What is Torn built with?
More about how Torn (formerly Torn City) is made, its technology choices, and about its monetization approach.
Torn is a "crime simulator" type PBBG game that was first launched in 2004 under the name Torn City and was rebranded1 to Torn in late 2009.
Who owns/operates it?
Torn is owned by Torn LTD (formerly Chedburn Networks2) which is in turn owned by Joseph "Joe" Chedburn3.
How much money does it make?
In interviews/news articles from 2009, Joe reported that he was earning 50,000 GBP per month4, equivalent to approximately 80,000 USD per month at the time.
Based on Torn LTD's company filings5, the company health, and the number of current employees, it is very possible that Torn is making millions of dollars per year.
Spend Limits
The Torn wiki reports that donator packs can be purchased with a limit of 9,999 in one transaction, which equates to approximately 39,465 USD for a single purchase.
Even with large reported revenue numbers, the spend limit likely isn't hit very often (if ever), but it would not be uncommon to see individual players (known as "whales") that would spend up to a quarter of that in a single year.
What engine does it use?
Torn was released in 2004 and predates the out-of-the-box PHP-based engines that became widely available in the late 2000s.
What languages does it use?
It uses HTML, Sass, and Javascript/Typescript for the frontend and uses PHP, Golang, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, and Firestore for the backend6.
What tooling does it use?
Torn uses jQuery, React, Redux, and Redux-Saga6.
They make use of automated testing to help ensure code quality.
How do they advertise?
Among other methods, Torn runs ads via Meta with over 270 ad variations since July 2024 and approximately 40 ad variations currently active at the time of writing.
The majority of ads they are running via Meta are vertical format videos and are run across all of the available Meta properties such as Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Threads.