Does a game being 'mobile-first' limit the amount a developer can charge on console?

gamesindustry.biz:

Some of the biggest titles of the past few years have demonstrated that mobile platforms do not need to be a lesser alternative to a title's home console editions.

Genshin Impact – consistently one of the most popular action-adventure games with gacha elements on the market – was simultaneously released for Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, and PC in September 2020, and for PlayStation 5 a year later. Other titles from major IP holders are now set to have simultaneous releases across both home consoles, PC, and mobile devices.

That is the result of increasing parity in performance between devices, and companies like Netflix investing heavily in bringing games to mobile devices through its app. Games like the upcoming Tales of the Shire are set to release on Netflix on day one, and the recently-released Paper Trail also launched simultaneously on the platform and on PC/consoles.

It's fair to say that the clear delineation between what is and is not a 'mobile' game is being blurred.

Despite that, years of denigration of 'mobile games' – lesser in some way than PC and console games – still skew the value perception of those titles for a proportion of gamers. Combine that with the continued popularity of 'free-to-start' games on iOS and Android also impacting price sensitivity, and developers and publishers are having to grapple with pricing strategies for games that exist across both mobile and console.

Michiel Buijsman is lead analyst at industry research and information company Newzoo. He explains the issue is based on that pre-existing value perception: "In essence, the most important factor when deciding how to price a game is that there is a clear ceiling to how much people are willing to spend on a premium game on mobile, which is much lower than the ceiling on PC and console."

However, he also notes that third parties like platform holders inform that overall pricing strategy: "That ceiling is key when pricing a cross-platform launch that includes mobile: negative