The new iPad effect has helped Wooga notch up impressive numbers for the iOS version of its social game Diamond Dash since its launch last December. The Berlin-based company has released figures for the game for the first time, with more than 11 million iOS downloads overall.
And 40 percent of them have come on the iPad – with 13 percent on the recently-launched third generation of the device.
The iPad is becoming increasingly popular for gaming, and more than a hundred thousand users are already playing the Diamond Dash on the new third-gen iPad. In countries where the iPad 3 was released on March 16, 13 percent of all Diamond Dash downloads are on the new device, 25 percent on the iPhone 4 and 22 percent on the iPhone 4S. Overall, the iPhone is responsible for 51 percent of downloads and the three generations of iPad for 40 percent.
In addition, the figures show the increasing synchronization between Facebook and mobile. The iOS version of Diamond Dash has made comprehensive use of Facebook Connect. Through social functions, such as the synchronization of results between the mobile and the Flash versions, a real-time leaderboard and the ability to send gifts from a mobile device to a PC, competition between friends is also possible on smartphones.
And 64 percent of users log on to Facebook in order to play Diamond Dash, one of the first social games for mobile, with their friends. This Facebook connectivity increases the willingness to spend money in-game eight-fold. In addition, those playing through Facebook spend on average 50 percent more than other users.
In December, 28 percent of Diamond Dash users were playing through Facebook; by the end of March that figure was 64 percent. And since the beginning of March, users have been directed to the Diamond Dash app from Facebook 18.5 million times – a number which shows Facebook’s growing importance as a distribution channel in the mobile environment.
Source: Wooga