Pocket Legends game generates 30 to 50% more revenue on Android than on iOS | Hacker News Reader

Pocket Legends game generates 30 to 50% more revenue on Android than on iOS

tech.fortune.cnn.com

29 pointsnl17 comments

Who earns more might be good fanboy fodder, but surely the interesting question is when the extra revenue from the second platform outweighs the costs of cross-platform dev.

At that point you're just turning down free money if you stick to one platform and whether (as in this case) 55-60% of your income comes from one or the other isn't particularly interesting. Before you get to that point the dominant platform has a self-reinforcing lock-in effect where the users go where the games are and the games go where the users are.

I'd imagine this point gets reached sooner for corporate game developers who might be porting existing content from the Playstation anyway, and if they aren't are probably still using 3rd-party, cross-platform toolkits like Unreal engine and writing to OpenGL standards.

There's something to be said for "Getting in on the ground floor." It's always a bit of a gamble: You may do amazing work, but if the platform dies your work dies with it. But you may also end up building a brand as one of the early successes in that market.

It's awesome that they're making money. It's funny when making more revenue on Android than on iOS is national news.

But that's not the news.

The news is about the overall trend of Android surpassing iOS on metrics that people track and care about.

There was a period where newspapers were reporting about iPhone developers making big bucks. It wasn't news because a particular developer made some money but because it showed a new trend of iPhone becoming a new way of making good money for many people. The "new" part was why it was news (a new company making big bucks selling Windows software isn't news those days, even though there are still plenty of them).

Similarly, the current thinking today is that you can make more money on iOS. This article is newsworthy because it shows that this might be changing (granted one data point doesn't make a revolution, but one data point is more than zero and to get comprehensive picture we have to start with sharing single data points).

Your comment reminds me of "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" At least perhaps it means we're through the ignoring phase :-)

Showing that one developer makes more money on Android doesn't really prove anything. There are more games for iOS than Android so logically the games on Android should be making more money.

There is some truth to this, but it isn't that simple.

I was the only game of my genre for months and I made pretty good money. Then competitors started to flow in. Several of them. Each one gets better and better.

However, I've maintained steady to growing revenues from my game over the months.

There are a LOT of people getting Android phones still, and those people are putting games on their phones - especially since they can get bigger and bigger SD cards and just load them up with games.

Even on my 8GB original iPhone, space for games wasn't an issue. Space for music and photos was, but not games or other apps.

My kids all have 8GB iPods, no music or videos, just games, and they are starting to have to delete games now because they are running out of space.

Some of these games are getting huge.

Strictly by the numbers: iOS/iPhone is one of the least rewarding platforms/devices to target -- when revenue's the goal. These apps don't perform well vis a vis, say, boring old Windows or iOS/Mac or, increasingly, Android apps. If you're thinking about getting into iOS development with an eye towards Angry-Bird style profits, please read this first (and then the other dozen pieces of research on the same topic):

http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/06/full-an...

Relevant quote:

That number times $1.95 per paid app gives the 'most typical app' the total revenues in its lifetime - the full two years of App Store existence - of $1,948 dollars. This is before Apple takes its cut of 30%, so we are left with $1,363 over two years or $682 per year. This is so 'successful' that half of all of the developers of the 164,250 apps - will actually earn LESS THAN THIS. Before you start to cry, remember, there is that Angry Bird game that had 4 million paid downloads and the Bewelled 2 game with 3 million paid downloads. Thats your math there, they are totally skewing the averages, and you are stuck in the 'long tail' indeed. Half of all developers will earn less than $682 per year. Do you still think this is a good business idea?

EDIT: The mathematics are a little depressing, just something to keep in mind. Certainly a successful app is a successful app. Getting there on iOS seems to be a lottery proposition.

I haven't seen any evidence that any market manages to break the law of averages. Do you have any idea how much crappy Windows shareware is around making a lot less than $600?

The iOS Appstore (and now the Google Market) is important though, because it solves one of the big problems individual developers had with other platforms: distribution.

From what I've seen, most of the below average apps on the iOS app store deserve to be in the below average earnings set.

What’s your evidence that Windows/Mac or Android are doing better than that?

I think it's demographics. Who owns an android phone, and what game would they buy? And how many competitors to this style game on the platform.

Meanwhile on iOS, the demographics are more flat, and additionally there are more choices for RPG/MMO style games than on android.

This is all just BS marketing by Android(with our w/out fanboys).

Pocket Legends is a lame game on iOS. iOS has much better competition for the same genre as Pocket Legends.

The fact that it's doing so well on Android just logically should be embarrassing for Android but if you spin it right I guess it's easy to make it sound like something it isn't. You know, if you're being dishonest to your fellow man/developer doesn't pull your life karma down I guess.

Actually, it's a perfect illustration that a market with less competition allows for easier profits.

With a huge user base, and far fewer apps than iOS, as iOS proponents are so eager to point out, the android market is a great opportunity for developers. The rest of your comments regarding fanboys and karma do not merit response.

I deleted this game months ago because it is just a front to get players to purchase in-game crap with real cash. I moved onto better iOS games that focus on gameplay and not trying to get into my wallet.

This game is making more money on Android because it lacks other great games in the genre. While I applaud them for finding a way to improve their sales, it would be pretty wrongheaded for any developer to think that this is a long term profitable stance.

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