The Most Profitable Mobile Development Niches (Gaming)

Mobile development has advanced significantly during the past decade. Since early mobile apps (such as Snake), the quality of mobile games has continued to increase at an exponential rate. This has caused mobile development to become one of the most profitable areas of software creation today, but which niches offer developers the best rates of return?

Quite a few different options out there can provide developers with the highest level of profit. We’ll take a look at the market’s top niches below, so you can choose the right area to focus on if you have an interest in mobile development.

iGaming

iGaming is another term for online gambling. There are many different iGaming software developers operating today, releasing countless new games each year. This means that not only do players have a big amount of options to choose from but that a large range of new titles is added to the market regularly.

This proves two things to players: firstly, there is a lot of revenue to be shared by prolific brands, and secondly, there are companies working to create a huge number of titles all of the time.

NetEnt is one of the biggest iGaming developers in business at the time of writing. This brand supplies cutting-edge games to a number of the best online casinos for Indian players, so they are generally regarded as one of today’s top developers. There are literally thousands of iGaming titles available for players to try, and more are released every single month. As a result, the market is quite heavily saturated, but there is a lot of revenue up for grabs.

The consistent evolution of the iGaming market is something that many developers have started to pivot towards. As the constant release of new titles gives players a lot of choices, iGaming players are far less likely to get bored with the selection available in a hurry. This keeps them interested for much longer than in other niches, which contributes to healthy, long-term, consistent market revenue.

With all this in mind, it’s fair to say the share price for iGaming developers tends to be one of the most consistent.

Open World Multiplayer Games

This actually covers quite a wide niche of diverse titles. Games such as Pokemon Go could fall under this umbrella, but at the same time, so would a title such as Fortnite. This creates a large amount of scope for developers to work on crafting their own vision.

What’s so good about this niche is that it allows developers to implement additional revenue streams, alongside the original amount that players pay to buy the game. For example, extra skins can be bought in some games, or even more powerful weapons. All of this means that, if a game is able to keep players engaged in the long term, they are more likely to spend money on it in the future.

One of the best examples of a shift to the in-game purchase model is Asphalt. In previous versions of the game, an initial cost was charged in order to play, but the game could simply be played all the way through. That meant the game was sold as it was, and that was the end of it. With the latest release, the developers moved to a free-to-play model that had in-app purchases. Players were able to play the game for free if they liked, but were welcome to make purchases designed to enhance their playing experience.

While this could lead to higher costs to the player in the long term, they do get some specific advantages from this kind of model. Firstly, players can choose what they want to pay in order to play the game. This is a big benefit, as while free-to-play players might struggle at times to be the very best, they are also able to play a game for free. Secondly, the constant revenue stream means that the game gets updated regularly. These updates keep the game fresh and ensure that players don’t get bored as they play.

Casual Games

While developers have started to make the move towards more online multiplayer games recently, there are still a lot of casual games available. In order to stay relevant, they have carried out a lot of different tactics to keep people interested in what they have to offer. A great example of this would be the environmental message that’s included in the latest Angry Birds title. These kinds of small additions help to keep games relevant and attract players in the long term.

Games like Angry Birds and Wordscapes also offer players the opportunity to make in-app purchases. They also tend to offer a chance to watch a short video as a way to earn rewards. This clever use of adverts means that there is a constant stream of revenue for developers from the game, even if players aren’t purchasing anything. This means that a popular casual game has the potential to generate huge profits for the developers working hard behind the scenes.

Thanks for reading the most profitable mobile development niches, hope this was useful to you and you learned something new. Have a Good day 🙂