Blockchain firm OliveX has sold Zombies Run and The Walk back to their original co-creator, novelist Naomi Alderman. The games were sold for a ‘high six-figure’ sum, we were told.
Both Zombies Run and The Walk were originally created and launched by The Power writer Alderman and UK studio SixToStart in 2012. The latter company was sold to fitness/blockchain firm OliveX in March 2021.
Zombies Run claims to be the most successful smartphone fitness game ever made, and having written much of the game’s story to date, Alderman now assumes full creative control of the titles. She also hit out at “computer-generated algorithmically-produced slop” in the announcement.
Appmagic estimates suggest Zombies Run has earned around $7.9m from 11.6m downloads since it launched in early 2012. It was also one of Kickstarter’s earliest fundraising successes.
Alderman told us that now the game is back under her control she wants to “focus on the basics” – that is, “preserving the core running-from-zombies experience our players love, making new story for the game, giving players new ways to get involved with supporting the game and introducing a new generation to the zombie-running experience.”
She continued: “What makes Zombies Run special are the same things that have given us unusual longevity in the mobile gaming market: we’re a ‘game for good’ without being po-faced, our storytelling is gripping and exciting, and above all the community that we’ve formed is truly special.”
