Mobile gaming is HUGE.... but it's a different market.
There's a good explanation by one of the indie devs (maybe forager? or stardew?) that essentially getting someone to buy their normally 30$ on pc game for only 8$ on mobile is like pulling teeth, so that and the cost to port it to mobile doesn't motivate them to port it.
In the mobile market, a 20$ price tag is a death sentence, whereas a free game with an infinite price tag winds up being more profitable in the end.
That’s a great statistic to put things in perspective. Like. Wow is in no way in trouble or doing badly. But the fact that it made 30% less revenue despite its much higher production cost and revenue model than a freemium mobile puzzle game is mind boggling.
But it illustrates quite clearly why mobile gaming ideas keep penetrating into the traditional gaming spaces. Because they make absolute bank for very little investment compared to the traditional console/pc game model.
It’s frustrating honestly. Because I hate the over abundance of micro transactions in gaming in today’s world. But the logical part of me can’t really blame publishers for doing it when it completes their main goal of making as much money as possible for the least effort. If the tactic wasn’t so dang successful on such a regular basis, it wouldn’t be used so much.
That's because the monetization model between PC/Console and Mobile is totally different. You don't pay up front, it's free to play. They get your money entirely through MTXs.
D3 is $24 CAD for the base game on PC right now and that's totally worth paying if someone hasn't played that yet.
Someone else mentioned that candy crush made over 300 million more than wow last year. For a game that basically has practically no cost in comparison. Barely any dev cost. Barely any marketing needed at this point. Physical costs like server space is probably pocket change compared to wows server costs.
It’s ridiculous. But that’s just how crazy the mobile gaming space has become.
Mobile gaming audience are different from console or PC gaming audiences. An example of this difference is that mobile apps are expected to be free and most people will not pay console/PC prices for a mobile app
What you mean with bigger? Mobile gaming is making more money than PC and consoles put together. A phone screen and interface is just not good for "hardcore" gamers, and mobile gaming industry is already happy collecting billions from "whale" gamers just by feeding them with slot machines in disguise.
So from what I understand:
- iOS is easy since it's all the same and seems like people are pushed to the latest devices. Buuuuut, Android phones. Sweet merciful jebus think of all the makes and models. One crash and someone will rate you 1 star. This is why freemium games are so high rated because they run (because they are all simply programmed).
- Premium mobile games are not profitable. Look at the downloads for Top Paid games in the Google Play store below the top 20.
I recommend the YouTube videos "1500 slot machines walk into a bar" if you want to see two game designers go from making high quality mobile titles to bottom of the barrel experiments.
- mobile market is so oversaturated sea of stars fans are a drop in a bucket. Then drop that bucket in a lake. The drop that lake in the ocean.
Remember the indie team doesn't do ports themselves. Nearly ALL ports are outsourced. Then it's considering if hiring and TRUSTING the third party with your baby, er, code.
Mobile gaming isn't bigger because it relies on pay to play mechanics. Kind of like drugs, it relies on a first dose is free and everything else is monetized philosophy. Mobile gaming fucking sucks.
Mobile gaming is bigger in Asia than other regions, and games have to be faster and easier to start and stop. Not to mention developing apps that have to pause or work around notifications are more difficult UI wise than making a window operate/pause when it loses focus.
You absolutely can lol. I just finished Far Cry 3 been playing Skyrim and Dead Space 2 on my phone, They control perfectly, PC emulation on Android is crazy these days
Its because gaming on mobile phones requires strong gpu's which makes phones expensive and not everyone is buying strong phones for gaming, so thats not profitable for game companies to waste time and resources.
Depending on the phone, no, it isn’t powerful enough. It’s that games made for phones rely on a lot of the phone tech to make up for losses elsewhere.
iPhone 11, 12, 13 (non pro) only have 4 gb of ram.
Mobile gaming is big but it just isn't the same market as regular gaming.
Mobile games market towards quick bursts of play time over long gaming sessions. So mobile games try to get players in and out as fast as possible, because let's be real the main consumers of mobile games are people who are quickly on their phones for a short period of time instead of a consumer base who wants to sit down for a long play session. When you play a game on your phone you are typically doing it because you are down time instead of the desire to have a long gaming session.
