The app store standoff is a chance to reshape mobile game discovery | Opinion
2024 hasn't exactly gotten off to the best start for the game industry: mass layoffs loom over large publishers like Epic and Riot Games, and it's becoming harder and all the more expensive to develop and deliver breakthrough games. While the growth outlook for mobile is much more optimistic than it has been in years – with Data.ai projecting up to 4% year over year growth – Epic and Google's court proceedings and Apple's response to Digital Markets Act legislation have cast a shadow over this promising growth and the future of the mobile games industry.
The general atmosphere is one of distrust and dissent, to say the least. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney referred to Apple's DMA response as "hot garbage," whereas Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg slammed the changes as "so onerous" that it would be hard for any app developer to "really seriously entertain what they're doing here." Spotify CEO Daniel Ek chimed in as well, calling the proposed changes "a farce" in a lengthy Spotify blog.
Things weren't always this way. I've worked in the game industry for over 25 years and remember a time when operators like Vodafone and T-Mobile were still the gatekeepers for mobile apps. Fearing their role would be diminished to simple bit pipes and aspiring to be value adding partners instead, operators began forcing stronger and more rigid technical integrations upon apps, much to the dismay of developers.
Everything changed with the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and the App Store a year later in 2008. Within the next five years, Apple and Google's platforms had completely usurped the operator business and created an entirely new kind of market for mobile games. The business model for making mobile games changed thanks to the flexible payment services and featuring possibilities offered by Apple and Google, resulting in the massive growth of free-to-play games in 2012.
Looking back, it's clear today that hit games like Angry Birds and Candy Crush wouldn't have made it without the app store business
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