ESG’s Latest Hit Proves Incremental Game Model a Perfect Fit for Mobile

A Canadian studio’s latest game has been a smashing success.

Vancouver-based East Side Games this spring launched “Trailer Park Boys: Greasy Money,” which—two million installs later—is now the number one app in Canada and a top-10 game in the US, UK, and Australia.

Greasy Money employs the “idle” or “incremental” game model, a simply and easy (but highly addicting) gaming model that is taking off as mobile takes over. The province of BC has been a breeding ground for pioneering idle games, including AdVenture Capitalist from Hyper Hippo in Kelowna and Crusaders of the Lost Idols by Code Name in Victoria.

But, for ESG, it was hardly an overnight success.

“It took us longer than we thought it would to build the game; we went back to the drawing board more than once,” Jason Bailey, the studio’s founder, told Techvibes. “We are huge fans of the Boys and wanted to make sure that we served up something we could be all be proud of.”

The game is an obvious attraction to existing fans, but Bailey says a key goal in building the game was actually to grow the franchise’s fan base, which helped spawn the success of the launch.

“We knew that their strong and cult like following was a great starting point, but it wouldn’t be big enough to create a worldwide hit,” he explains. “We knew we would need to build a game that was compelling and fun regardless of your familiarity with the TV show.”

Today, more than 300,000 unique users play Greasy Money each day. And Bailey says multiple major updates are coming to the game soon. He describes his team as “hyper focused” on adding new content to the app.