Users VS Competition, and the Golden Age of Platforms

As I mentioned in my first post, I’ll be reporting on what I learn so you can benefit too and this is the first such post.

 

Back in April 2014, I attended a technology forum called iTECH Gulf, a famous regional event for ICT professionals. One of the presenters was Borut Pfeifer, a designer and lead engineer in the team behind Skulls of the Shogun, a successful turn-based strategy game for beginners. He talked about the challenges faced in development of the game, and some surprises they learned along the way.

 

One such surprise has to do with their most successful platform.

 

Skulls of the Shogun is available on Android, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Steam, Xbox 360, Windows Store and Windows Phone. Out of all of those, you might be surprised to know the most-sold version is Windows Phone edition. If you’re keeping with industry stats, you should be aware that Android has the biggest chunk of the smartphone industry, with iOS closely behind while Windows Phone is barely competing with the dying BlackBerry.

 

You will find more statistics at Statista

 

So, why is the game most successful on the platform with the least amount of users? To explain this, Mr. Pfeifer went on to give an analysis of the situation, and he described a general overview of a platform’s life-cycle:

 

1. Early/Young: Platforms in this stage are only just sprouting, and generally don’t have many users or competition, proving development a risky bet. One such platform can be the Oculus Rift.
2. Late/Old: Mature platforms are those with lots of users and competition. Although they have a much bigger potential user base than new platforms, the aggressive market requires luck and a good marketing strategy/budget to compete.
3. Golden Age: These golden eggs are those who have already matured from their infant state, and have a big user base but the competition have yet to catch on.

 

According to Mr. Pfeifer, he believes Windows Phone is in its Golden Age. True enough, not many developers take Windows Phone seriously, and those who do tend to be beginners into the industry. Because of that, the Windows Phone Store is filled to the brim with low-quality apps and games, while Windows Phone users remain hungry for quality apps. Having a Lumia 520 myself, I can attest to that since I find it hard to get a quality app. So it’s no wonder that when a high grade game like Skulls of the Shogun came out, Windows Phone users gobbled it right up.

If you want to take advantage of that though, you should hurry up; because the number of quality games is increasing and soon there will be a fierce competition.

 

Bottom line is, to mitigate your risk as much as possible, you should try to target both old and new platforms, instead of putting all your effort into an already crowded market.

 

I hope you enjoyed this article, and if you have any further insight into the situation, please comment below 🙂

Thanks