Temple Run! Run to 1 Billion Downloads

Creators Imangi Studios announced its franchise, started in 2008 by couple Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova, hit the 1 billion mark with Temple Run and sequel Temple Run 2.

"If you can bring something novel and new to the table, it adds that extra excitement level and that extra component to the virality of it," says Shepherd of Temple Run's success.

The players have run a total of 50 trillion meters, and played over 32 billion games to date.

Temple Run joins Rovio's Angry Birds among mobile game franchises that crossed 1 billion downloads.

The game spawned a new genre in the game space: the endless runner, where players keep a character running through environments without stopping with simple swipes on the touchscreen.

Along with the two flagship games, Temple Run has generated spinoffs tied to Disney films Brave and The Wizard of Oz.

Shepherd says Temple Run 3 could arrive "at some point." However, with an expansion to 11 employees and a new office in Raleigh, N.C., Imangi is also working on creating additional games that people can enjoy outside of that.