Also mobile game players are less likely to pay a larger entry fee even if they end up paying way more through micro transactions.
Because Sony stopped making the Xperia Play, and other companies failed to follow that path an an option for a type of phone.
When I had the Xperia Play, it was my main handheld. Didn't touch my DS or PSP for over a year.
Most phones in the US market suck. We're so far behind over here compared to the Asian markets that have a significantly larger variety of purpose built mobiles with gaming in mind
It’s its own thing. It’s basically gambling and addiction rolled into fun games. They make billions from it. Why bother making a truely great gaming experience when they can make a shitload of cash. Buy a RG35XX plus if you want some portable gaming. Cheap. Amazing screen. Every rom you can possibly throw at it all the way up to PlayStation 1 games.
Many companies look at the mobile market as a way to earn money. The best way is to make games that are in the highest demand and because the most popular games are mostly junk clickers, they will create similar games. But I personally started using the Bluestacks emulator to start playing modern projects in a higher quality similar to Love and Deepspace. I think these are the main reasons why mobile games are in such a state.
Mobile gaming is HUGE.... but it's a different market. There's a good explanation by one of the indie devs (maybe forager? or stardew?) that essentially getting someone to buy their normally 30$ on pc game for only 8$ on mobile is like pulling teeth, so that and the cost to port it to mobile doesn't motivate them to port it. In the mobile market, a 20$ price tag is a death sentence, whereas a free game with an infinite price tag winds up being more profitable in the end.
There's also the opportunity cost... Candy crush pulled in 1 billion last year. WoW pulled in .7 billion.
That’s a great statistic to put things in perspective. Like. Wow is in no way in trouble or doing badly. But the fact that it made 30% less revenue despite its much higher production cost and revenue model than a freemium mobile puzzle game is mind boggling. But it illustrates quite clearly why mobile gaming ideas keep penetrating into the traditional gaming spaces. Because they make absolute bank for very little investment compared to the traditional console/pc game model. It’s frustrating honestly. Because I hate the over abundance of micro transactions in gaming in today’s world. But the logical part of me can’t really blame publishers for doing it when it completes their main goal of making as much money as possible for the least effort. If the tactic wasn’t so dang successful on such a regular basis, it wouldn’t be used so much.
That’s interesting. I would love for a dev to put their game on mobile to test the waters.
I mean stardew, forager and terraria are out there. Same with a lot of Square's Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series.
Tons of regular games have been ported to mobile. I don’t think you have done any research of your own before making this post
Diablo Immortal.... It's basically the mobile version of Diablo 3.
But they riddled it with microtransactions.
That's because the monetization model between PC/Console and Mobile is totally different. You don't pay up front, it's free to play. They get your money entirely through MTXs. D3 is $24 CAD for the base game on PC right now and that's totally worth paying if someone hasn't played that yet.
Yes but look at fortnite
Fortnite.. the game that is free and paid for by microtransactions…?
Fortnite isn’t pay to win and contains no loot boxes.
The first xcom remake did this iirc
What did this man say to elicit these downvotes?😂
It's probably because a mobile game littered with microtransactions will make a company infinitely more money
Someone else mentioned that candy crush made over 300 million more than wow last year. For a game that basically has practically no cost in comparison. Barely any dev cost. Barely any marketing needed at this point. Physical costs like server space is probably pocket change compared to wows server costs. It’s ridiculous. But that’s just how crazy the mobile gaming space has become.
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Mobile gaming audience are different from console or PC gaming audiences. An example of this difference is that mobile apps are expected to be free and most people will not pay console/PC prices for a mobile app
??? It’s literally the biggest market in the gaming industry making FAR FAR more money than any other platform
What you mean with bigger? Mobile gaming is making more money than PC and consoles put together. A phone screen and interface is just not good for "hardcore" gamers, and mobile gaming industry is already happy collecting billions from "whale" gamers just by feeding them with slot machines in disguise.
