ASX-listed gamers Animoca (ASX: AB1) have jumped on the popular theme park bandwagon, with its subsidiary Pixowl releasing Wonder Park Magic Rides.

In case you missed it, the “Wonder Park” part is a movie tie-in with the new Paramount Pictures film of the same name, due for release in the US today and Australia on April 4.

The film stars the vocals of Jennifer Garner, Mila Kunis and Matthew Broderick, and is based on a 10-year-old girl who spends her childhood constructing an amusement park filled with talking animals.

If constructing a theme park sounds like a great idea for a game, you’re probably bang in Pixowl’s demographic – i.e. young, with access to a mobile device and ideally, mum and dad’s credit card for those essential in-app purchases.

For the owner of that credit card, here’s the kind of things you’ll probably learnt your kid paid for after the fact:

  • Handful of Gems: $1.99
  • Starter Pack: $4.99
  • Gem Backpack: $9.99
  • Pile of Gems: $4.99
  • Investment Pack: $4.99
  • Castle Pack: $4.99
  • Coin Backpack: $9.99
  • Coin Purse: $4.99
  • Froggy Pack: $6.99
  • Pocket Money: $1.99

“Pocket Money.”

If that sounds alarming, we’ll assume you’re new to this micropayments ecosystem thing, and we feel sorry for you. Rest assured it’s pretty much the only reliable model for how games survive in 2019.

The main thing is, as far as these types of games go, Pixowl seems to have a solid title. Wonder Park Magic Rides has only just been released, but it’s already been downloaded on Google Play more than 50,000 times, and has a 3.8-star rating from 765 reviews. Not bad.

If it sounds to you like it’s been done before, you’re probably also on the menu. For decades now – ouch – games like Theme Park and Rollercoaster Tycoon have proven to be surefire hits for publishers.

Here’s the launch trailer:

The key to staying on top in these games is keeping your visitors happy by keeping queues down, ice cream stands full and, in Wonder Park Magic Rides, stopping Chimpanzombies from destroying everything.

Pixowl, however, says the game’s mechanics are quite sophisticated.

You don’t only craft rides, for example, but create your own snacks to put in the stands.

Animoca – the exclusive China distributor of international superhit Cryptokitties – acquired Pixowl last year, after the latter’s solid run of success with a couple of Peanuts titles and Goosebumps Horror Town.

Pixowl is also currently in the process of launching a blockchain version of its hits franchise, The Sandbox.

Animoca shares were unmoved today, still touching a YTD high of 10 cent, although they are up around 10% over the past week.

Animoca (ASX: AB1) shares in the last 6 months

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