Ninja Kiwi

Ninja Kiwi, previously known as Kaiparasoft Ltd, is a mobile and online video game developer founded in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2006 by brothers Chris and Stephen Harris.[3] Ninja Kiwi's first game was a browser based game called Cash Sprint, developed on the Adobe Flash Platform.[1] Since then, they have produced more than 60 games across platforms including Adobe Flash, Android, iOS, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and most recently, Steam. Their most well-known titles are the Bloons and Bloons Tower Defense games. In 2012, Ninja Kiwi purchased Dundee, Scotland-based developer, Digital Goldfish, for an undisclosed sum.[4][5][6]

Ninja Kiwi
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
Video gaming service
FoundedAuckland, New Zealand (2006)[1]
OwnerNinja Kiwi
Founder(s)Chris Harris
Stephen Harris
IndustryVideo games
Employees35
URLninjakiwi.com
Alexa rank 10,672 (April 2018)[2]
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Launched2006 (2006)
Current statusActive

Ninja Kiwi has a virtual currency known as NK Coins; purchases of games and in-game purchases can be transacted using NK Coins. About eighteen months before its dissolution by its parent company, Mochi Media (another major gaming website) discontinued its virtual currency (Mochi Coins) and replaced it with Ninja Kiwi's virtual currency.[7]

History

Ninja Kiwi Games was founded by Chris and Stephen Harris in 2006. The decision to develop games was brought about by Stephen upon completion of a game design course at the Auckland Media Design School. He had previously graduated at the University of Auckland with a degree in geophysics.[8] The first game that the brothers created was the now-defunct Cash Sprint, a browser-based game where players raced a ghost car and the player with the fastest time each week was rewarded a cash prize.[1] However, they were unable to draw in advertisers to finance the project and were forced to scrap it after 14 weeks of operation. Next, they launched their own web portal that pooled to get developer, Digital Goldfish, who wanted to team up to release Bloons as an iPhone application, where it reached the number two position in the US app store.[9] The relationship between Ninja Kiwi and Digital Goldfish continued long after this, with several members of the Digital Goldfish staff being completely devoted to the mobile development of Ninja Kiwi games. In 2012, Ninja Kiwi purchased Digital Goldfish. The previous titles that the two companies created together had racked up millions of downloads. Due to the already close relationship between the two people, the merger was described by Digital Goldfish co-founder, Barry Petrie, as a "natural progressive step in the relationship between the two people. Digital Goldfish was renamed Ninja Kiwi Europe.[10] The merger increased the number of Ninja Kiwi employees to 35.[6]

Awards

In 2012, SAS: Zombie Assault 3 won Flash Gaming Summit awards for "Best Shooter Game" and "Best Multiplayer Game".[11]

In 2013, Bloons TD 5 was nominated at the Flash Gaming Summit for awards in "Best Strategy Game" and "Best Cross-Platform Game".[12]

Subsidiaries
  • Ninja Kiwi Europe (formerly Digital Goldfish) in Dundee, Scotland, was acquired in 2012.

Games

Bloons games

Bloons was a major breakthrough for Ninja Kiwi. The idea came from developer Stephen Harris' wife, who suggested they make a game similar to the carnival game where people throw darts at balloons.[13] The original Bloons was released in April 2007 and has spawned many sequels and spinoffs, including the also-successful Bloons TD.

  • Bloons (2007)
  • Bloons 2 (2010)
  • Bloons Insanity
  • Bloons Junior
  • Bloons Player Packs (1-5)
  • Bloons Pop 3
  • Even More Bloons
  • Hot Air Bloon
  • Bloons for Mobile
  • Bloons TD series (2007–present)
  • Bloons TD 4
  • Bloons TD 4 Expansion
  • Bloons TD 5 Deluxe (now discontinued)
  • Bloons TD 5 Steam
  • Bloons TD Battles (2012)
  • Bloons Super Monkey
  • Bloons Super Monkey 2 (2013)
  • Bloons Monkey City (2013)
  • Bloons Monkey City Mobile (2014-2015)
  • Bloons Super Monkey 2 Mobile (2016)
  • Bloons TD 6 (2018)
  • Bloons Adventure Time TD (2018)

Fortress Destroyer

In 2015, Ninja Kiwi announced the release of Fortress Destroyer, a naval warfare action game. It is the first and only game released by Ninja Kiwi to be run on the now-defunct Unity Web Player.

Mobile games

Many of the games Ninja Kiwi created for web browsers were then released for mobile devices, mainly iOS and Android devices. This is a brief list of games released by Ninja Kiwi for Mobile.

  • Extreme Tilt Snowboarding
  • Hungry Sumo Mobile Edition
  • Meeblings Mobile
  • Powerpool Mobile
  • SAS Zombie Assault 3 Mobile
  • SAS Zombie Assault 4 Mobile
  • SAS Zombie Assault TD iOS
  • Bloons TD Battles Mobile
  • Bloons TD 3 (as Bloons TD)
  • Bloons TD 4
  • Bloons TD 5
  • Bloons TD Battles
  • Bloons Monkey City
  • Fortress Destroyer
  • Bloons Super Monkey 2
  • Bloons TD 6
  • Bloons Adventure Time TD
  • Tower Keepers

Shooting games
  • SAS 4 – May 2014 – present
  • SAS 3 – 2011–2012
  • SAS 2 – 2010–2011
  • SAS: Zombie Assault – 2009–2010
  • Countersnipe - December 2019 - present

References
  1. Irwin, Mary Jane (5 July 2008). "Blowing Up Bloons". Forbes. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  2. "Ninjakiwi.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  3. South, Gill (6 February 2012). "Your Business: Monkey business leads to games success". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  4. "Ninja Kiwi buys Digital Goldfish". BBC News. 2 November 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  5. Williams, Mike. "Ninja Kiwi acquires Digital Goldfish". Gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  6. Rose, Mike. "Bloons studio acquires iOS partner Digital Goldfish". Gamastrua. UBM Tech. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  7. "Mochicoins Announcement".
  8. https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-harris-25b4a724
  9. Chapman-Smith. Ben (21 Nov 2012). "Auckland company's latest game making it big in US". The Aucklander. APN New Zealand Limited. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  10. Lee, Aaron (6 September 2013). "Ninja Kiwi Europe begins ambitious expansion plan". Develop-Online. Internet Media. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  11. "Armor Games: The Mochis". Flash Gaming Summit. 4 March 2012. Archived from the original on 18 February 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  12. "Armor Games: The Mochis". Flash Game Summit. 2013-03-24. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  13. Bardinelli, John (20 April 2007). "In the Flash:Bloons". joystiq. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
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