If you were like me, you spent this past weekend locked inside your house, binge-watching season three of House of Cards on Netflix. If, also like me, you were excited to see Ustwo's brilliant and wonderful game Monument Valley make a surprise appearance in episode five of the series and proceeded to download it, then let me say 'good job!'
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Just a few short hours after the season premiered on Netflix, the game slowly started to rise in the ranks on all available platforms. As of this morning, the iPad version is #2 on the App store, behind only Minecraft: Pocket Edition.
Take a moment to consider that for just a small moment. Minecraft is one of the most successful properties in the world right now. The property was bought for two billion dollars last year, that's not a mistype - BILLION. And there's a chance this little indie game could overtake it, if only for a moment? Not too shabby indeed.
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The numbers come courtesy of the site Appfigures, which tracked the game's sales alongside the Netflix release. It's fun watching the graph start to ascend - at times, rather quickly - after enough time has passed for people to watch the shows. So, whoever on the west coast was watching House of Cards at 5 a.m. PST, we applaud your commitment.
The best part about this is that, according to the developer Ustwo via a recent tweet, this was not a paid advertisement, "just a cool collaboration." No need to fork over $4.5 million for a (albeit amazing) Superbowl ad, you just have to make sure your product is precisely where it needs to be. Note also that the inclusion of Monument Valley in House of Cards is a great bit of narrative metaphor, and it's easy to see why it was featured and why people were drawn to it.
"Whoever you are, whoever you think you are, believe also you're a silent princess. Your name is Ida, your journey is one through a forgotten landscape of twisting staircases and morphing castles, atop floating stones defiantly crossing an angry sea, within dimly lit caverns cobwebbed with ruins, M.C. Escher could only grasp at in a dream state."
Don't you want to give it a try after reading that? Frank Underwood sure did. Monument Valley is available for iOS and Google Play for $3.99. There is currently one expansion, Forgotten Shores, available for $1.99.
Now, how about that Stanley Parable sales bump, House of Cards?
