The developer announced yesterday that Temple Run 2 hit 6m downloads in its first day on the App Store last week, before hitting the 20m downloads milestone within four days.

Players have racked up more than 210m sessions in those first four days, according to Imangi. “The response from fans has been overwhelming,” says co-founder Keith Shepherd. “We are thrilled players want more of the Temple Run universe, and we hope to grow and expand the game over the coming months.”

20m downloads in four days is impressive, especially as Temple Run 2 was iOS-only for launch. The Android version of the game is due to be released this Thursday, and is likely to see another huge bump in downloads.

Is te game making money though? Yes. It’s currently third in the US iPhone Top Grossing apps chart behind only Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga. That shows a decent chunk of the game’s players are paying for virtual coins and gems within the game.

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Released for iOS this morning on the App Store, the Android version will follow next week.

After 170m downloads of the first Temple Run game and its Temple Run: Brave spin-off, expectations are high for what’s become – alongside Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and Fruit Ninja – one of the breakout indie hits of the apps era.

“We wanted to do some radically different things, and improve the graphics, so we knew we’d have to start afresh,” Imangi co-founder Keith Shepherd tells The Guardian.

The company has resisted the temptation (fuelled by numerous investment offers) to grow too big too fast, despite the success of its franchise. Temple Run 2 was the work of  a five-person team – Shepherd, co-founder Natalia Luckyanova and artist Kiril Tchangov, plus two developers from FuzzyCube Software.

“We’ve been very successful as a small team: we’re highly profitable, can fund what we’re doing, and we don’t have to answer to investors,” says Shepherd. “Our goal isn’t to grow this thing as big as possible then sell to someone else. Our goal is to build something that lasts for the long term.”

The interview also hints at plans for Temple Run 2 to leap onto other platforms, which will be aided by the fact that the game was developed using the Unity platform.

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The company, which first shot to iOS fame with its Harbor Master game, says that only 1% of Temple Run players are paying for the free-to-play game using in-app payments, but that this still led to Temple Run topping the App Store’s Top Grossing chart.

“It’s a very hit driven business, and a hit like this really funds your studio for years. We’re trying to keep it going by updating the game on a regular basis with new power-ups and characters to keep people engaged,” co-founder Natalia Luckyanova tells TechCrunch.

Next up: an Android port, although an external developer has been hired for that purpose.

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