Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Rolando's Simon Oliver in the Daily Mail
The Daily Mail has reported the story of our friend Simon Oliver, creator of Rolando (whom we interviewed quite a while ago when the game originally came out). Apparently things have worked out very well for him -- the game has sold 700,000 copies so far, Oliver's set to be a millionaire, and he's now, as he says, the head of a game studio that already has a hit under its belt. Very impressive (too bad they still call him a geek).It's stories like this that are pushing the little App Store bubble we've got going nowadays -- every investor with money to spare (not as many as usual, given the current economy) is happy to sink it into releases for the iPhone, and while there is plenty of money being made, not every developer ends up like Oliver (let's not forget he had a quality product in the first place).
But there is some good news here: without the App Store and the iPhone platform, this never would have happened. Say what you want about Apple's release policies or their initial "no SDK" choice, but with the iPhone, they've brought development and distribution down to anyone who can dream it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
shaun said 11:15AM on 3-14-2009
He deserves that success, Rolando is definitely the best game on the store! You can tell how much effort went into it
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Kevlar said 2:25PM on 3-14-2009
Rolando is an amazing game, but my top pick goes to the much lesser recognized "Edge". (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=300896018&mt=8)
If you haven't played it, I'd highly recommend checking it out. There is a LITE version available too.
James said 11:16AM on 3-14-2009
Cheers for a link to the article then.
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Jools said 8:23PM on 3-14-2009
Er, yeah - that'll be the link labelled "Source" at the bottom of the article.
Stanley said 11:54AM on 3-14-2009
Source article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1161722/
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Tariq said 1:27PM on 3-14-2009
I am the proud owner of one of those 700K. It's a fantastic game, and I can really see how much effort went into it. The coloring, the animation, and the sounds are all excellent. It's the only game that I've put on my homepage. I really hope they keep cranking out winners like this one.
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JKT said 1:38PM on 3-14-2009
I guess I'm the oddball, for I didn't like Rolando at all and deleted it in relatively short order. But I'm glad you all like it and the author is getting your accolades.
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Steven said 3:59PM on 3-14-2009
At 700,000 x $4.99, how is he not already a millionaire? Even with Apple's 30% take, that's still $2,445,100. This isn't net earnings obviously, so could that be it? Or am I missing something embarrassingly obvious?
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Steven said 5:21PM on 3-14-2009
Oh, I think I found the answer in TUAW's interview. I didn't know he partned with NGMOCO to publish it.
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alansky said 6:13PM on 3-14-2009
Mike,
I completely agree with your comments about the iPhone app store. It is an amazing opportunity for talented software developers and an unbelievably rich resource for iPhone users.
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utterer said 8:12AM on 3-16-2009
Do they bring up about how the game is a blatant ripoff of Loco Roco for PSP?
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Josh said 7:52AM on 3-17-2009
It was in the Evening Standard as well.
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togar said 8:23AM on 4-08-2009
What would you say to the article from wiwapia.com - http://wiwapia.com/en/Rolando_(video_game) ? I've discovered a lot of interesting info for myself here.
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