When you’re creating a new game franchise from scratch, it can take quite a while to get started. You need to build capital and interest in the title, make sure that development goes through without many hitches, and then work on the marketing side, assuring that there’s some form of outreach to consumers.

Andrew Stalbow, who previously spoke at the previously held [a]list summit, recently made a post on the Medium.com page, explaining what it takes to continue the establishment of a popular franchise on a new platform.

Best Fiends is the game in question, and, in the post, Stalbow breaks down the step-by-step process of continuing to build on its success. First, he explains his reasoning behind choosing the Apple Watch for the game. “We believe Apple Watch is the most significant new media platform since the iPad, and as a company we were determined to be there on day one,” he explained.

He then discusses the savvy development team, featuring head of game design Reko and senior programmer Mikko, and then showcased the game’s trailer, which can be found below.

But Stalbow also explained that he has a deeper vision than that for his team. “Our company vision at Seriously is to build the Pixar of mobile by marrying the creativity of our stellar team with the data we get from people experiencing our products,” he said. “We treat our apps, where we are directly connected to our audience, as the platforms on which to build out our franchise.”

Creative marketing also plays a huge part with the game, as demonstrated by the Valentine’s Day Challenge below, which includes YouTube talents like PewDiePie and others taking part in the shenanigans surrounding the popular game. You can see that video below.

Along with the game’s latest update, Stalbow also discussed how the team was giving back to charity, as it teamed up with Malaria No More to help take care of over 25,000 sick children through promotions with the game, raising over $30,000.

Other partnerships have helped the game oversee success in other countries as well, as a new deal with Incross will bring the series to Korea. This will no doubt see similar numbers to what the game has obtained in China, with a huge amount of downloads.

Kidrobot has also partnered with the company to produce branded vinyl and plush figures, which are being created by Frank Kozik. There’s no word on release, but they shouldn’t be too far off.

“We’ve been careful not to rush consumer products for Best Fiends, but now feels like the right time to do something collectible given the growth of our audience,” said Stalbow.

With over 12 million downloads of the mobile game and over 600,000 hours of engagement with the community, Best Fiends should have no trouble reaching a new success on the Apple Watch. “Now we have the foundations of an entertainment franchise in place, we’ll have a lot more to share over the coming months with new partnerships, frequent game updates and our second game later this year,” concluded Stalbow. “In the meantime, we hope you continue to enjoy playing Best Fiends!

The post can be found in full here.