Mobile game devs face new challenges — but with new tools

According to a recent report from SuperData, mobile games generated $61.3 billion in revenue in 2018, compared with $35.7 billion on PCs and $12.7 billion on game consoles. And mobile/cloud gaming will almost certainly become more lucrative in the future, as games like Fortnite increase in popularity and improvements in Internet infrastructure, such as the ongoing rollout of 5G, continue. Not surprisingly, competition among game developers is heating up, as they compete for users, engagement and dollars.

With increased competition, the patience of players has significantly decreased. If problems arise during gameplay, users will simply abandon a game and/or rate and review it poorly, stunting adoption and hurting revenue. Developers need to learn to take the long view when it comes to identifying and improving performance: conduct rigorous testing prelaunch, closely monitor UX post release and proactively seek to address the root causes of problems — before too many users are impacted. Success is riding on it.