Android has been under some scrutiny the past couple years. Fragmentation has been a problem and, according to PopCap Games CEO David Roberts, it still is a problem. As I mentioned recently in “Revisiting Fragmentation – Is Android Still Scattered?“, only 2.9% of Android devices are running version 4.0 ICS. With that said, Google has been trying to get manufacturers on-board and making 4.0 available for more devices and they have…to an extent.
Android’s increased fragmentation across hardware devices and OS versions, and its lack of a central app store, have left game developers disappointed with the OS, according to the CEO of “Plants vs. Zombies” publisher PopCap Games.
“Android is not a very good business for most game companies, no matter what anyone tells you,” PopCap CEO David Roberts said in interview Thursday. “I’m sure there are some people making money on it, but based on the amount of hardware it sells it hasn’t turned into the game business I think a lot of folks hoped”.
David has a point. iOS users buy more apps compared to Android users. The reason? A better buying experience and considering fragmentation is non-existent on iOS thanks to a select few devices vs. hundreds, it ends up being easier to develop for.
PopCap games is also currently working on launching their new version of Plants vs. Zombies for the China market.
On Thursday, PopCap announced it would launch two new exclusive “Plants vs. Zombies” games for China, through a service provided by Tencent, the country’s major online gaming operator. Tencent’s QQ Game Center currently has more than 220 million registered users.
The Android Market Play Store continues to grow, but it’s difficult to design games or apps for that matter when they need to work on multiple versions of Android. The support for Android 4.0 on newer devices has gotten much better and will continue to so we’ve got to give some credit to Google and the hardware manufacturers. This is something to think about though the next time you wonder why this cool game or app made it on iOS first.
Do you agree or disagree with the CEO of PopCap Games?