Dec. 08--Ellen DeGeneres' quiz-game "Heads Up!" surpassed "Minecraft" as the most-downloaded paid iPhone app this year, Apple announced Monday.
"Heads Up!," which sells for 99 cents, was published by Warner Bros. and is based on a similar card game DeGeneres plays on her TV show. "Minecraft -- Pocket Edition," which goes for $6.99, is part of the building game franchise created by Mojang. In November, Microsoft completed a $2.5-billion purchase of the developer.
The two game apps switched positions from a year ago in what otherwise was a year dominated Disney's "Frozen" franchise. "Frozen" was the most downloaded movie on iTunes and its soundtrack the top-selling album. "Frozen"-related games finished among the top 50 most-downloaded on both the iPad and iPhone charts.
It was also a good year for game publisher Electronic Arts. Four of the top 50 paid iPhone apps came from EA, including "The Game of Life," "Monopoly," "NBA Jam" and "Tetris."
Two Los Angeles start-ups -- Snapchat at No. 2 and Flipagram at No. 8 -- were among the top free downloads on iPhone, while the hit "Kim Kardashian: Hollywood" game sat at No. 42 between Waze and Ebay. Facebook Messenger topped the free list.
Chat with me on Twitter @peard33
