Since Zombies, Run!, launched earlier this spring, it’s been a runaway (ahem) success. This week, the fitness app, co-developed by a small London-based games studio and an award-winning British novelist, launches on Android and adds a new site which allows its users to track their runs. It’s the latest chapter of an unlikely success story with lessons for the games developers and creative agencies, alike.

For a start there’s the app itself--which has more in common with an audiobook or radio play than it does with other fitness apps or smartphone games.

Billed as "an ultra-immersive running game," Zombies, Run! casts the user as a struggling survivor of a zombie apocalypse. "Players," encouraged to undertake missions to gather supplies for people they want to save as the drama plays out in fully scripted audio they hear as they run, are rewarded with further segments of the unfolding story.

Then there’s the development story--the app was a self-publishing project by London-based Six to Start with a budget raised through Kickstarter. At an eye-watering £5.49 / $7.99 for the full version, Zombies, Run! costs considerably more than pretty much any other game app. Yet despite all this, sales have exceeded 100,000 in just under three months with around 750,000 miles run in aggregate by runners using the game--not bad going for a leftfield idea with no budget for marketing.

About Zombie Run
Running Game & Audio Adventure
Zombies, Run! is an ultra-immersive running game for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android. We deliver the story straight to your headphones through orders and voice recordings - and back home, you can build and grow your base with the items you've collected.

Run Anywhere
Zombies, Run! works anywhere and at any speed. You can jog in a park, run along a beach, or walk along a trail, even on treadmills!