Monument Valley sales soar after Frank Underwood plays it in House of Cards
Indie app proved crucial to the plot of Episode 32
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.In one of the more surprising Season 3 spoilers, President Underwood lies down on a chaise longue to play a little Monument Valley on his iPad.
The award-winning game isn't just a distraction for the President though, and ends up being crucial in the plot of the season, leading him to solicit the services of a writer who once reviewed it.
Because everyone secretly wants to be a power-crazed homicidal maniac like Frank, the game's inclusion led to thousands of downloads by fans, and saw it return to the Top 10 paid apps on iTunes and take the number three spot on the Google Play store paid games chart.
This wasn't a case of product placement, but the show's producers reaching out to developer Ustwo to ask if they could use the game after it was suggested in the writers' room.
"They called us up and they said, 'Can we use your game?' and we said 'Yes,'" lead designer Ken Wong said at GDC 2015.
Frank's taste in games has softened somewhat – back in season one he was often seeing loudly playing first person shooters.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments