A new report from mobile gaming company Sandsoft says that 81% of mobile developers are working on a new title, while 83% have raised capital to develop, launch or market a game.
The publisher perception report, conducted in collaboration with Atomik Research, surveyed 454 developers in the United States, Spain, and France between June 4 and June 10, 2024.
Most developers (47%) are testing a prototype, while 9% are in the soft launch stage. Hybrid-casual is the most popular genre in development (43%), followed by casual (34%).
Promoters are also concerned about layoffs. Nearly half of respondents (49%) expect more layoffs, and most are “worried about their jobs and see unionization as a positive thing.”
90% of respondents expressed the importance of AAA quality games being available on mobile devices, even though games like Resident Evil 7 on iOS reportedly only have about 2,000 paying customers.
The use of AI during development was also a major theme of the report, with 84% of developers saying they used AI and 38% saying it was a core component of development.
The report also found that the two most common sources of funding for mobile development were strategic investment (31%) and directly from a publisher (27%).
Thirty-four percent of respondents said publishers “provide a valuable service,” but just over a quarter felt they “get more than they give because of concerns about unfavorable deal terms and revenue sharing, or loss of creative control.”
Additionally, developers expressed that they were 50% more likely to seek publishing deals with specific regions, with Latin America considered the most popular emerging market.