The Force awakens Star Wars app spend surge

The long-awaited cinematic arrival of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has certainly awoken a renewed interest in Star Wars apps.

Marketing analyst SensorTower found that throughout the two Friday’s before the film’s arrival the 22 Star Wars apps it tracked averaged combined revenue of $222k. On December 18th that number hit $335k, up 51 per cent.

The top three performers were Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes ($186,000), Star Wars: Force Collection ($56,000), and Star Wars: Commander – Worlds in Conflict ($43,000).

Download rates also soared, jumping 102 per cent to 381k units. The three most downloaded apps were Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes (164,000), LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (41,000), and Star Wars: Commander – Worlds in Conflict (29,000).

The day following the film’s debut saw an even bigger surge. Combined revenue for the apps jumped 74 per cent to $334k and combined downloads jumped 193 per cent to 566k units.

The surge wasn’t enough to help EA’s Star Wars Battlefront ascend to the summit of the UK All Formats charts, however.

It’s no surprise, too, that the three biggest Star Wars games also ramped up their Facebook advertising in the run-up to release. The Force Awakens itself had an estimated marketing budget of $350m.