Gameloft — and other developers according to Gameloft — are cutting back on development for Google’s Android platform due to the “weakness” of the Android Market. According to Reuters, Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort said:
We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like … many others. [The Android Market] is not as neatly done as on the iPhone. Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue.”
Ouch. Harsh words. Meanwhile, with iPhone generating 13% of Gameloft’s revenue (400 times more than Android), we’ll no doubt see plenty more on the iTunes App Store.
While we’ve heard developers and pundits talk about the business advantage of the iPhone before, and while Android’s numbers may be rising and soon, in the short term the bigger houses like Gameloft might just stick with where the money is.
With the release of Terminator Salvation only a few short weeks away — May 21st to be exact — Gameloft has gone and sent TiPb the very visually-pleasing trailer for their new iPhone game tie-in.
This game looks to be the most impressive iPhone game to date, we can only hope that the controls will be half as good.
There is no word on pricing (We’d expect it to be in the $9.99 price range.) or a release date but you can only assume it should be hitting the App Store on or around the movie’s theatrical release.
As for the movie, it is looking pretty decent, if you can get past the PG-13 rating…
With all the hubbub surrounding the App Store these days, the blogophiles among us may forget that, for casual users, everything is pretty sweet. Browse. Tap. Download. Launch. For mobile gaming fans this is especially true. Check out the Top Apps list, and you’ll routinely see games hogging most of the spots. Don’t think this has escaped attention either. Says Block Breaker Deluxe (available via the iTunes App Store) developer Gameloft:
With some competitors due out next year, Apple is looking to capitalize on their virtual monopoly of these types of games, and with the success of their iphone games so far, they look certain to sustain a strong share of the market for smartphone games for some time to come.
As if to prove their point, Block Breaker Deluxe looks to be a bright, innovative take on the classic genre, and will no doubt appeal to the casual gaming audience the iPhone (and Apple) is hitting so well with as of late.
Whether the push from Android Market eventually forces Apple to change their current developer relations process or not, in the gaming space at least, everything on the iPhone is apps!
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