Seriously has had success with its initial Best Fiends mobile game, attracting over 50 million installs since the October 2014 launch across iOS and Android devices. The free-to-download game has over 2 million daily active users, and has generated over $50 million in revenue to date.
“We’re building brands,” Andrew Stalbow, co-founder and CEO of Seriously, told [a]listdaily. “Best Fiends is a universe with over 200 characters and we felt with the big audience shift away from traditional platforms to mobile platforms, mobile is the best place to build an IP.” Now the second game in a planned trilogy, Best Fiends Forever, is available across mobile devices. Stalbow said while most mobile game companies would create a game in the same genre, Seriously wanted to find another genre to show off the world, the characters and continue the story.
“We decided to make a clicker game because we felt like we could redefine what a clicker adventure could feel like. My prediction is in 2017 some of the biggest Hollywood’s IPs will make clicker games.” Stalbow said the connective tissue between Seriously’s games is the casual, approachable nature of these titles, which are designed for the whole family. The game features music by Hollywood composer Heitor Pereira (Despicable Me) and the story was written by Emmy-award-winning producer Stewart Burns (The Simpsons).
“We have over 5 million social media followers to promote the game to,” Stalbow said. “We have our own mini-network. It’s an interesting time for brands because we’re connected to our audience.”
The mobile game company is using the original game as a platform to launch this sequel. “In traditional media when I was at Fox, our content wasn’t connected to our audience,” Stalbow said. “But as a mobile developer, we’re directly connected to our audience of 2 million daily players. We’re using our first app as a platform to launch the second game and communicate to our fans that we have a new game out.”
Seriously is promoting the game with its biggest influencer marketing push to date, which will kick off on October 22. “We will have the world’s biggest YouTubers with over 100 million subscribers, including Pewdiepie, Markiplier, Joey Graceffa, Dan TDM, Jack Septiceye, LD Shadow Lady, Wayne Goss, Cinnamon Toast Ken and many more,” Stalbow said. “In addition to these high-profile videos, we will have over 200 original video integrations across Gamers, DIY, Fashion and LGBT YouTube channels.”
Seriously has created an experiential slug slapping video and a gameplay launch trailer. In November, they’ll release gameplay pro tips from YouTube stars. And they’re also working on a stop-motion video for the new game.
“We try to be as creative with our marketing as we are in developing our products,” Stalbow said. “We’ve focused on YouTube as a platform for a couple years now. Before we launched Best Fiends 1, we asked mobile CMOs what was working and they said FaceBook and Twitter were working well, but they couldn’t connect with and YouTube couldn’t connect. So we decided to focus on YouTube. We’ll mix in some nice creative videos.”
Seriously recently partnered with actress Kate Walsh and YouTubers Rossana Pansino and Joey Graceffa to create the “Don’t Download Best Fiends” viral video. Stalbow said the video ranks in the Top 10 of all video ads on YouTube alongside some other big brands. The first few weeks the video had over 3 million YouTube views and over 8 million Facebook views.
“The video made people laugh, and that’s what we’re in the business of doing,” Stalbow said.
Stalbow said the plan is that that video might turn into a mini-series. It’s something Seriously is working on quietly in the background now. “I want to marry working with social influencers with creating our own brand videos,” Stalbow said. “We started with influencers and it’s a natural evolution to create our own videos.”
The company added a “video” button to Best Fiends so they can promote other videos they’re creating directly from YouTube. Stalbow said a video button will also launch on the second game.
“The app is a great platform to promote a lot of things,” Stalbow said. “What’s interesting about the mobile opportunity is that we can take the audience on a bit of journey between games. We believe it’s the right way to build a franchise.”
Stalbow said the real opportunity for a brand like Best Fiends is that if you have an audience in your hand, give them experiences that are only one click away. “We’re developing high-quality animated shorts,” Stalbow said. “We’re building out our video proposition over the next 12 months.”
Seriously is also stepping into consumer products, although Stalbow said the company is taking a “less is more” approach for merchandise. The company has some limited edition Best Fiends vinyls and plush toys available through KidRobot, as well as t-shirts on Amazon.com.
“Later next year you’ll see some more interesting news from us on the licensing front,” Stalbow said.
