Introduction:
The rise and fall of Fruit Ninja: when smartphones made their foray, one of the most popular games on them was Fruit Ninja, a game that made cutting fruits a whole lot of fun using only swipe and slash gestures. It became so popular that it reached a billion downloads. But every shiny blade eventually turns dull, and as of today, the game has lost 99% of its relevance. So, what exactly occurred with Fruit Ninja? This is the complete story where we get to know how it was created and what led to its decline.
Origins and Creation:
Fruit Ninja was created by an Australian game developer, Halfbrick Studios. They had been making games since 2001 while working for international labels, delivering licensed games such as Avatar: The Last Airbender and Marvel Superhero Squad. These were usually designed for playing on consoles such as the Game Boy, PS2, Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS. However, after the 2008 economic downturn, developing games in Australia proved to be rather costly, resulting in the loss of their global clients, and the 17-member company was on the verge of going out of business.
In 2010, Shaniel Dio took the bold decision to craft games of their own, which not only included Fruit Ninja but others such as Jetpack Joyride, Dan the Man, and a whole lot more. Fruit Ninja stemmed from an idea that was brainstormed in sessions every Friday within Halfbrick Studios, where everyone had to pitch an idea for a game. If it happened to resonate with another on the team, the two would then work together to come up with a prototype.
Early Success:
They sought to target the growing user base of mobile phones, as iPhones were becoming increasingly popular. They wanted to use their touch controls. Luke came up with the idea for Fruit Ninja when he wanted to design a straightforward game for the iPhone and recalled watching a television commercial where fruits were being sliced in style. He was also inspired by Quake, a game that contained a lot of gore, in which players enjoyed hacking and slashing enemies. Thus, he decided the game would have gore but be limited to fruits, allowing all to enjoy. Fruit Ninja was launched on April 21, 2010, as a paid game for the iPhone and iPod. Beta testing had revealed much expectation among the gamers, and it began to attract and register players immediately upon release, with little promotion due to budget constraints.
Popularity and Expansion:
A blog trailer for the game even featured the developers themselves goofing around in costumes resembling different fruits. Slowly, sales improved, and in a month, the game had sold 200,000 copies. This caught the attention of Apple, which decided to feature the game in its top charts, even with the rest of the world. This provided a huge boost for the game, and its popularity skyrocketed. By July, it had received 1 million downloads, then 2 million, and then 4 million, just relentless. Furthermore, when it was released across different platforms and Android devices and even made free, downloads were in the hundreds of millions. By May 2012, downloads had not only reached 300 million but the game could be found on every third phone in the United States. By 2015, it had seen over 1 billion downloads combined across all platforms.
Reasons for Popularity:
So, what was behind its enormous popularity? There are mainly four reasons. The key was simple gameplay. The game appeared when smartphones introduced touch screens, and game developers were looking to make the most of them. Fruit Ninja fully exploited this touch interface, wherein players need not press buttons but only swipe across the screen. This was incredibly simple, allowing users to get used to it easily. Because of the easy gameplay, the developers also had the advantage of working in great detail on the smallest things, like what kind of sound is coming when the fruit is cut, how its pulp will splatter, and what colors will be used.
Updates and Expansion:
But this simple gameplay also worked against it. It was quickly realized by the developers that the game was too short to last beyond its initial run of success. So, they brought out several updates, 14 within the first 12 months. The early version was quite plain and did not carry gameplay modes. Over time, different modes were added to it, such as arcade mode, wherein slashing bombs doesn't end the game but only reduces the score. In contrast, Zen mode did not allow bombs at all, and players only had 90 seconds to score the maximum possible points. Gradually, leaderboards and multiplayer options were introduced, with new items and features making an appearance to extend their relevance.
Expanding Platforms and Marketing:
Not only did developers release updates, but they also released the game across multiple platforms. They did not seem to leave out any: iPhone, iPod, Android, Windows Phone, iPad, Facebook, Kindle. It was everywhere. In 2011, it was also released for Xbox 360 with the title Fruit Ninja Kinect. Then in 2012, the developers partnered with BlueStacks to bring it out on Windows, which attracted a million downloads in only 10 days. Also, newer additions were rolled out with titles such as Fruit Ninja HD, Fruit Ninja THD, Fruit Ninja FX, Fruit Ninja Frenzy, and Fruit Ninja Kinect 2. In 2016, Fruit Ninja VR was released for PlayStation, with Steam and Oculus. Thus, the developers left no stone unturned and brought the game out on every platform to reach as many people as possible.
Marketing and Cultural Impact:
Although the company did not have a marketing budget to begin with, it made extensive use of social media to promote the game. The blog trailer featuring developers enacting the game in the real world gave birth to many parodies bearing titles closely related to Fruit Ninja in real life. These blogs received several views online, which contributed to the game's outreach. Then the developers remained largely active, whether it be on Facebook to announce updates, live Q&A sessions on Twitch, or sharing their journey with the game on YouTube. Following the stupendous success of the game, it made its way into other media, earning a place in everyday culture. MythBusters even tried their hand at some real-life Fruit Ninja to promote the DreamWorks animated film Puss in Boots. Fruit Ninja Puss in Boots Edition came out, wherein the gameplay was accommodated within the movie universe.
Decline and Changes:
Yet, even after several updates, different collaborations, sequels, and additions, the game had to meet an inevitable decline. Sooner or later, one grew weary of it, no matter how many modes or skins it offered, with the core gameplay remaining the same as ever. If you look at this graph on Google Trends, the game was relevant from 2011 to 2013, or perhaps 2014, and this was likely when you and I played it immensely. But today, we are no longer drawn to it. The game has become endlessly repetitive with the same slicing movements. This appears to be a drag for all games whose simplicity earns them serious addicts, but going forward, that very simplicity turns into dull monotony.
Conclusion and Legacy:
Even the developers had shifted their focus to other games. Luke himself stated that he and his team had suffered burnout following two years of intensive work on the game. They were also working on games like Jetpack Joyride, which spared them little time for Fruit Ninja. Thus, it was handed over to an altogether different team, which brought many changes. Given how the game had grown into a business, somewhere down the line, profits took over the real agenda, and harsh decisions were made by the new team as they did not bear any attachment to the game. In 2015, Luke quit Halfbrick after eight years of working as the chief creative officer.
Going ahead, the studio faced many difficulties, as their other games couldn't match the success of Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja. Consequently, in 2018, the studio laid off half of its employees to focus exclusively on these two major hits. But as things stand presently, Fruit Ninja is dead in the water, as evident from this graph. So, that was the complete story of Fruit Ninja. A shoutout to the blog by Luke, wherein he has recorded his entire journey with the game from conception to his work as a lead designer.
Request for Feedback and Engagement:
Let me know in the comments if you'd like to know the saga of Jetpack Joyride or to learn of a similar anecdote about the game Flappy Bird. If you enjoyed this blog, add a like. See you in the next blog. Till then, Goodbye!
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