The long-awaited Moshi Monsters game has launched for mobile users worldwide after an initial release in the UK in December.

Moshi Monsters Village, a freemium iOS game for children, has seen 250,000 downloads so far, without marketing spend, the company says. It reached the top 10 in the Family and Simulation app categories in the App Store in the UK and is now climbing the charts in countries as far apart as Burkina Faso, Azerbaijan and Peru.

The company has promised more mobile games set for launch in the near future, with Android and Kindle versions of Moshi Monsters Village available from February.

Moshi Monsters was originally launched on desktop in 2007 by Mind Candy and the company has been aggresively hiring mobile talent in a bid to catch up with smartphone usage. The company has a range of related app products, but this is the first time the full game has been available for mobile app users. Moshi Monsters Village was developed with Scotlands Tag Games, makers of Dr Who: The Mazes of Time.

In-app purchases

Mind Candy has created an infographic to inform parents about how to stop their children running up huge bills making in-app payments, namely by deactivating the function on their iOS device. It also says that while children are able to complete the game without making purchases, you may need to wait longer or repeat actions.

On the app download page, the company highlights the controversial 15-minute window that Apple leaves after an initial payment has been authorised where further purchases can be completed by children without parents knowing. Mind Candy is unable to solve this issue as it is a feature of Apples system. The US Federal Trade Commission recently ordered Apple to repay $32.5m to parents left out of pocket.