Home >Games

Gameloft Celebrates Half a Billion Downloads of Despicable Me

Posted By : Mukesh Dube    At 17-03-2015 11:19:15

Tags : Minion Rush     Illumination Entertainment     Universal Partnerships    Gameloft    Despicable Me    

Gameloft, a leading publisher of digital and social games, is proud to announce that Despicable Me: Minion Rush, developed in collaboration with Illumination Entertainment and Universal Partnerships & Licensing, has surpassed half a billion downloads. This is a huge milestone for mobile gaming as it's the equivalent of one in every 14 people in the world.

Based on Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures' phenomenally successful Despicable Me franchise, since its release in June 2013, the number of downloads for this game has increased exponentially, from 50 million less than a month after its release, to 300 million by its one-year anniversary, and finally, surpassing the half a billion mark in early 2015. As a result, Despicable Me: Minion Rush is the "highest downloaded licensed game in the world across the App Store and Google Play in 2014".

A veritable worldwide phenomenon, the game has received numerous accolades as well, winning the prestigious Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award and the BAFTA Award. It was also included in App Store's Best of 2013 & 2014 and Google Play's Best of 2014 collections.

Over time, Despicable Me: Minion Rush has grown and enhanced its gameplay with 14 updates. These featured new challenges, plenty of mini-games such as the snowboard race or skateboard course, and locations from the movies, including El Macho's Lair, Minion Beach, the Jelly Lab and Minion Park.

The Gameloft, Illumination and Universal teams worked closely with each other so that each character and feature remained faithful to the beloved universe of the Despicable Me franchise. Since the game's release in 2013, players have committed over 273 billion Despicable Actions, and have traveled over 37 million kilometers within the game, the same as running from the Earth to the Moon 100 times!

"Despicable Me: Minion Rush has seen enormous success since its release in 2013 and continues to bring endless entertainment to our players around the world," says Gonzague De Vallois, Senior Vice President Publishing at Gameloft. "Thanks to the ongoing collaboration with Illumination Entertainment and Universal and the power of our Gameloft development and marketing teams, we were able to break the impressive half-a-billion downloads barrier, which few entertainment properties in history have been able to reach ."