After shifting just shy of a million downloads during it’s six day free period (990,820 if you want to be precise), we set FaceFighter back to its original price of $1.99 about mid-day yesterday. FaceFighter had done its job of vaulting Tune Runner up near the top of its category, and it was time for FaceFighter to start earning its way again. We held our breath and pushed the button. Did we destroy the value of our best-selling game with our hairbrained stunt?

So far, the answer appears to be … no.

chart courtesy of AppFigures

Since re-entering the paid category, FaceFighter has climbed steadily through the ranks, and is now just outside the Top 50 in its primary category. We were outside the Top 150 when we set FaceFighter to free, so our give-away weekend appears to have not only benefited Tune Runner via cross-promotion, but has also lifted the visibility of FaceFighter and substantially impacted that game’s sales, too.

This is further evidence that the App Store is at heart a referral business. By giving away a great game for free, we reached a million new customers, and now those customers are paying us back by sharing FaceFighter and recommending it to their friends, resulting in follow-on sales even when the game returned to full price.

This also points to the strength of FaceFighter as an emerging franchise title, and we intend to build on the success of FaceFighter in weeks to come. First will be a module for optional in-app purchases, expanding FaceFighter‘s library of fighters, weapons, and finishing moves. Then we plan to bring FaceFighter to the iPad in a premium format centered around a new feature possible only on the iPad.

More details HERE.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 4:12 pm and is filed under PR & Marketing. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.