Some of the biggest titles of recent years have proven that mobile platforms don't have to be a lesser alternative to home console editions of a title.
Genshin Impact, one of the most popular action-adventure games with gacha elements on the market, was released simultaneously for Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, and PC in September 2020, and for PlayStation 5 a year later. Other titles from major IP owners will now see simultaneous releases on home consoles, PC, and mobile devices.
This is a result of greater performance parity across devices and companies like Netflix investing heavily in bringing games to mobile via their app. Games like the upcoming Tales of the Shire will launch on Netflix on day one, and the recently released Paper Trail has also launched simultaneously on the platform and on PC and consoles.
It's fair to say that the clear lines between what is and isn't a “mobile” game are blurring.
Despite this, years of denigrating “mobile gaming” (as being, in some ways, inferior to PC and console gaming) continues to distort the perception of the value of such titles for a portion of gamers. Add to that the continued popularity of “free-to-play” games on iOS and Android, which also affect price sensitivity, and developers and publishers are left to contend with pricing strategies for games that exist on both mobile and console.
Historical perceptions
Michiel Buijsman is a senior analyst at industry research and insights firm Newzoo. He explains that the problem lies in this pre-existing perception of value: “Essentially, the most important factor in deciding the price of a game is that there is a clear limit to what people are willing to spend on a premium mobile game, which is much lower than the limit on PC and consoles.”
However, he also notes that third parties, such as platform owners, inform that overall pricing strategy: “That cap is key when pricing a cross-platform release that includes mobile — negative community feedback may be one thing, but there are also policies enforced by platform owners that dictate the price must be the same or lower on their store.”
“There is a clear limit on how much people are willing to spend on a premium mobile game, which is much lower than the limit on PC and consoles”Michiel Buijsman
This is backed up by research firm Niko Partners, which found that the mobile gaming audience is largely accustomed to the free-to-play model and launching a mobile title outside of this model limits the chances of success “significantly.”
The expectation of games, both on mobile devices and Console: Being free-to-play means that overall price positioning for mobile titles is effectively capped for the foreseeable future. In fact, as more free-to-play games launch on console, it’s likely to become even more entrenched. Free-to-play games account for 73.1% of global player spend according to Niko Partners figures, and even on console, where premium titles make up a much larger proportion of the mix, free-to-play games already account for over a quarter of digital player spend on PlayStation and Xbox.
The Niko Partners team attributes this to the popularity of games like Fortnite and Roblox among the most played titles: “Selling one-off copies is no longer the best way to attract a large audience and that's why F2P has been successful.”
However, the team also notes that there are often ways around that value cap – 77% of paying console players in the Asia and MENA region have purchased a premium game in the past year – free-to-play games on console often offer premium-priced starter editions that come with various in-game bonuses and extras that help justify the upfront cost, as we saw with the China-exclusive PS5 Genshin Impact Starter Set in January 2024. In effect, it’s an effort to buck the trend of that lower perceived value for mobile titles by cramming extras into a first-touch price point.
Considerations for developers
As a result of these factors, premium mobile titles are effectively priced at lower levels than they would be if they were released on consoles. How does that affect developers of games designed for both formats?
Tommy Prentice, Head of Product at Exient Entertainment, explains: “Players are used to ‘free-to-play’ monetisation systems, which have also become the dominant model on many other platforms, making it difficult to convince players to spend in any other way. It’s difficult to set an upper limit as it often depends on the product being offered. It’s also important to consider the markets you’re selling in, as that can be a big factor in pricing.”
He says that “many market observers will lump all mobile games under the same umbrella,” while the team has found that there is a “huge distinction when it comes to premium titles versus any free-to-play titles in terms of how they are monetized.”
Marcus Sanders (perhaps better known as Souls-focused YouTuber EpicNameBro) is the developer of the upcoming strategy RPG Radix Chronicle. The game’s initial Kickstarter campaign was for Windows/Linux/Android releases, with other ports possible in the future. On the difficulty of setting a price, Sanders explains: “From my perspective, it’s a market dominated by gacha (aka free-to-play titles focused on loot boxes) and ad-supported games. This generally has a suppressive effect on the cost of games on mobile, as player expectations are often set by ‘free’ titles.
“Selling single-run copies is no longer the best way to attract a large audience”
“The key takeaway is that you're either trying to compete for free-to-play players or you're not. We're not. We don't want to include gameplay or advertising elements. It's a decision based on personal convictions, rather than economics. We want to create and sell players a full game similar to what we could buy 'back in the day.'”
The perception that games (especially mobile games that rely on microtransactions) are sold in pieces is also a reflection of the changing economics around game publishing, as Niko Partners has previously noted.
As a result of those personal considerations and convictions, and in addition to the need to recoup development costs at the time of launch on Steam, Sanders and his partner decided to set the “correct” price of $20 for both PC and mobile. He notes that, in the case of Radix Chronicle, “it doesn’t seem reasonable to charge a different price when the end experience is the same (or at least very similar).”
Mobile hardware specifications can also limit the perception of price among the public. This isn't just about the processing power of the phone – other aspects of a device can negatively affect the perception of the value of mobile games.
Cristian Cailenau is an account managing partner at Raw Fury, publisher of titles such as Cassette Beasts, Norco and Moonstone Island. He explains: “Screen size is directly proportional to the price of the game, or at least it used to be for our previously released games. This means that the price of the mobile version will be a specific fraction of the PC/console version.”
He explains that the fraction decided depends on factors such as user feedback, the user base, and the average price of the game (measured between the base price and various price discounts over the game's lifetime). He also notes that the proportion of content per game can fluctuate with the addition of downloadable content, which also affects the perception of price.
However, he notes that with the rise in power of mobile devices, the team is “rethinking this strategy” around pricing as its mobile ports reach “1/1 quality parity with (their) PC/Console counterparts.”
So while the historical perception of “mobile gaming” as inferior to its console counterparts is changing, game developers for both formats still grapple with pricing issues as a result of different considerations around mobile gaming. The pervasiveness of the freemium model is a much bigger limiting factor than hardware specs, but savvy developers and publishers are finding ways to maximize the potential price of their mobile and home console games.