Filed under: iPhone
Gameloft backs iPhone and backs away from Android
To iPhone or not to iPhone? That is the question on which a number of high-profile app developers are weighing-in. A couple of weeks ago it was Facebook app developer Joe Hewitt and software maker Rogue Amoeba saying they'd had enough of jumping through hoops to be on the iPhone and that they'd be working on other things.Last week, Instapaper web-service and iPhone app [iTunes link] developer Marco Arment said, "Go if you want to, but there are more than enough people in the App Store to keep me fat and happy and not nearly enough in any other mobile app ecosystem to draw me away." I'm paraphrasing of course.
Now, French mobile phone game developer Gameloft has given its two cents. According to a company exec, Gameloft and other software developers are drawing down the resources spent on developing applications for Google's Android platform. Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort said at an investor conference late last week, "We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like ... many others."
Did he say what others? No. Did he say why? Yes.
Rochefort, like Instapaper's Arment, says the people just aren't there for the Android. "It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone," says the exec. "Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue."
Meanwhile on the App Store, money flows like water for Gameloft and the water's fine. Games for Apple's handhelds generated 13% of Gameloft's revenue last quarter. According to Rochefort, Gameloft is selling 400 times as many games for the iPhone and iPod touch as it is for the various Android powered phones.
[via Reuters]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tom said 7:37AM on 11-23-2009
I don't think Gameloft is trying very hard to have success on the Android platform. The German Market lists 7 titles now if I search for "Gameloft". Compare that to the constant stream of new releases on the iPhone...
Of those 7 titles one is free (Platinum Solitaire 2 (DE)), one costs US$ 2.99+CC conversion fee (Bubble Bash HD), the rest sets you back 2.99 Euro each.
For some reason the iPhone variants of these games are cheaper most of the time. And in the iTunes store you will find screenshots and good descriptions for every Gameloft title. The Android ports often don't get that much love (e.g. CSI: Miami, no screenshots, bad description, they don't answer the question why I should pay for this game (and more than for the iPhone version!))
I'm sure it's only partially the Android ecosystem itself why people don't purchase that many apps yet. A large proportion is simply that app vendors don't try hard enough to earn their money. Maybe they are spoilt by the iPhone. There they get free ads in a gazillion of blogs, and looking at a game's description and screenshots on a computer is certainly more attractive than on a handset. But still, Gameloft and others could do way more, I'm sure.
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Izzy said 8:49AM on 11-23-2009
I think regardless of their "drawing down" resources, they are going to go where the money is. If Android captures even 5% of the smartphone market, they will throw money back into Android as they see fit. Android just isn't a mature platform yet.
doug said 8:18AM on 11-23-2009
it's the ipod touch that give Apple such a bump on mobile apps over android today. It gives Apple reach in the "non mobile phone" category where Android, RIM, and WebOS have no presence. suddenly everyone (especially pre-teens) has access to apps and entertainment with a clear hardware upgrade without losing their software investment.
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TIm said 10:08AM on 11-23-2009
And that is acutally exactly the audience for all those fart & co. app out there that makes up most of that 100k apps available.
I guess there will evolve slightly different markets for all the different plattforms, but a year or so, most of the really successful apps will be available across all plattforms (Android, AppStore and maybe a bit more delayed Palm). Leaving the real differences between the plattform (app-wise) pretty small.
T.
splat said 9:33AM on 11-23-2009
I guess I'm being pedantic here but I'm pretty sure you don't put quotes around a paraphrased sentence. I'm not an english major but I kinda thought quotation marks were for quotations. I do not usually catch this kind of stuff but this instance stood out.
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Brian said 10:38AM on 11-23-2009
sounds difficult to develop for Android because of the varied hardware and os skins. I read this on cnn/tech: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/17/android.wired/index.html
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Jordan said 10:49AM on 11-23-2009
"just like ... many others"
what words filled this blank? Is this paraphrasing and being taken out of context. We will never know.
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Ed said 11:29AM on 11-23-2009
The thing to keep in mind here is that Gameloft's games for android are almost universally crap. They aren't trying too hard on the platform. Most (all?) of their games are terrible ports of games from other java devices, like Symbian. They've got terrible graphics, most are sluggish when they don't need to be, and they just aren't good software.
Gameloft is smart to be putting resources into the iPhone/iPod Touch, but they were never trying that hard on Android to begin with.
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aardivark said 3:24PM on 11-23-2009
Gameloft is making a business decision. They've decided that their resources are better spent on iPhone games than Android. It is not their responsibility to push the Android platform by developing 'good' games (whatever 'good' means). That is Google's and the handset mfrs' responsibility.
Despite the initial success, I predict Android will come to be Google's baptism of fire in the world beyond search. They are learning or about to learn lessons that they should have learned from watching Microsoft and Linux. Android is in the process of splintering into several separate sub-platforms. I just heard a report on public radio from a tech reporter complaining about how Android app development is being complicated by having three incompatible flavors (1.5, 1.6, 2.0) that are out there.
The problem of course is that Google set out on Android with the mindset that they need to please the developers, the handset mfrs, and the carriers. Wrong! Their primary concern should have been pleasing the end consumer. That's how Apple thinks and that's why Apple has been blowing away everyone. The whole iPhone ecosystem is designed with the final customer's satisfaction in mind. They decided a closed system with a pretty stringent app approval process is the only way to guarantee a great customer experience. They might be wrong but who would you trust more? The developers? Apple's competitors?
The developers, mfrs and carriers will always be complaining about this and that but in the end the lips stop flapping when the cash starts flowing. And the only way to keep the cash flowing consistently is to please the final customer.
Google needs to get a handle on the splintering of Android. If that means whipping the handset manufacturers in line, so be it. Otherwise more developers will follow Gameloft and that will just about spell doom for the Android platform.
Actionable Mango said 2:04PM on 11-23-2009
"The quotes seem" fine "to me"".
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NickP said 3:58PM on 11-23-2009
Suits me fine.
In the US Android Market; 24 games are listed from Gameloft. With the exception of TWO none have a demo version. All the other games are $2.99. Those at $2.99 to be honest look terrible from a screen shot point of view and generally have poor reviews.
I think Google needs to take some heat for not having a game dev rel team focusing on a few premier titles that are optimized for Android HW (G1 upwards)... Bonzai Blast at G1 launch time was quite good - since then it's the same old uncontrolled mess...
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