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Gameloft had previously been very excited about Android, jumping into the market with twenty titles last February, but they have since changed their tune, and are pulling away from Google’s mobile platform. Gameloft’s director of finance, Alexandre de Rochefort, had this to say about their performance on Android at a recent investor’s meeting:
“We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like … many others … It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone. Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue … We are selling 400 times more games on iPhone than on Android.”
Ouch. The iPhone has definitely made a name for itself in mobile gaming, and combined with mass consumer demand for the handset itself, it’s easy to see why a big name publisher would side with Apple. Motorola’s droid is certainly pushing hard with its marketing and preliminary sales have been decent, but odds are slim that it will put a significant dent in iPhone’s numbers. The bigger question raised here is “is this attitude prevalent across application segments other than gaming?” Gameloft is a pretty big deal; I can only imagine how many other major app developers are openly neglecting other mobile platforms as a result of the iPhone’s massive gravitational pull. With resources shrinking for a lot of companies, devs have to be especially picky about which camp they chose.
[via Reuters]
Update: I don’t if that financial director was talking out of line, or what, but Gameloft just issued a press release reiterating their support for Android, including that they have plans for 2.0. VP of publishing, Gonzague de Vallois said:
“The arrival of this new generation of phones will allow the development of High Definition games that make the most of the technological capacity and the speed of execution offered by the new Android phones. Consumers will benefit from a top quality gaming experience.”
About The Author
Simon Sage
Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
