Manchester, United Kingdom - Veteran game designers John Pickford and Ste Pickford (The Pickford Bros) today reported a phenomenal response to the release of their first iOS game, "Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint" on the Apple App Store. The game is available as a universal app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch devices via a single download, and supports full HD graphics on retina displays and iPads.

Within a fortnight of release the game had secured 100 5-star ratings from a total of 105 ratings, an incredibly high proportion for a free-to-play app. Perhaps more impressively the game also boasts nearly 70 glowing reviews on the UK App Store, which is unprecedented for a new, previously unknown IP in such a short space of time. High ratings and positive reviews also feature strongly on the US and international App Stores.

"We've been absolutely blown away by the critical reaction to our game," said co-designer Ste Pickford. "Obviously we thought our game was pretty good, and we spent a long time tweaking and polishing it in the hope of getting a positive response from players, but we're genuinely surprised by how universally appreciated our game is among App Store users," he continued, "it just goes to show that iOS gamers really appreciate games where extra effort has been put in to finish them off properly, rather than games that are rushed out for a quick buck."

"We spent a lot of time building up anticipation for the game with our fan-base, via our website and social media channels," explained co-designer and coder John Pickford, "but we didn't particularly attempt to solicit ratings or reviews," he continued, "in fact, we even forgot to put a planned feature into the game to remind users to rate us on the App Store, which other developers advised us to, so these ratings and reviews really are a spontaneous outpouring of appreciation for our game," he concluded.

"I think Mr. Iwata of Nintendo was wrong to criticise the quality of games being made by mobile developers. This overwhelming user response indicates that mobile gamers are starting to expect a very high level of quality and attention to detail in the apps they download" added Ste, "and that developers like us are starting to produce games with the level of quality and craft that easily matches console releases."

Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
* Requires iPhone OS 4.0 or later
* Universal Application
* 20.4 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint 1.0 is free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category. Additional content and game modes are available for purchase within the app, and The Pickford Bros are working on further content expansions to be released in the coming months.


John and Ste Pickford have been working in the north of England as game designers and developers since the early 1980s. They first worked under the name The Pickford Bros when they went 'indie' in 2004, making small scale original games together for open platforms. Previously they worked at various studios on high profile console and home computer games. They now spend their time working from home on new, original video games, as well as acting as design consultants for larger game development studios. The Pickford Brothers' first 'indie' game, Naked War was released on PC to critical acclaim in 2006.