iPhone Developer Quits Day Job After 'iShoot' Hits Number One

The overnight success of iShoot is one of those fantastical stories that causes instant buzz among iPhone developers and fanboys alike. Developer Ethan Nicholas, is having the kind of success with iShoot that many app creators will hope is contagious.

Ethan's tank combat game originally went live in the App Store back on October 19, 2008. The response from cult of iPhone fanatics was 'just ok' according to Nicholas. Soon after its launch, iShoot disappeared into obscurity only after a moderate number of downloads.

"I work a day job at Sun Microsystems," Nicholas told the iPhone Savior in a short phone interview, "I developed iShoot in my spare time with no updates since it was first released."

Finding time to tinker with iShoot over the Christmas break, Nicholas decided to release a free "Lite” version of his $2.99 app, hoping it would be rediscovered by iPhone faithful. That brilliant decision turned out to be the magic bullet iShoot needed.

"iShoot Lite" went live on January 3, 2009. Less than ten days later on January 11, the original iShoot rocketed out of obscurity as the number one Top Paid App in the iTunes App Store with 16,972 downloads in one day. It virtually blasted the reigning number one iFart app off its perch overnight. iShoot simultaneously grabbed the Top Free App number one spot as well.

For an app to reach number one and remain there, some 10,000 plus downloads per day are required. That's roughly $21,000 a day for this $2.99 app after Apple takes its 30-percent stake. Nicholas attributes iShoot’s meteoric rise to the release of his ‘Lite’ version, giving millions a free chance to experience the thrill of launching tank artillery. It’s important to note that a $2.99 price point was no barrier to the ultimate success of iShoot. [over $600K net]

"I'm still in shock," Nicholas said, "I've given my two week notice at Sun Microsystems. I'm gonna do this full time now."

Nicholas admitted that's he's not a seasoned Mac developer. In fact, he had no experience with Objective-C programming prior to creating iShoot. That’s one revelation that makes his epic success story sound even more unreal.

"iShoot was the first app I developed using Objective-C," Nicholas said, "It was created on an original MacBook that was in rough shape. The Wi-Fi was dead and even the Ethernet port had to be jiggled for it to work right."

I downloaded "iShoot Lite" myself to see what the number one artillery combat game was all about. I had a tough time putting it down because I love to blow things up. The concept is simple, man your own tank and then blast the other tanks into oblivion with a plethora of high-powered weapons that instantly rearrange the landscape. The full version of iShoot includes 25 weapons to choose from. iShoot Lite only offers six weapons, but one of those is a Tactical Nuke which makes burying any opponent extremely gratifying. I'm hooked!

Ethan told me that he's been getting dozens of emails from other developers asking him if they should produce a "Lite" version of their own apps. "Hell yes!," Ethan replied, "I put zero marketing dollars into iShoot and had no blog coverage. I just created a game I actually wanted to play.” 

Now that Ethan Nicholas is planning to collect his iShoot mailbox money while spending afternoons watching Judge Judy, it won't be long before we’ll see his next creation blasting in from out of nowhere. Can he repeat history and create another number one iPhone app with a bullet? I'm certain he really couldn’t care less at the moment. He's too busy enjoying his epic tank ride to becoming independently wealthy. One tactical iShoot download at a time.

Buy iShoot       Get iShoot Lite

Comments

[Scott]

I had a few things to say in respect to the effects of this particular story... and any like it. Check it out at:
http://www.underdog-solutions.com/UnderdogBlog/post/2009/01/14/iShoot-Scores-Big.aspx

[Robert Cockerham]

I am incredibly jealous. Brilliant marketing, that light version. Many developers would be too cheap/stingy to try that tactic, (myself included) but it obviously paid off! Beautiful!

I'm trying to imagine making $10,000 a day.

[Btk]

This seems to be based on an old computer game called "Scorched Earth" (early 90's I believe?) -- and then there's Team 17's "Worms" series..

Give credits where they are due, Mr. Instant Success...

