Mobile Games ,Android Users Spend Less
The other big issue is that supporting Android may not make sense from a financial perspective. See, Android users often bring in much less money than iOS users do. Technology industry expert Benedict Evans reported in 2014 that “Google Android users in total are spending around half as much on apps on more than twice the user base, and hence app [average revenue per users] on Android is roughly a quarter of iOS.” As he also reports, Android phones and tablets are often cheaper than iOS devices – someone who is shelling out for something less than the flagship hardware is probably not going to spend that much money on a game. We even see this with paid games.
Ustwo, the developers of Monument Valley,
revealed that their smash-hit puzzle game made a lot less money on Android despite releasing only a few months later.
Now, this also explains why for developers of paid games, it’s far less worth it to release on Android.
For free-to-play developers, it’s possibly worth it because you can make money from non-paying users via advertisements,
particularly incentivized video ads.
But for developers of premium games, there’s only one real option: hope users pay. And evidence shows that they won’t.
Plus, while it’s probably an overrated factor, it’s also worth considering that Android is much easier to pirate games on than iOS.
Users Spend Less
The good news for Android gamers is that despite the difficulties, there are still so many people with Android devices,
such that for many, it’s worth releasing on Android.
The platform does provide its benefits as well: developers can release early access games on Android, where they can’t on iOS.
Games that need to be updated and tweaked are easier to do on Android,
where updates don’t have to go through a lengthy approval process like they do on the iOS App Store.
But as well, cross-platform technology like Unity and Unreal Engine 4 make developing for multiple platforms a lot easier,
and many of the incompatibilities can be solved at a deep technical level.
Plus, services like Apportable offer cross-platform solutions, and publishers like Noodlecake Games handle many ports for developers.
But still, if you ever wonder why a cool iOS game isn’t coming to Android, just know – there are many good, inescapable reasons why it isn’t.