From console middleware/developer to mobile games developer

[wco81]

CSR Racing just made $12 million in its first month. It's a freemium game.

It's made by Natural Motion Games. If that name rings a bell, that's because it was formed by the Natural Motion guys who tried to push Endorphin, the physics engine, and Backbreaker, the console game which tried unsuccessfully to break Madden's monopoly.

Apparently they recreated themselves as a mobile games developer specializing in bringing console-quality graphics to mobile gaming while targeting bursts of gaming sessions typical of mobile.

Not only are they making money, they're getting some VC funding.

http://www.naturalmotiongames.com/press/naturalmotion-funding-announcement/

They also have a licensed game called NFL Rivals. Looks like no online play or season/ franchise mode. Instead, another freemium game.

So they may be able to give you better graphics and physics but they won't bother trying to mimic console game features like head to head online play. Maybe that makes sense as such features really don't fit into a freemium model. They take long to develop and test, raising development costs, probably preventing this strategy of giving the game away but selling a lot of micro DLC content.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

From natural motion physics to car racing? Guess they didn't think much of their USP.

 

[tuna]

CSR Racing just made $12 million in its first month. It's a freemium game.

Do you have any source of this?

Also, if they did $12M in sales in one month, what do they need VC funding of $11 M for?

 

[wco81]

http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/15/natural-motion/

 

[tuna]

From natural motion physics to car racing? Guess they didn't think much of their USP.

Apparently, CSR was made by some people from the team who did Split/Second.

Anyway, I still do not understand why they would take in venture capital if they make $ 12M per month....

 

[wco81]

That was just the first month. Probably didn't see it coming or know if it's sustainable.

 

[Arwin]

I never heard of CSR Racing or MyHorse before ... Looks like they are both big successes. Hate drag racing so I'll wait until they make something that involves steering, but am intreaged about MyHorse, probably using similar Horse tech as in Rockstar's game?

 

[Simon F]

I never heard of CSR Racing or MyHorse before

The latter is a much cheaper alternative than a pony if you have a daughter and an iDevice

 

[Scott_Arm]

CSR Racing just made $12 million in its first month. It's a freemium game.

It's made by Natural Motion Games. If that name rings a bell, that's because it was formed by the Natural Motion guys who tried to push Endorphin, the physics engine, and Backbreaker, the console game which tried unsuccessfully to break Madden's monopoly.

Apparently they recreated themselves as a mobile games developer specializing in bringing console-quality graphics to mobile gaming while targeting bursts of gaming sessions typical of mobile.

Not only are they making money, they're getting some VC funding.

http://www.naturalmotiongames.com/press/naturalmotion-funding-announcement/

They also have a licensed game called NFL Rivals. Looks like no online play or season/ franchise mode. Instead, another freemium game.

So they may be able to give you better graphics and physics but they won't bother trying to mimic console game features like head to head online play. Maybe that makes sense as such features really don't fit into a freemium model. They take long to develop and test, raising development costs, probably preventing this strategy of giving the game away but selling a lot of micro DLC content.

I don't think the tech side of the company has changed. I think they offer products for pretty much every gaming platform, and seem to have a big partnership with Rockstar going on. I expect GTA5 will use Euphoria again, as they did with GTA4, RDR and Max Payne 3.

Switching their game division over to mobile seems to have been a good decision for them. I think Backbreaker on the console was a bit of a tech demo, probably hoping 2K or EA would buy in to the concept.