Color Switch should be an inspiration to independent mobile game developers everywhere. The title is just about a year old, and it has been downloaded more than 130 million times.
That is an astounding number for publisher Fortafy Games, a small company based in Dubai and Sydney, Australia. The free-to-play game’s growth shows that you can still create a gigantic hit in the consolidating $36 billion mobile game industry.
Zeb Jaffer, the cofounder of Fortafy, said in an email that the company has done a lot of work to earn those downloads. It has updated the game more than 50 times, adding more than 2,000 levels. Color Switch is an addictive, simple game where you tap the screen repeatedly to make a color ball advance. If you hit it at the wrong time, you have to start over.
Fortafy was the first joint venture by Jaffer, Sam Ratumaitavuki, and Marc Lejeune. The business is based in Dubai and Sydney, Australia. It makes its money on Color Switch via ads and in-app purchases.
The game has spread through word-of-mouth on Google Play and iOS. The original developers are David Reichelt and Aditya Oza. They initially made the game using Buildbox, which allows for simple, drag-and-drop development procedures. It took them about a week. And Reichelt was able to make the game — which is filled with dazzling colors — despite being colorblind.
Apple and Google Play both selected it as one of the best games of the year. The title still has millions of daily active users, and it is most popular in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia. Color Switch has had more than 5 billion digital impressions from online memes, videos, status updates, likes, shares, and comments. People have played it billions of times. Not bad.