Why are mobile developers turning to PC and console?

The past couple of years have been tricky for mobile gaming and mobile game developers. In 2023, for the second year in a row, the mobile segment declined, with user acquisition (UA) costs rising and advertising becoming more challenging (thanks to an increasingly restrictive privacy landscape).

In a lot of ways, it’s harder than ever to launch a successful new mobile game. So, what’s the next move for mobile game developers and studios?

In response to a battered market, mobile developers and publishers are starting to turn to the PC and console world to diversify revenue sources and reach broader audiences.

The state of play for the mobile game developers and the mobile market

After years of solid growth, the mobile games market has faced a post-pandemic slowdown.?According to data from Newzoo’s Games Market Reports and Forecasts, the mobile market is projected to generate $90.5 billion in 2023 and $98 billion in 2026.

If you compare the total market CAGR from 2015 to 2021 and the forecasted CAGR from 2022 to 2026, the growth diminishes significantly from +20.9% to +1.6%.

Why are mobile studios pivoting to PC and console development?

As market growth slows, the other gaming segments enjoy a somewhat more positive outlook for the next several years.

Console gaming is poised for growth in the coming three years, with a projected +6.7% CAGR from 2023 to 2026. The console segment will generate $53.2 billion in 2023, growing +1.9% year on year. At the same time, downloaded/boxed PC games were the fastest growing segment in 2023 (+5.2% year on year) and will generate $38.4 billion.

These bigger numbers represent an increasingly attractive opportunity for mobile game developers to escape being beholden to the mobile market. Allocating resources toward PC and console development and re-specializing in these platforms are potentially welcome changes.?

Large mobile game companies are porting mobile titles to PCs and consoles to increase engagement, retention, and profitability (to a certain degree of success, depending on the case). This tactic requires resources and skills specific to these platforms and, in some cases, smart outsourcing partnerships.

At the same time, some mobile companies are producing new games for platforms outside of mobile to capture different audiences, diversify revenue generation, and create IPs with their own unique potential.

Both of these options cost traditional mobile developers considerable time, resources, and shifts in specialization. Capturing a slice of the PC and/or console pie means weighing opportunities against the sheer magnitude of making these strategic changes. Let’s examine porting and creating new games.

Porting to PC and/or console or creating something new: the mobile developer’s dilemma

Developing for the PC and console segments can go (roughly) in two directions:

• Porting existing mobile games to bigger screens.
• Creating entirely new games for PC and console (and also, perhaps, mobile).

Porting mobile games to PC and console platforms can boost your profitability and playtime, as your game is now more available wherever and whenever your core players want to play.

This strategy doesn’t significantly change your total addressable market (TAM)—it’s more about boosting current engagement—so weighing the benefits and downsides is important.

Benefits of porting mobile games:

• Porting can improve engagement and retention by targeting your multi-platform players. According to the Global Gamer Study , nearly half of players play on more than one platform.
• You can route players to your own web store, independent third-party stores, or services like Xsolla to circumvent high costs from major stores.
• Porting is less resource-intensive than crafting games from scratch.

Downsides of porting mobile games:

• You’ll have an extra version of an existing game to maintain.
• Your TAM may not grow significantly.
• Mobile control schemes may mismatch with larger screens and input devices.
• Monetization models always require significant adaptation from one platform to another.

To see how porting games represents a significant opportunity, we can look no further than a recent example from Scopely’s Xbox (and forthcoming PlayStation) debut of Stumble Guys .

While Stumble Guys wasn’t a mobile-exclusive title before this console expansion (you could previously find it on Steam along with mobile devices), the move to console is a viable play to set up Stumble Guys as a competitor against other party games.

Stumble Guys was already showing solid performance in terms of engagement. It’s quite early to tell whether the game will find similar success on Xbox, but our daily active user data is promising.

What about developing new PC and console titles?

The alternative to porting games is developing new experiences for PC and/or console audiences. PC and console development requires tons of resources and a willingness to experiment, but brand-new markets may be worth the effort.

Benefits of developing new games for PC and console:

• The PC and console realm represents new addressable markets. On average, PC and/or console players spend more on gaming, too.
• PC and console markets aren’t as susceptible to disruptions from app store policies and privacy regulations.
• There are more engines available that make it easy to create a game once for multiple platforms, as opposed to having to build games in different engines from scratch.

Downsides of developing new games for PC and console:

• Developing new games is more resource-intensive than porting existing games.
• PC and console games tend to be larger-scale and higher-risk experiments.
• Mobile development teams may have less experience in PC and console game design. This may reduce the chance of a new title’s success.

Entering new markets (with different development requirements) is daunting, but mobile developers do have a few advantages when it comes to this latter strategy.

For one thing, mobile studios are used to developing for broader audiences, giving them experience in creating games for underserved groups in the PC and console audiences. Mobile studios also have significant experience in live services, performance marketing, and UA to bring to the PC and console space.

Disney Speedstorm is a successful example of a mobile-first studio branching out into the PC and console space. Gameloft released the free-to-play kart racer in September 2023 on PC and console after several months of paid early access. The game has a couple million Lifetime Players, according to the Game Performance Monitor , with the average revenue per user growing month-over-month since its launch.

Identifying and acting on PC and console opportunities

There are many opportunities in PC and console gaming for mobile developers, but the trick thing is finding the right ones. And when you spot a fitting opportunity, how do you make the most out of it?

Mobile developers aiming to create a new game can look for genres with higher market share across the PC and console landscape.

Another viable strategy is to develop games for underserved PC and console audiences, especially as most large-scale productions only focus on limited audience subsets.

Finally, mobile developers can leverage their considerable experience in live-service models and UA when moving into PC and console development. PC and console monetization more closely mirrors the mobile model today, making the leap from one platform to another less tricky.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

This trend deep dive comes from Newzoo's top ten games trends to watch in 2024 free report .

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

What trends do you think will shape the games industry in 2024?

Got a question for our analysts? Add it to the comments.