According to Statista, the mobile gaming market generated an estimated 98.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, making it the biggest platform by revenue. This is largely because of accessibility, and mobile gaming developers don’t have to battle the high expectations as those developing for consoles or PC. Despite that, many developers, even those who make top mobile sports games, now feel boxed in by platforms that helped them thrive in the first place.
GamesIndustryBiz looked into the matter, citing Aptoide’s insightful “Ctrl. Alt. Del” whitepaper. I grabbed a copy of this report myself to see what over 300 surveyed mobile game developers had to say. All these developers were senior-level professionals from relatively big companies, and a whopping 84% of them agree that the mobile game distribution ecosystem needs more diversity.
Apple And Google’s Duopoly
Both Apple and Google dictate visibility for game developers in the App Store and Play Store, respectively. They also control what content can exist on their storefronts and charge high distribution fees. Both companies charge as high as 30% on most app purchases and in-app purchases. This means that if a mobile game studio earns $2M in revenue from the Play Store during the first year, it now potentially owes $600,000 to Google in fees.
Over half of the developers in the report cite these high fees as their biggest concern. Other than that, many also claim to be struggling with discoverability. There are millions of apps competing for attention, and many smaller studios get buried under algorithm-driven promotion that often favors the biggest spenders or the platform’s own products. In fact, 50% of the developers share concerns that Apple and Google prioritize their own services instead of independent creators.
Apple’s walled garden is firmly intact outside of Europe, where recent regulations forced it to allow rival app stores. On the other hand, Google is reportedly looking to restrict the sideloading of apps, which will hamper third-party app stores even further. Success seems to depend more on platform politics rather than innovation because of this.
Sports titles, such as EA’s FC Mobile, also face unique pressure. Most games rely on live features, in-season updates, roster changes, and monetization systems. Alternative stores might offer marginally better revenue, but they also risk fragmentation. Enabling synchronized content, updates, and anti-cheat across multiple app stores isn’t easy. So, we’ll have to see how far this pushback really goes.
