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Amid all the buzz around Rovio's Angry Birds franchise in recent weeks, something appears to have gone unnoticed this week.
It's being out-grossed by the Smurfs.
Specifically, Capcom's Smurfs' Village iPhone game is ahead of Angry Birds in both the US and UK App Stores' Top Grossing Games charts.
That's all the more surprising because Smurfs' Village is a freemium game: the money that it's grossing is coming from in-app payments for its 'smurfberries' virtual currency.
Angry Birds, by contrast, is making its money purely from its $0.99 download cost.
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Smurfs' Village's success shows how freemium games are becoming big moneyspinners on iPhone.
It's joined in the Top 20 Grossing Games US chart by fellow freemium titles Tap Zoo, Restaurant Story, Touch Pets Cats, Kingdoms At War, Zombie Farm, FarmVille, Trade Nations, Texas Poker and We Rule Quests.
Half the Top 20 Grossing Games are freemium, in other words. Forget the Angry Birds plush toys: it seems smart consumers may be digging out their childhood Papa Smurfs this Christmas instead...
