Raking in millions ... Fruit Ninja. Muscat, 25, said he believed the greatest asset of the game was its simplicity, which made it accessible to a wide audience. "We have grandmothers who play the game and kids who aren't even in school can play the game - they just get it," he said in a phone interview. "We did all the right things to ensure success but then it's never a guarantee so we were still surprised at how well it did." The success of Fruit Ninja has transformed Halfbrick into one of the most successful app developers in the world. In perhaps the ultimate compliment, Apple featured Fruit Ninja in its latest global TV advertising campaign.

Fruit Ninja creator Luke Muscat. It follows similar successes for Melbourne app maker Firemint, which shot to worldwide fame after creating the dominant Flight Control and Real Racing game apps. Andrew Lacy, the Australian entrepreneur living in Silicon Valley who created the Tap Tap Revenge mobile music games, is another Melbourne app success story. He became a millionaire in July when Disney acquired his company, Tapulous. Asked if he ever wished he struck out on his own to create Fruit Ninja, rather than having to share the wealth with Halfbrick's 40-odd staff, Muscat said he wasn't in it for the money. "Reaching out and creating something that people enjoy and something that resonates with people is the most rewarding thing," he said.

"If I did it striking out on my own I wouldn't have had the chance to work with the other people I did on the project and it wouldn't have been the same game ... the other members of the team were so instrumental in shaping the game." The Fruit Ninja goldmine will now allow Halfbrick to expand its portfolio of apps. Founded in 2001, the company used to create games under contract for major publishers on platforms including the Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS. But the mobile app revolution, which made it easy for anyone to publish games and instantly deliver them to a market of millions of people, has transformed Halfbrick into a powerhouse in its own right. Halfbrick's second iPhone game, Monster Dash, sold a respectable 300,000 copies and its third game, Age of Zombies, is due out in the next few months. The company has also launched several titles for the Sony PSP and soon Halfbrick will launch its first game for Xbox Live Arcade, Raskulls. Halfbrick marketing boss Phil Larsen said Fruit Ninja still pulled in the lion's share of the company's revenue but it was now perfectly positioned to expand its lineup further.