Stuart Dredge 

Sharknado 2 video game splashes onto iOS in time for TV-movie sequel

Broadswords! Hammerheads! Chainsaws! And, er, in-app purchases of £34.99 virtual buckets of chum! By Stuart Dredge
  
  

Sharknado: The Video Game has been released for iPhone and iPad so far.
Sharknado: The Video Game has been released for iPhone and iPad so far. Photograph: PR

What a world we live in: Kim Kardashian is fronting one of the most lucrative mobile games in the world, and now it’s being joined on Apple’s App Store by an official game for the Sharknado films.

Sharknado: The Video game has been released for iOS devices in time for the premiere this week of Sharknado: The Second One on TV channel Syfy. That follows last year’s breakout success of the original Sharknado film.

The game is heavily inspired by endless runners like Temple Run as players run through the streets of New York avoiding sharks – although broadswords and chainsaws are available for those who prefer a more aggressive approach.

The game is hoping to have its cake and eat it – do sharks eat cake? – combining an upfront price of £1.99 on the App Store with in-app purchases of virtual coins and buckets of chum to smooth progress through the game.

Coins can be bought for between £1.49 and £10.49, while buckets of chum are sold for between £1.49 and £34.99 – although in both cases, there’s an option to watch a sponsored video to get some for free.

The game is the work of developer Other Ocean and publisher Majesco Entertainment Company. “The Sharknado movies already exhibit a strange video game logic, so translating them into a work of interactive art wasn’t much of a challenge,” said director Frank Cifaldi as the game was released.

Will the game take a big chunk of App Store revenues, or sink like... well, a shark falling out of a tornado?

Charging up front rather than making the game free to download is a bold move, but the hype around the film sequel’s premiere could help it float to the top of the charts. At least in the short term.

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