"Angry Birds" has some company. The "Temple Run" game franchise has seen more than 1 billion downloads, Imangi Studios, which develops the game, announced. Rovio's "Angry Birds" popular franchise also passed the 1 billion downloads mark in 2012.
When the game initially launched in 2011, it was a for-pay game, but Imangi moved it shortly after to free-to-play and saw its already solid earnings dramatically increase through advertising and sheer downloading numbers.
Created by the husband-and-wife duo Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova, the one billionth download apparently came between the original "Temple Run" and the sequel "Temple Run 2" when it was released last year.
"It's just been amazing," Shepherd told USA Today in an exclusive interview, noting that players have now run a total of 50 trillion meters and played over 32 billion games to date.
Many view the game as making popular the "endless runner" genre, where users must move their character through a series of levels, each of which becomes more and more difficult as you progress through different environments.
"If you can bring something novel and new to the table, it adds that extra excitement level and that extra component to the virality of it," Shepherd said.
The reported one billionth download comes amidst a massive movement toward digital gaming and television viewing. A new report published by Adobe, it's first quarter 2014 Video Benchmark Report, said that television consumption on mobile devices grew nearly 250 percent from the same period last year, and gaming purchases have seen more than 500 percent increases.
The past few years have been a whirlwind for the couple, who have seen their company grow from an idea into 11 total employees based in Raleigh, N.C. And there are reports that a "Temple Run" film is being discussed with "Harry Potter" producer David Heyman.
The one billion downloads does not include "Temple Run" titles published by Disney.
While there has been no announcement of a third installment of the "Temple Run" series, Shepherd did tease about the concept, saying that at "some point" it would probably happen.
Gaming has largely turned toward mobile devices in recent years. Portable gaming-only devices have lost out to the rise of the smartphone, which can give users the same functionality and game-playing ability while continuing to maintain their device for communication and storage.
