iCandy Interactive exceeds 1 million pre-orders for new mobile game Claw Stars

Mobile game developer iCandy Interactive (ASX: ICI) has announced it has received more than 1 million pre-orders for its soon-to-launched game Claw Stars on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

The game has been in pre-registration since late April and is scheduled for a global launch this Wednesday, with several new features now expected to be introduced in the launch version.

These include an increase in the number of planets for players to play from nine to 25, the introduction of a referral system where players can obtain in-game rewards by referring a friend to download the game, and in-game subscription, where players can pay a monthly fee to gain access to premium features.

These new features were the result of positive feedback received from early access trials.

Better pre-order uptake than Masketeers

iCandy said Claw Stars appears to be an even better performer than its recent hit game Masketeers, when comparing the pre-orders sign-up rate.

“Claw Stars is the first multi-player game developed in-house by iCandy,” iCandy chairman Kin Wai Lau said.

“We are happy to see that the game is very well received at this pre-order phase.”

Claw Stars is free to download with iCandy generating income from in-app purchases and advertising. As such, iCandy said it is difficult to forecast a financial effect of the game at this stage, but it is calling Claw Stars a “major milestone for the company as a whole”.

Multi-player upgrades

Given the popularity of Claw Stars’ multi-player concept, iCandy has also been focused on developing more content and upgrading its Masketeers: Idle Has Fallen game.

Masketeers is currently a single player game, but in May the company said it was working to implement a new Guild System in the next upgrade for the game, where players will be able to form teams to take on more challenging missions and earn greater in-game rewards.

iCandy also plans to introduce a chat system to enable gamers to chat among each other in-game, increasing engagement of its gamers community.

In addition, the company recently rolled out four new language supports (Mandarin simplied, Mandarin traditional, Japanese and Korean) to appeal to a wider non-English speaking gamer audience.

“iCandy’s decision to include the four chosen languages is based on its past experience, whereby these user cohorts have historically yielded a higher average revenue per user than the global average,” the company stated.