Shuriken Ninja devs bring in $245K a year in another Windows Phone success story

By George Ponder
last updated

Microsoft Advertising is one way developers can earn revenue from Windows Phones. It looks like the Windows Phone game Shuriken Ninja and Taptitude have done rather well with the Microsoft Advertising SDK.

Shuriken Ninja

Geekworks, Shuriken Ninja's developer, has reported that the game receives 900 to 1,200 downloads a day with a total of 436,349 downloads since the game launched. The game accounted for almost 40 million impressions during 2011. All totaled, Geekworks games reached 145,000,000 impressions. On average the company earns $1.69 eCPM (essentially earning per impression) which gives Geekworks an earnings total of $245,000 a year.  Not too shabby at all.

Shuriken Ninja was originally a paid app for Windows Phones but Geekworks (a two-man team) saw limited success with the game. As with other developers, Geekworks changed the game over to a free, ad-supported game. The game took off and is currently sitting at the top of the Windows Phone Marketplace free strategy/simulation list.

Taptitude

Like Geekworks, FourBros Studios (opens in new tab)' Taptitude has seen equally impressive success. We reported on this a days ago as they reportedly pulled in $100K so far. Revenue is averaging $800 a day over the past month, peaking at $1,750 on Sunday, April 22, 2012.  If my math is correct, should FourBros maintain last months' average Taptitude would earn $292,000 for the year.

Taptitude isn't too far behind Shuriken Ninja's total downloads with over 300,000 downloads since launch. The Windows Phone game is also currently second on the Marketplace's top free games list.

Shuriken Ninja and Taptitude are very good games for your Windows Phone and it's nice to see both becoming Windows Phone success stories. If you haven't tried either,  Shuriken Ninja, you can find it here (opens in new tab) at the Windows Phone Marketplace and Taptitude can be found here at the (opens in new tab) Marketplace.

Source: Microsoft Advertising (opens in new tab)

George Ponder
George Ponder

George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.

9 Comments
  • I love both games.
  • Shuriken ninja is one of my favorite games on wp7. One of my 1st apps to be on my phone.
  • Both are great games, although wondering why Geekworks isn't giving Pistol Pirate any love. I know it takes work, but there's a bug that's keeping people from being able to progress, especially if they've gad to reinstall the game. I hope to keep seeing great work from both developers!
  • I would love to compare notes with people getting high eCPM (like $1.69). It seems to be a bit of a dark art. Either that, or totally random.
  • I also get more than 1.3$ eCPM..... I don't think 1.69$ is high, some of my apps get more than 5$ eCPM...
  • Is that in the US, or world-wide? I struggle to get $0.50 most of the time.
  • nitpicking here, but eCPM isn't "essentially earning per impression," it's (effective) cost per thousand impressions
  • Yeah but nobody can make money off Windows Phone apps
    /iTard
  • Had a lot of fun with shuriken ninja