Mobile game publisher Scopely is launching The Walking Dead: Road to Survival today on the App Store and Google Play.
The game, which is based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book universe—not the wildly successful TV show—puts the player among a group of survivors who discover the town of Woodbury and witness the rise of the Governor before Rick, Michonne, and the rest of the group arrive. Kirkman says over time the game will focus on all the iconic characters and locations from the comic book series.
“This game is all about character building, and community building, and trying to farm resources and being safe and trying to have stability,” Kirkman says. “It’s also a community based game where you’ll be able to play with The Walking Dead fans from around the world.”
Making a The Walking Dead mobile game is a good move by Scopely, according to analysts.
“Scopely’s goal has, in their own words, been to become the ‘HBO of mobile/social games,’” SuperData Research CEO Joost van Dreunen says. “A Walking Dead-based game fits well within those parameters. Moreover, leveraging the recognizability of the brand will help offset user acquisition costs.”
SuperData Research estimates the global mobile games space will generate $22.3 billion by the end of 2015. The total spend on mobile games in July 2015 in the U.S. was $380 million and worldwide was $1.8 billion, according to SuperData Research.
To date, Scopely has raised $43 million to grow its company from four co-founders to 125 employees based in its Los Angeles headquarters and six global studios. Van Dreunen sees The Walking Dead IP and this evolution to core gameplay opening up the audience beyond the mobile gamer to the traditional console and PC gamer, as well.
“Considering the size of the games industry it can be no surprise that there’s a strong overlap between traditional core gamers on PC and console, who also play on their smartphone,” van Dreunen says. “Offering games on par with their expectations is an emergent strategy and we expect this category to grow in dollar share over the coming period.”
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