Skyman
Open the game- Brand
- Legal & General
- Year
- 2013
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Finance
- Mechanic
- Simulation & Strategy
- Platform
- App
- Agency
- Playerthree
Objective
Legal & General wanted to promote life insurance and build awareness among younger consumers who, as the studio put it, increasingly push the decision off until well into adulthood. The brief called for the lesson to live inside the gameplay rather than in pop-ups, since this audience spots a branded message instantly and switches off — so understanding insurance had to be the condition for winning, not an interruption to it. A stuntman at an airshow gave the team a setup realistic enough to carry Legal & General's message while still giving players the escapism they came for.
Solution
You play a stuntman gearing up for a 20-day airshow season: suit on, equipment checked, then launched into the sky with a single tap to see how far and how safely you fly. Every jump pays out, and you choose where that money goes — pour it into better gear and you fly farther but risk more, or spend it on insurance products like reinforced armor, a stunt double, or life insurance, which protect your winnings but hold you back from going all out. Each run ends when you crash out or make it through the season, and your final tally lands on a leaderboard alongside achievements for clean runs and big scores. There's no plan to upsell and no in-game purchases — just the gear-versus-insurance call, repeated jump after jump, teaching the trade-off by making you live it.
Results
Reached No.1 among all iPad apps in the UK within a week of launch, with no paid advertising or store featuring behind it. Logged over 210,000 iTunes downloads and 260,000 Google Play downloads in its first two months, growing past 1 million plays across all platforms over its lifetime. The Android release held a 3.7/5 rating across 4,295 reviews and crossed 100,000+ installs on Google Play.
- 1
Players download a free app in which Playerthree, working on behalf of insurer Legal & General, casts them as a stunt performer who suits up and checks equipment before each launch.
- 2
A career frame sets the stakes: the performer has 20 days at an air show to earn as much money as possible before the season ends.
- 3
The core loop is one-touch flight: the player launches the stuntman into the sky and steers with a single tap, aiming to fly as far and as high as possible, since distance converts directly into that jump's earnings.
- 4
Between jumps, players spend earnings in a shop on power-ups and equipment upgrades that extend distance and height.
- 5
Earnings can instead go toward insurance products — reinforced armor, stunt doubles, and life insurance — which protect the performer and the player's money rather than adding distance.
- 6
Every purchase is a trade-off felt on the next jump: spending on gear pushes distance up but raises risk to the performer, while over-investing early in protection leaves too little money to fly far.
- 7
The season's goal is to finish all 20 days unharmed with the largest possible balance; the money left on the account at the end becomes the player's final score, so protecting earnings along the way pays off directly.
- 8
Players compare that score against friends, family, and the wider world on a leaderboard.
- 9
An additional retention loop comes from achievements: the game challenges players to unlock them all and notes that everything is free, with no in-game purchases.
