Move over Farmville, Angry Birds, Flappy Bird or Candy Crush Saga, what�s keeping game addicts, developers and entrepreneurs on their foot is the much acclaimed, and highly addictive iPhone game Stolen.
Its creators Hey Inc. led by CEO
Siqi Chen is shocked over the humongous response their so called �silly� app is receiving. They had actually built is as one of their special iPhone game development project in a bid to revive their sinking business .
The Story behind�..
Last summer when Siqi Chen decided to abandon Heyday, the social media app they built � for not being a HIT � even though it was 1 million downloads strong, it was a tough and painful decision. Interestingly, Heyday had raised venture funds of $7.5 million by the likes of top investors such as Google Ventures, Spark Capital and General Catalyst. So even though the concept looked promising, it according to the creators wasn�t a �hit� that would get handsome ROI.
This led the disappointed yet �not out� team led by Chen to make the last ditch effort to build a gaming app � something which they know best and love building the most. This was how Stolen was born. However, Chen was never highly optimistic � rather opted to set a deadline of January 31, 2016 stating that �if Stolen didn�t take off by then, they�d have to sell the company�. So it was somewhat a �make or break� stand for the Stolen team.
Initially they shared the app for beta testing with some family and friends. The reaction was overwhelming, when some of them said they stopped using the app as that was �too addictive�. This was enough boost and indication for the Stolen iPhone app development team and Chen that they are on the right track.
The game begins��
The concept of Stolen is simple and rather �silly� according to its creators - Users pay with virtual currency to �steal� other users from each other. All that the players need to do with the highly addictive game that is a free-form mix of a stock market, a Facebook poke, and baseball trading cards is to make BIG virtual money, and use the virtual currency to steal other user � virtually. For instance the app can be integrated with Twitter so users can steal their favorite celebrities.
The Stolen app users give n-number of justifications as to why they would like to steal a particular user. It has either be to beat the competition as to who could hold on the best names (users), heighten their bragging rights, win a bet on someone�s price going up, show off their taste and virtual money might, or simply to mess with their friends. After all who wouldn�t like to brag, �I own Justin Bieber� or Angelina Jolie!
It came. You played. Got addicted.
The creators of Stolen were beginning to feel optimistic post the feedback of the beta testers. However, they were pleasantly shocked and taken by surprise seeing the exploding response to their gaming app. In fact within 3 days of its launch the app exploded. Currently ranked amongst the top 50 social networking apps in the iTunes App Store and in the top 200 overall with a spree of downloads rolling in.
In fact the CODES of Stolen became such a hot commodity to the extent that hashtag #stolencode gets tweeted at least once a minute. If you too wish to feel the heat of Stolen�s popularity, all you need to tweet is they �you can share Stolen code� (sic) and see your account flooded with request. Worth mentioning is that addicted Stolen players are so desperate to play the game that Stolen codes were up for sale on eBay for $35.
Are you too looking to build an insanely addictive game like Stolen? All you need to do is hire iPhone game developers who have experience building games that have rocked the iTunes chart.
Wish you luck!
