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Game developers on iPhone outnumber DS and PSP two-to-one
Game Developer Research has published its 2009/10 survey of video game developers, and the results are pretty impressive for the still relatively fledgling iPhone platform: The number of developers who are working on mobile games increased by 12 percent, and there are actually twice as many developers working on iPhone games as are working on the Nintendo DS and Sony's PSP handheld consoles. That's a pretty amazing number, though it's not quite a surprise when you consider it. First of all, Nintendo DS and PSP publishing takes a much larger investment than Apple's $100 developer fee and an SDK download. Second, while the DS and the PSP are certainly selling a lot of games, they're not actually releasing nearly as many as the hundreds of thousands of apps on the App Store. Finally, new DS and PSP games sell for $30 or $40, while new App Store games sell much closer to 99 cents. So the fact that there are lots more people moving to the much more open and accessible platform isn't really that surprising.
Game Developer Research releases "Top 50 Developers 2008" report
Much like the average review score report released earlier this week, we're sure that the report we're about to discuss will serve as ammunition for many a fanboy feud in the coming months -- Game Developer Research (a branch of Game Developer Magazine which was created in hopes of bringing a "new level of empirical measurement" to the gaming market) recently released their "Top 50 Developers 2008" report. Sadly, Backbone Emeryville, the artisanal minds behind last year's XBLA sleeper hit Yaris, didn't make the cut.Basing their rankings on sales figures, prolificacy, average review scores, and results from over 700 surveys issued to industry suits, GDR's list seems to be the most well-founded developer ranking we've ever seen (though Yarisians would probably disagree). We've got the whole list after the jump -- aren't you curious how your faves placed?
