Mobile ads and independent game developers
In the interesting article Games Take Center Stage in Mobile Ad Surge on The Information, Walter Driver, CEO of Scopely, a mobile game publisher, calls Facebook “a very elaborate platform for routing people to the apps that are most relevant for them”.
Google is another such platform.
Google and facebook own 70% of the $18bln mobile internet ad spending (estimated to grow to $32bln in 2014).
The article also reveals the huge amounts of money game developers need to invest in Mobile Marketing in order to get noticed on these platforms and get their games in the limelight.
This may soon become (if it isn’t aleady) a major hurdle for independent developers. But probably also for regular app developers.
What’s more: all the money spent on ads is money that is not spent on better features or catering to customers.
On the other side, this might be an opportunity for smart people to start a platform for catering to the needs of these independent developers 🙂