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Wild guess: $15 million for a small company milking an one-hit wonder. With security and resources the dev team can finally move on and make something cool: Clu

by jw84 16y ago

Wild guess: $15 million for a small company milking an one-hit wonder. With security and resources the dev team can finally move on and make something cool: Club Penguin for iOS!

jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
They'd be a one hit wonder if they only succeeded with their first version of TTR two years ago when the app store first came out. They're actually many hit wonders. Smart move by disney here.
- jw84 16y ago
  Not knocking their hustle. Every company needs cash money to keep the lights on but they've only been doing TTR and branded TTR for the past two years. Twinkle, the closed in network, was cute but didn't take off. Kerfuffle over Contacts made it disappear. Point is the Tapulous team has experience and capability producing really high quality iOS apps. Now with Disney IP and security they have no excuses left to do something more interesting than dots that blip to a Hannah Montana beat. PS. When are you coming back to California?
  - Timothee 16y ago
    Now with Disney IP and security they have no excuses left to do something more interesting than dots that blip to a Hannah Montana beat. They have no excuses not to do something more interesting…, right? Anyway, one has to give it to them: they managed to create a huge brand based on a game concept that already had a huge brand attached to it outside the iPhone world, namely "Dance Dance Revolution". I do feel that their website showing 14 TTR games out of 16 apps (apparently they had more but they are not showed there) shows that they've been milking the concept and brand to death, but in the end, that's still a major accomplishment. Especially with that kind of exit.
    - jw84 16y ago
      Yes, triple negatives and all that. Actually Tapulous just remade a 13 year old Japanese game called BeatMania, which still has a huge following. So big that hackers can make decent living selling custom $200 BeatMania control boxes. So the fascination with tapping on dots isn't that out of the norm. Their licensing contracts isn't so much a reflection on their tastes, I mean, the negotiation powers isn't with them when concerning record labels.
  - jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
    Well said. Tapulous' talent with (iOS + disney's ip)*(acquisition of wideload games bringing on board Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian) equals huge potential. ps- stay tuned. will be in town in late July.
    - kevinelliott 16y ago
      I believe Tapulous starting it's downward trend when Mike Lee was forced out of the company by the investment team and other execs. $15 mil is not a lot of money for a company that had investment, and a dozen products. This ultimately smells like a ditch effort.
- cmelbye 16y ago
  Tapulous has largely failed to do anything other than Tap Tap Revenge. Twinkle, Tweetsville, FriendBook, Fortune, and Collage have all been abandoned. Riddim Ribbon hasn't seen any updates in months (not even adding new music tracks for download). To me, it's somewhat worrisome. And, of course this is completely subjective, but their music choice has gotten really bad recently. Lady Gaga, Coldplay, and Dance were all really good games with great music, and there were some nice indie tracks in Tap Tap Revenge 1. Now it's trending towards low quality pop music and it will only get worse when they start doing Disney artists. Again, that last part is 100% my opinion, and I'm not sure if it means much in terms of the company's success.
  - Timothee 16y ago
    Hum, I hadn't thought of Disney in terms of their record label, but more their movies, games, and associated franchises. As you're saying, this acquisition might just mean: foreach ($disney_artists as $artist) { make("TTR $artist->name"); } That'd be a bit sad.
    - cmelbye 16y ago
      That's what I'm thinking. Tap Tap Revenge is the only thing they've been able to pull of successfully, but it wasn't even their idea — they bought it from an iPhone developer from the pre-SDK jailbreak days when the game was called Tap Tap Revolution. All of their original ideas have not been nearly as successful. I can't see any reason other than talent and TTR for the acquisition.
    - camiller 16y ago
      "That'd be a bit sad." Understatement of the year!
petercooper 16y ago
Not only that, but Disney and Apple are in bed with each other so I suspect Tapulous will be able to skip a lot of the BS and be featured prominently every time they release something.
klous 16y ago
All kidding aside, Club Penguin for iOS would be a hit. Parents could let their little ones explore their iPad or iPod Touch in the safety of Club Penguin. I believe Club Penguin is still in flash at this point.

