According to a new report by SuperScale, the majority, or 83%, of new mobile games go down like a led balloon within three years, while 43% are abandoned during development.
The report, overseen by Atomik Research, features survey results from 500 game developers in the U.K. and U.S.
Findings included that 76% of launched games peaked early and that within the first year, the most revenue for games is made, with only 4% attaining as good as its first year profits the second year.
Over 50% of developers also were found to employ live ops in their games, while 38% don’t issue reoccurring content or updates, and a mere 5% of games get support seven years post-launch.
Credit: Epic Games
Even though the success rate of new titles is low, developers still want to work on them, with 78% saying new games are their preference.
But roughly a third of those surveyed pointed to uncertainty in the gaming world, which they say “is stopping them from developing new games.” Further, 30% of survey takers believe the current market “is too difficult to succeed in.”
Their reasons include a list of challenges from studios having to downsize, layoff, or slash budgets, with 29% of developers saying they had to cut their UA budget.
“These are volatile times for the games industry,” asserted SuperScale CEO and founder Ivan Trancik. “Many mobile game developers are finding it hard to remain profitable in the face of challenges such as ATT, heavy competition in a mature mobile market, and macroeconomic conditions like high inflation.”
He continued: “Findings from the Good Games Don’t Die white paper serve as a wake-up call for the industry, a source of inspiration with actionable data; equipping developers and publishers with insight on how revenue can be maximised across their portfolio – for games both new and old.”
