Airport City

Airport City is a free-to-play city-building simulation game developed and published by Game Insight. Airport City was first launched on the Facebook social media platform on September 1, 2011.[1] The game was released for Google Play on February 11, 2012, and for iOS on August 16, 2012,[2] followed by Amazon Appstore on October 26, 2012,[3] and Microsoft Windows on April 3, 2014.[4] The game features mobile cross-platform play, allowing players on any supported device to cooperate and compete with each other.

This article is about the video game. For the type of location, see Airport city.
Airport City
Developer(s)Game Insight
Publisher(s)Game Insight
EngineUnity
Platform(s)
ReleaseFacebook:
September 1, 2011
iOS:
August 16, 2012
Android:
February 11, 2012
Amazon:
October 26, 2012
Windows:
April 3, 2014
Genre(s)City-building game, construction, management simulation
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

As of September 2019, Game Insight has reported over 75 million Airport City registered players worldwide across all platforms.[5]

Gameplay

Airport City tasks the player with expanding a small airport into a major one, while developing a nearby town to support the airport operations with passengers from residential buildings and taxes from commercial properties.

As both city and airport grow, the space program becomes available that challenges the player to launch space missions either solo or together with other players. Another group-based activity is airline alliances that players can create to complete missions together with team members and to compete against other alliances. New content for the game involves the addition of new aircraft, buildings, destinations, and collectible items to bring back from those flights, taking the form of either expansion packs or limited time special events released roughly every month.

Seasonal events either reflect real world events, such as Halloween, Christmas, and Easter, or fictitious, such as a UFO crash landing near the city[6] or loosely based on the events from Adventures in Wonderland novel.[7]

Reception

Critical response

Pocket-lint's Ian Morris called Airport City "the stupidest, most annoying game we've ever played on Android" that manages to be quite addictive with something to do all the time, and "perfecty possible, and enjoyable" to play for free despite its repetitive nature.[8] Pete Davison writing for the Adweek named Airport City a "solid game with a decent amount of depth", although pointing out that the game has few flaws which mar the experience, such as no cross-platform play between Facebook and mobile versions.[9]

Android Apps Review's Valerie Lauer gave the game a score of 4/5, praising the graphics for a solid amount of detail and calling it "perfect for fans of the builder genre or airplane enthusiasts" with the "balanced gameplay and unique combination of ideas".[10]

Modojo rated Airport City 4/5, praising its economy, real world destinations, and "endless" supply of missions, while criticizing it for being "tough to advance without spending money".[2] Gamezebo's Leif Johnson gave the Facebook version of the game a lower grade of 3/5 and seconded that opinion, stating that "Airport City isn't a bad game at heart; it merely demands a little too much for what amounts to an overly familiar model with a niche gimmick".[11] Jon Mundy from Pocket Gamer found the game is "all about logistics of putting a working airport together" with an endless treadmill of upgrades, while noting that expanding land is "rather expensive and will test your attachment to the game".[12] CNET rated Airport City 4/5 in its review and remarked that it "borrows a lot of cues from The Sims series of games while still feeling different enough to keep you interested".[13]

Sales and playerbase

Airport City has reached 1.6 million active players on Facebook in October 2011.[14] As of November 2018, Facebook version has 800,000 active players.[15] After release on Android in February 2012, Airport City had 1 million installs following month,[16] and was among Android's top grossing apps for several months in a row after that.[17][18][19] The game topped weekly free iPad apps chart in the UK following its release on iOS in August 2012.[20] By March 2014, Game Insight has reported that Airport City has reached 37 million players overall and $33 million in gross revenue.[21] The application has seen over 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store as of November 2018.[22]

References
  1. "Airport City From 6waves Lolapps Lands on Facebook". ADWEEK. Archived from the original on December 9, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
  2. "Airport City HD Review (iPad)". Business Insider. Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  3. "Airport City on Amazon". Amazon. Archived from the original on March 26, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  4. "Game Insight's Airport City takes flight on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8". Adweek. ADWEEK. Archived from the original on December 10, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  5. "Airport City is 8 years old!". Facebook. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  6. "It Came From Outer Space F.A.Q". Facebook. Airport City. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  7. "F.A.Q: Down the Rabbit Hole". Facebook. Airport City. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  8. "APP OF THE DAY: Airport City (Android)". Pocket-lint. Pocket-lint. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  9. "Reach for the skies with Airport City on Android". Adweek. ADWEEK. Archived from the original on December 12, 2018. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  10. "Rule the Sky From the Ground Up in Airport City". Androidapps review. Androidapps review. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  11. "Airport City Review". GameZebo. September 15, 2011. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  12. "Airport City HD". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  13. "Airport City for Android". CNET. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  14. "Fastest-Growing Facebook Games: From Adventure WorldTo Journey Of Moses". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
  15. "Airport City on Facebook".
  16. "Top-Grossing Android games: Airport City reports surge in sales". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
  17. "Emerging top grossing android apps: Rage of Bahamut, Voice Search and Phase 10". ADWEEK. Archived from the original on December 12, 2018. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
  18. "Top iPad apps: Airport City, Zombie Tsunami". Bangkok Post. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
  19. "Moscow's Game Insight has quietly been amassing big mobile game revenues (interview)". Venture Beat. March 14, 2014. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  20. "Airport City on Google Play". Archived from the original on 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
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