by jw84 16y ago

Wild guess: $15 million for a small company milking an one-hit wonder. With security and resources the dev team can finally move on and make something cool: Club Penguin for iOS!

jasonlbaptiste 16y ago

They'd be a one hit wonder if they only succeeded with their first version of TTR two years ago when the app store first came out. They're actually many hit wonders. Smart move by disney here.

jw84 16y ago
Not knocking their hustle. Every company needs cash money to keep the lights on but they've only been doing TTR and branded TTR for the past two years. Twinkle, the closed in network, was cute but didn't take off. Kerfuffle over Contacts made it disappear. Point is the Tapulous team has experience and capability producing really high quality iOS apps. Now with Disney IP and security they have no excuses left to do something more interesting than dots that blip to a Hannah Montana beat. PS. When are you coming back to California?
- Timothee 16y ago
  Now with Disney IP and security they have no excuses left to do something more interesting than dots that blip to a Hannah Montana beat. They have no excuses not to do something more interesting…, right? Anyway, one has to give it to them: they managed to create a huge brand based on a game concept that already had a huge brand attached to it outside the iPhone world, namely "Dance Dance Revolution". I do feel that their website showing 14 TTR games out of 16 apps (apparently they had more but they are not showed there) shows that they've been milking the concept and brand to death, but in the end, that's still a major accomplishment. Especially with that kind of exit.
  - jw84 16y ago
    Yes, triple negatives and all that. Actually Tapulous just remade a 13 year old Japanese game called BeatMania, which still has a huge following. So big that hackers can make decent living selling custom $200 BeatMania control boxes. So the fascination with tapping on dots isn't that out of the norm. Their licensing contracts isn't so much a reflection on their tastes, I mean, the negotiation powers isn't with them when concerning record labels.
- jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
  Well said. Tapulous' talent with (iOS + disney's ip)*(acquisition of wideload games bringing on board Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian) equals huge potential. ps- stay tuned. will be in town in late July.
  - kevinelliott 16y ago
    I believe Tapulous starting it's downward trend when Mike Lee was forced out of the company by the investment team and other execs. $15 mil is not a lot of money for a company that had investment, and a dozen products. This ultimately smells like a ditch effort.
cmelbye 16y ago
Tapulous has largely failed to do anything other than Tap Tap Revenge. Twinkle, Tweetsville, FriendBook, Fortune, and Collage have all been abandoned. Riddim Ribbon hasn't seen any updates in months (not even adding new music tracks for download). To me, it's somewhat worrisome. And, of course this is completely subjective, but their music choice has gotten really bad recently. Lady Gaga, Coldplay, and Dance were all really good games with great music, and there were some nice indie tracks in Tap Tap Revenge 1. Now it's trending towards low quality pop music and it will only get worse when they start doing Disney artists. Again, that last part is 100% my opinion, and I'm not sure if it means much in terms of the company's success.
- Timothee 16y ago
  Hum, I hadn't thought of Disney in terms of their record label, but more their movies, games, and associated franchises. As you're saying, this acquisition might just mean: foreach ($disney_artists as $artist) { make("TTR $artist->name"); } That'd be a bit sad.
  - cmelbye 16y ago
    That's what I'm thinking. Tap Tap Revenge is the only thing they've been able to pull of successfully, but it wasn't even their idea — they bought it from an iPhone developer from the pre-SDK jailbreak days when the game was called Tap Tap Revolution. All of their original ideas have not been nearly as successful. I can't see any reason other than talent and TTR for the acquisition.
  - camiller 16y ago
    "That'd be a bit sad." Understatement of the year!

petercooper 16y ago

Not only that, but Disney and Apple are in bed with each other so I suspect Tapulous will be able to skip a lot of the BS and be featured prominently every time they release something.

klous 16y ago

All kidding aside, Club Penguin for iOS would be a hit. Parents could let their little ones explore their iPad or iPod Touch in the safety of Club Penguin. I believe Club Penguin is still in flash at this point.