The proliferation of free titles is “more true than ever before,” said Jeffery. The idea is even quainter now, and the price point has barely increased. And without any in-app purchases, the apps (generally $2.99 on iOS, with a smaller selection of titles available for $0.99 each on Android) are one-time purchases - how quaint!” In an earlier interview with Jeffery, my colleague Eric Johnson came to the conclusion that “Toca Boca is part of an endangered species of studios making primarily paid games for mobile devices, instead of the free-to-play titles that have come to dominate the ecosystem. Part of it is a cultural difference - both the culture of Sweden, where the company was founded, and the culture of Silicon Valley, which stands in stark contrast to the mood around Toca Boca. In an interview with Re/code, Toca Boca CEO Bjorn Jeffery talked about the particular “perfect storm” that sets Toca Boca apart from other app makers. It doesn’t really matter if you play the game “right.” Example: Some kids will spend ten minutes purposely dropping dishes just because it’s hilarious. Night & Day Studios is the only other app studio that delivers predictably adorable games, probably due to partnerships with organizations like Sesame Workshop (more on them in a future article). You’d think that with powerful corporate backing behind them, Nickelodeon and Disney would have powerful app skills, but the former spits out formulaic re-skinned racing and gem-dropping games and the latter is a heaving cesspool of in-app purchases that can make a single app cost $13 or more. But few studios have figured out how to keep parents happy without pissing off developers. Toca Boca’s games have a few shared traits: They offer open-ended play, appeal to all genders, and once customers buy an app, they (and their kids) won’t be forced to make all sorts of additional in-app purchases in order to advance in the game.
For the last five years, Toca Boca has been quietly making games that delight kids and please parents.
In today’s parenting world, rife with discussions of “screen time” and “safe screens” and “oh my god, that stupid Disney Princess game, help me,” there is at least one app studio parents can reliably turn to.
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