google Play Retailer, the Android market is very fragmented, dominated by over ten main app shops. To navigate this panorama successfully, we established a devoted native group to handle publishing and operations. This localized strategy has allowed us to raised perceive participant preferences, optimize distribution, and construct a deeper reference to our Chinese language person base.”
Past tailoring content material to native tastes, Outfit7 can also be seeking to develop the Talking Tom model by numerous transmedia enterprises. “Transmedia is vital to our imaginative and prescient,” says Qian. “We’re evolving right into a multi-IP, multi-platform leisure firm, with cell gaming as a powerful basis. To make sure the Talking Tom & Associates model stays evergreen, we should prolong its presence past video games and right into a broader leisure ecosystem.
“We wish followers to interact with Talking Tom & Associates content material throughout all kinds of platforms and codecs, wherever they’re, and nonetheless they like to devour leisure.”
Presently there is a superhero-themed animated sequence known as Talking Tom Heroes: All of the sudden Tremendous, together with licensed toys and merchandise, and in China there are greater than 30 indoor Talking Tom theme parks in buying malls. Qian says Outfit7 can also be rising its presence on short-form video platforms corresponding to TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and RedNote.
“Trying forward, we see unbelievable potential in areas corresponding to movies, audio content material, live-action exhibits, HTML5 video games, immersive experiences, and extra,” he continues. “That mentioned, we’re approaching this growth strategically. It’s about discovering the proper format for the proper story, and aligning groups round a shared imaginative and prescient to make it occur.”
There have been collaborations with different manufacturers, too, most notably a group up with Indignant Birds from Rovio. Qian says Outfit7 has develop into extra open to model partnerships in recent times. “These collaborations have confirmed to be mutually useful and, most significantly, thrilling for our followers. We’ve had a number of profitable partnerships already.” Many extra partnerships are in the pipeline, together with Talking Angela and Talking Tom making their Roblox debut.
“We’re now actively exploring deeper collaborations, particularly with companions from exterior the gaming world,” says Qian. “The purpose is to mix the model energy of main franchises with our sport growth experience to create one thing really distinctive.”
Future progress
The Talking Tom franchise has been spectacular in phrases of its endurance, racking up billions of downloads over the previous 15 years. However what about the future? With progress plateauing in the cell market, we’re getting into a section the place the solely strategy to develop might be by poaching gamers from different video games.
We imagine in the enduring enchantment of the Talking Tom & Associates IP and in the creativity and functionality of our Outfit7 group.
“It’s true, the cell market is very saturated,” says Qian, “and we’re not simply competing with different video games, but in addition with broader leisure platforms like short-form video apps and streaming content material.
“The panorama is crowded, however we nonetheless see significant progress alternatives. We imagine in the enduring enchantment of the Talking Tom & Associates IP and in the creativity and functionality of our Outfit7 group. We concentrate on innovating inside our personal universe, exploring new sport mechanics, genres, and experiences that resonate with each present followers and new audiences.”
He offers the instance of the just lately launched Talking Tom & Associates World. “It’s a recent, exploratory take inside the franchise, and we’re assured it has robust potential to drive progress. And that’s simply the starting, a number of different initiatives are presently in R&D, all aimed toward increasing our attain in significant and unique methods.”
Though Talking Tom has proved to be an extremely resilient franchise, Outfit7 is finally on the lookout for progress alternatives in the kind of new IP and by increasing to platforms past cell. “Our imaginative and prescient is to develop into a multi-IP, multi-platform leisure firm, with cell gaming remaining a powerful basis,” says Qian. “Whereas Talking Tom & Associates continues to be a serious focus, we additionally imagine in the significance of creating one thing solely new.
“With the expertise and creativity of our group, I’m assured that we’re succesful of growing unique IPs past the Talking Tom & Associates universe. We’ve already arrange just a few small inside groups devoted to non-TTF initiatives – video games and experiences that may drive future progress. Our strategy is to establish unmet person wants in the market and develop merchandise that actually resonate with these audiences.
“It received’t be a straightforward journey, particularly in at the moment’s crowded leisure panorama, however we imagine this daring step is important for Outfit7’s evolution – and we’re able to put money into it.”