SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today announced that Amazon Underground has tripled the selection of free apps and games in the first two months since launch. Amazon Underground is a new app for Android phones, available exclusively from Amazon, which offers a large selection of popular apps and games for free (including in-app items). In Underground, customers don’t have to pay for premium apps, or download a free app and spend money to complete a level more quickly, get more lives, or unlock new features. Everything is completely free. Popular new games now available include premium title Monument Valley (includes Forgotten Shores update for a total value of $5.98), and free-to-play titles Nemo’s Reef (includes $47.88 in free in-app items) and Dumb Ways to Die 2 (includes over $10 in free in-app items).
Amazon Underground launched in August and includes all of the functionality of the regular Amazon mobile shopping app, plus an exclusive selection of 100% free apps, games, and associated in-app items, including popular games like Angry Birds Slingshot Stella, Goat Simulator, Frozen Free Fall, Looney Tunes Dash! and many more. For example, in Frozen Free Fall—an app that is free to install and usually requires in-app purchases to unlock additional levels—customers can play with unlimited lives and will receive many bonus in-app items in the Amazon Underground version of the app completely free ($31.87 value). Premium games (like Goat Simulator which costs $4.99 in other app stores) that require a customer to pay to download are also free in Amazon Underground. Amazon Underground is available on Android phones and on Fire tablets, including the all-new Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10, and Fire, the groundbreaking new tablet for under $50. To learn more about Amazon Underground, visit: www.amazon.com/underground.
“In just the first two months since launch, we’ve tripled the free selection of apps and games in Amazon Underground and continue to add more content every day. Customers can now experience the entire world of Monument Valley for free. They’ll also receive nearly $50 in value of in-app items for reef building in Nemo’s Reef,” said Steve Rabuchin, Vice President, Amazon Appstore. “In Amazon Underground, customers have access to apps, games and in-app items, such as extra lives and levels, completely free—providing an entirely new way to enjoy their favorite apps and games.”
Amazon Underground offers an innovative new monetization approach for developers, paying them for every minute a customer uses their app or game, instead of having to rely on charging customers for a download or for in-app items. Developers are already seeing early success in the program:
“We’ve been thrilled with the performance of Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja as part of the Amazon Underground program in the month since launch,” said Shainiel Deo, CEO of Halfbrick Studios. “Thus far we have doubled the downloads and revenue from our apps in the Amazon Appstore and most interestingly, customers are engaging with our in-app purchase content within our games at an extremely high rate. Since all in-app purchases are free in Amazon Underground, they can play the games in new and exciting ways.”
“We included four of our popular titles in Amazon Underground at launch, aimed at reaching as many fans as possible in the Amazon ecosystem,” said Tero Raji, SVP of Game Business at Rovio. “In the first month since launch of these games, the Amazon Underground model has brought us up to three times more revenue compared to the same games’ user revenue in the Amazon Appstore previously.”
“It’s always been our aim with Monument Valley to create a meaningful experience for all types of players,” said Dan Gray, Executive Producer of Monument Valley. “It’s great that there’s now a service in Amazon Underground that lets us reach millions of people that wouldn’t usually pay for games, without compromising the game design or its principles.”
About Amazon
Amazon.com opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about.