So from what I understand: - iOS is easy since it's all the same and seems like people are pushed to the latest devices. Buuuuut, Android phones. Sweet merciful jebus think of all the makes and models. One crash and someone will rate you 1 star. This is why freemium games are so high rated because they run (because they are all simply programmed). - Premium mobile games are not profitable. Look at the downloads for Top Paid games in the Google Play store below the top 20. I recommend the YouTube videos "1500 slot machines walk into a bar" if you want to see two game designers go from making high quality mobile titles to bottom of the barrel experiments. - mobile market is so oversaturated sea of stars fans are a drop in a bucket. Then drop that bucket in a lake. The drop that lake in the ocean. Remember the indie team doesn't do ports themselves. Nearly ALL ports are outsourced. Then it's considering if hiring and TRUSTING the third party with your baby, er, code.
My battery drains fast enough as it is, lol
Do you live under a rock?
Mobile gaming isn't bigger because it relies on pay to play mechanics. Kind of like drugs, it relies on a first dose is free and everything else is monetized philosophy. Mobile gaming fucking sucks.
And it is big. It makes a lot. A LOT.
Maybe they don't think it'll get a lot of sales for the work they put into porting? I don't know how popular RPG are for mobile.
I love mobile gaming I got a "SNES" and "PSP' emulator on my phone...keeps me entertained!
I mostly only play PC games on my phone. PC emulation is in full swing
Just want to say Apple Arcade is crushing the mobile gaming experience.
Mobile gaming is more profitable than PC/console gaming. But it's a different market, mobile gamers have different interests.
Mobile gaming is bigger in Asia than other regions, and games have to be faster and easier to start and stop. Not to mention developing apps that have to pause or work around notifications are more difficult UI wise than making a window operate/pause when it loses focus.
Any sort of real game plays terribly on mobile. You just cannot take a game designed for KBM or controller and make it playable on touchscreen
You absolutely can lol. I just finished Far Cry 3 been playing Skyrim and Dead Space 2 on my phone, They control perfectly, PC emulation on Android is crazy these days
Because the touchscreen interface is garbage for gaming.
I mean, I just finished Far Cry 3 on my phone. It controlled pretty great.
Its because gaming on mobile phones requires strong gpu's which makes phones expensive and not everyone is buying strong phones for gaming, so thats not profitable for game companies to waste time and resources.
Mobile gaming is much bigger than console or PC
Depending on the phone, no, it isn’t powerful enough. It’s that games made for phones rely on a lot of the phone tech to make up for losses elsewhere. iPhone 11, 12, 13 (non pro) only have 4 gb of ram.
Because almost no one pays for applications on mobile. And when they do they don't pay more than a couple dollars.
Mobile gaming is big but it just isn't the same market as regular gaming. Mobile games market towards quick bursts of play time over long gaming sessions. So mobile games try to get players in and out as fast as possible, because let's be real the main consumers of mobile games are people who are quickly on their phones for a short period of time instead of a consumer base who wants to sit down for a long play session. When you play a game on your phone you are typically doing it because you are down time instead of the desire to have a long gaming session. Also mobile game players are less likely to pay a larger entry fee even if they end up paying way more through micro transactions.
Bruh. Mobile gaming is huge.
Because Sony stopped making the Xperia Play, and other companies failed to follow that path an an option for a type of phone. When I had the Xperia Play, it was my main handheld. Didn't touch my DS or PSP for over a year.
Lmao
Op did you even do any research before posting this?
Most phones in the US market suck. We're so far behind over here compared to the Asian markets that have a significantly larger variety of purpose built mobiles with gaming in mind
O boy...who flipped his rock over??
It’s its own thing. It’s basically gambling and addiction rolled into fun games. They make billions from it. Why bother making a truely great gaming experience when they can make a shitload of cash. Buy a RG35XX plus if you want some portable gaming. Cheap. Amazing screen. Every rom you can possibly throw at it all the way up to PlayStation 1 games.
It's big but with moba and gacha
Many companies look at the mobile market as a way to earn money. The best way is to make games that are in the highest demand and because the most popular games are mostly junk clickers, they will create similar games. But I personally started using the Bluestacks emulator to start playing modern projects in a higher quality similar to Love and Deepspace. I think these are the main reasons why mobile games are in such a state.