81% of mobile game developers have been working on new titles, as revealed by The Publisher Perception Report released by Sandsoft, a global mobile-first game developer and publisher. Reportedly, despite a year-on-year mobile gaming revenue decline of 2.1% in 2023, a funding slowdown and major mobile publishers pausing new game development, and layoffs totaling more than 10 thousand across the industry in 2024, positivity and optimism endure among 454 senior mobile game developers who have been interviewed for the research.
As per the report, 51% of those surveyed say the current wave of layoffs is mostly over, while 83% of respondents have managed to raise capital to help develop, launch, or market a mobile game. In addition to that, 34% of respondents feel publishers do provide valuable service while 39% said publishers are a necessary part of mobile gaming. “In a market where launching new games is tough, if publishers are to provide value to game developers, they have to be a force for good. We wanted to better understand the needs, hopes, and concerns of mobile game developers across the industry, so we asked them directly. We’re sharing the findings because we want to see success for the entire mobile games industry, which means helping developers and other publishers better understand how they can work together going forward,” David Fernández Remesal said.
Moreover, nine percent of developers who have been working on new titles have progrressed to soft launch stage. Almost half of them (49%) anticipated further layoffs and 44% have attributed the layoffs primarily to overgiring and mismanagement. In addition to that, 67% respondents have been concerned for their own job security. In terms of publishing landscape, 27% of respondents feel publishers take more than they give due to concerns about unfavourable deal terms and revenue share or loss of creative control. It is also mentioned in the report that, developers who have previously worked with a publisher give the collaboration an average performance rating of 7.7 out of 10.
As per the survey report, 39% cited that, the deal terms on offer are the single most important factor in publishing deals. 87% mobile game developers said, it is important that their publishing partner has a diverse team. Furthermore, Latin America is seen as the most attractive emerging market to publish games into, while Southeast Asia is felt to be producing the best homegrown content. 93% of developers say it’s important to localise and culturalise gaming content. It is mentioned in the report that, hybrid-casual is viewed as the most viable type of game in the current market (43%) followed by casual (34%). Just 15% feel it’s hypercasual. As per the report, 90% of mobile game developers say it’s important that AAA quality gaming is available on mobile devices in the future. 84% are using AI in their development processes, and 34% use blockchain technology.