China-based TribePlay is announcing today that it has surpassed 10 million total downloads for its series of Dr. Panda children’s games.
The studio, which has nearly a dozen Dr. Panda games on iOS and Google Play, focuses on educational products for younger kids.
“We are regularly reaching the top of the app stores in the U.S. and Europe, which are our biggest markets,” TribePlay chief executive Thijs Bosma told GamesBeat. “To get to 10 million downloads, it took us going into the market at the right time with an experienced development team. Now we are building on the Dr. Panda brand.
A majority of TribePlay’s success has come in the last three months. Over 40 percent of the 10 million total downloads came in the last quarter. Bosma credits the company’s work on developing Dr. Panda as a character for its booming performance.
“What we see with every title that we launch is that we gather a bigger user base because they recognize the brand and the Dr. Panda name,” he said.
TribePlay competes in the young-children’s market against developers like Duck Duck Moose and Toca Boca. These studios create games that they claim help teach children about the world rather than stuff like reading and arithmetic. For example, TribePlay’s most recent title, Dr. Panda’s Airport, teaches kids about what to expect when they travel by plane.
Other Dr. Panda games focus on grocery shopping, going to the hospital, and eating vegetables.
“Our educational values are centered more on life skills,” said Bosma. “We get kids familiar with how stuff works in the real world. I think this approach is very popular with parents. These are educational values are very important.”
With children using tablets and smartphones at a younger age than ever, it’s likely that the market for TribePlay’s games is going to continue to grow. The challenge for Bosma’s studio is to continue to convince parents that the Dr. Panda games are good for children.