[John Davis]

Wow, pretty lucky dude. It is a cool game though!

www.Privacy-Center.net

[x]

scorched earth. anyone?

[Oryx]

Yes, I agree with Btk. This is based on an old tank game that was created in the 90's.
Though, I don't know whether or not Ethan gave credits to the original creation ...

[Dave]

Scorched Earth? Fun game, but gorilla.bas came first...

[JustinT]

Congratulations Ethan, well done on trying something new and making a sucesss of it.

To all who whinge about paying triburte to some 90's game or whatever, you have got to give Ethan credit regardless of where his concept came from.

[Mr. Mystere]

Tagging along to the i-word system is very nice, like registering a domain name in the early days. Maybe he will give some money to Doctors Without Borders.

[Tim]

I'm glad this guys app is a success, but I think quitting his day job is a bit rash.

Yeah, his app is doing well, and I'm sure this story is going to help it more, but what happens when the next big thing comes out...

I'd recommend to him that he keep his day job and keep working on iphone apps after work!

[Steph]

Funny, I just bought it this morning. It had been up in the top 25 apps for a while and looked interesting. It's basically why it caught my attention.

Goes to show the importance of being in the Top 25 apps!

And you definitely hit the tipping point. Once you got in the rankings, sales came in.

Hopefully your next app will be just as big a success.

[SiddGames]

Brilliant marketing? Hello Apple developers, welcome to Microsoft's marketing strategy for Xbox Live Arcade... 3 years later.

[stoolpigeon]

So if I understand correctly - this article is about how the iphone will be seeing a lot of this new type of marketing where some lite version is free to encourage buying the full version? We should come up with a name for it. It's almost like sharing software in the hopes that someone pays - so I would recommend the term shareware. Though this is on apple so I guess it will have to be iShareware.

[Scooter]

Oh you poor children who only remember the 90's. Games of this sort were available for Atari, Commador64 and Apple][+ all the way back in the late 70's / early 80's, and they were free with the computer then. The concept is completely public domain now, and there is no legal or ethical need to give props to anybody.

[Greg]

haha what a noob this income will not last very long. i hope he is saving all he can, but he still won't be able to live off of it.

[AK47]

this is an amazing game and I'm totally addicted to it. i think it's a great idea to release lite versions esp for games and if people are interested they would buy the full version. Worth every penny spent....

[Sequester McKinney]

Ethan is extremely blessed. I love the game. Awesome job Ethan!

[Alex]

Won't be able to live off it? There are people who live off 30,000 a year supporting a family. In my opinion, he struck it rich. If he were to develop four games a year that had any kind of similar success, he would be pretty damn wealthy.

[A.]

10,000 downloads a day, and it sitting in the top 5 for some time now. All in all, he will most likely net well over $250,000 even if it drops off the top. But once on the top, hard to get you out of the Top 25. You have time in the number 2 spot, then #5 spot, etc, etc. So Ethan, save the money and develop more games. Can you say lifetime residual.

[Joel]

Haha!

I downloaded the Lite version, played it for 10 seconds and instantly liked it so much I bought the full version.

Good on him. This games rules!

Here's hoping for more weapons and more levels in a future update/expansion...

[Leroy Frederick]

Lets hope he can keep it up and doesn't end up just a 1-hit wonder!

Good wishes to him, and if your reading, do your homework and use the money wisely ;)

[happy for ethan]

Congrats to him and screw the nay-sayers. They're just pissed they didn't do it. It's easier to post negative cr#p on a messageboard than to develop even simple software and it's not like Sun's prospects right now are enough to keep anyone there coming in to work these days.

They're probably all a bunch of disgruntled Sun employees that had to pick up his job after he bolted.

[iPhone Applications Developers]

This really is a great app. We made a couple of iPhone apps too, and they sold good.

Sam

[RMVX]

Wow, that's quite the success story! I hope iphone developers can keep making unexpected hits like this, they're quite an inspiration :)

[JP]

Yeh good job stealing scorched earth and not even mentioning where you got the idea for this anywhere.