which platform is more profitable ?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by ahtingir, Feb 8, 2014.

  1. ahtingir

    ahtingir New Member

    Feb 8, 2014
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    for gaming iOS or android ? which platform is more profitable ?
     
  2. Destined

    Destined Well-Known Member

    Aug 11, 2013
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    for me iOS by a long way.
     
  3. ThreeCubes

    ThreeCubes Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
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    They say ios is twice as good as android.
     
  4. Stingman

    Stingman Well-Known Member
    Patreon Bronze

    Aug 14, 2012
    249
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    App / Game Developer
    The Bay Area
    iOS by far. Android is a very distant second, followed by Windows Phone and then Blackberry.
     
  5. R3v

    R3v Well-Known Member

    Sep 17, 2012
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    CMO @ PIXEL FEDERATION
    Tadaaa.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. PuzzleBrothers

    PuzzleBrothers Well-Known Member

    May 11, 2011
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    Indie developer
    Montpellier, France
    Depends on the game, but release everywhere, revenue adds up. For me it's more like 100 for iOS, 50 for amazon and 50 for google play.
     
  7. RaindropGames

    RaindropGames Active Member

    My understanding is the gap is closing, the stats R3v posted are 2 years old. Perhaps iOS is still far more profitable for indies or non F2P games.

    Either way, I mostly agree with the "release everywhere" feedback except I would not bother with Windows Phone or Blackberry. It should be easy enough to find friends with the device(s) that you don't have to test on in case you're on a tiny budget. As long as you go with a multi-platform engine like Unity (my favorite!), the extra effort is minimal.
     
  8. Stingman

    Stingman Well-Known Member
    Patreon Bronze

    Aug 14, 2012
    249
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    App / Game Developer
    The Bay Area
    I agree with Raindrop,

    Release on iOS 100%, and I would also release on Amazon. Google Play can be good too but you really almost have to go free on that platform as paid downloads are slim to none on Google Play (with rare exceptions of course). And Windows/Blackberry... skip it... not worth the effort.
     
  9. vii-Lucky

    vii-Lucky Well-Known Member

    Jul 28, 2013
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    Most of the Android users pirate paid games.

    All of my friends too. :confused:
     
  10. RaindropGames

    RaindropGames Active Member

    True but the same happens on Windows. There are still a lot of companies that make good money in Windows games.

    I'm of the opinion that we simply need to put minimal effort into keeping honest people honest. For example, just releasing on iOS already does that (most users do not jailbreak their devices). Anything beyond that is not worth the effort, the pirates will always crack your games/software regardless of the platform and protection put in place.
     
  11. Destined

    Destined Well-Known Member

    Aug 11, 2013
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    not when you look at the date on it

    It wouldn't surprise me if it was more in favour of iOS. It is however surprising amazon is so good. Why is amazon so much better than play?
     
  12. R3v

    R3v Well-Known Member

    Sep 17, 2012
    139
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    CMO @ PIXEL FEDERATION
    Yea sorry guys, I did overlook the date. I knew it was old but I thought it was from last summer. Anyway, iOS is steal leading, but gap should be lower now.
     
  13. ThreeCubes

    ThreeCubes Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
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    You do have to factor in the user base, per users is useless if there are ten times more users on a different platform
     
  14. Ovogame

    Ovogame Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2010
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    Game Developer
    Morestel, France
    If you can go multi-platform easily, then you shouldn't ask yourself this question. You should release on as many platforms as possible. I've got my own native engine and it is ultra multi-platform friendly (meaning it takes me only minutes to port on android, ios or whatever I support).

    If you haven't got a massive hit, then multi-platforms support is the only way to go.

    JC
     
  15. Stingman

    Stingman Well-Known Member
    Patreon Bronze

    Aug 14, 2012
    249
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    App / Game Developer
    The Bay Area
    Some personal experiences and stats:

    1. I have generated less revenue in 4 months on Windows/Blackberry combined than I do in 1 day on iOS.

    2. I earn the same amount of revenue in 1 week on Google Play as I do in 1 day on iOS.

    3. I earn more money for paid apps on Amazon than on Google Play.

    The reason why Amazon seems to be generating better revenue than Google Play is for a few reasons:

    a. They have experience in the retail market and like iOS require users to have a valid credit card/form of payment. Google Play does not.

    b. Their users are not opposed to paying for Apps. The majority of Google Play is opposed to this. It's a total free to play economy over in Google Play. It's too bad because developers are forced to flood their apps w/ Ads and In App Purchases. I have no success with premium on Google Play. As an indie it's better to monetize with Ads and IAP on Google Play, as that is what the customer expects.

    c. Amazon has some nice promotional incentives for developers including their developer select program as well as featured marketing requests.

    Now this is all based on my experiences. I'm sure other developers have different results. I would love to see some other stats.
     

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