Special Report: User traction for Claw Stars in early testing already exceeds that of ICI’s smash-hit Masketeers: Idle Has Fallen title.

Games development company iCandy Interactive (ASX:ICI) is hard at work on its next game release Claw Stars.

The company recently entered the Claw Stars title into an early-access trial in collaboration with Google Play.

And this morning, the company announced a strong round of early feedback on the game.

ICI reported Day 1 retention rates of up to 49 per cent for the game, with Day 7 retention rates holding at 13 per cent.

Retention rates are a key barometer in the games development industry, and measure the percentage of users that return to the game after installation over a 1-day period and 7-day period.

In the wake of those strong results, ICI said it now expects to officially launch the title within the next two months.

The early-access trial results for Claw Stars are favourable compared to ICI’s Masketeers: Idle Has Fallen title, which generated Day 1 and Day 7 retention rates of 37pc and 8pc respectively.

Within two months of its official launch, Masketeers had already generated over $1m of revenue for iCandy, prompting a surge in the company’s share price throughout the December quarter.

That flowed through to a $1.3m of cash receipts in ICI’s quarterly results announcement.

The success of the game proved out iCandy’s capability as a successful games developer in the highly lucrative mobile gaming market, leaving investors on the lookout for the next game in its product pipeline.

In that context, the early traction for Claw Stars marks another exciting development in the company’s growth trajectory.

ICI’s executive team attributed the strong result to Claw Stars’ “unique social interactivity mechanics”.

The company also leveraged the IP it developed in the Masketeers title to apply its more successful aspects into the new title.

Shares in the company rose by around four per cent in morning trade to 12c, as ICI’s stock price consolidated its gains in the wake of its huge Q4 returns.

The company is a leading developer and investor in the south-east Asian games development industry, with a global customer base focused on North America that’s already generated over 500m downloads for its game titles.

ICI was ranked number 25 in the Australian Financial Review’s list of the 100 fastest-growing companies in Australia for 2020.

This article was developed in collaboration with iCandy Interactive, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.