Only 25 developers get 50% of the profits on the App Store and Play

If you needed proof that the gold rush in application development led to the concentration of most of the gold in the hands of only a few developers, then here it is: according to the Canalys analytical center, last month only 25 developers collected half of everything app revenue from two dominant US stores — the Apple App Store and Google Play.

These conclusions were drawn from daily research conducted using the Canalys App Interrogator tool and relate to the revenue generated by these stores in America during the first 20 days of November. Thus, according to the analytical center, during this period 25 developers in total earned $ 60 million from paid downloads and in-app purchases. All these developers, as one, are game developers. The exception was the Pandora music streaming service with its Pandora Radio app. Among the game developers on the list were Zynga, Electronic Arts, Disney, Kabam, Rovio, Glu, Gameloft and TeamLava from Storm8.

Analysts from Canalys note that during this period of the top 300 paid apps in the Apple App Store 145 there were games, with regard to Google Play, here out of the top 300 paid apps 116 were games. If we talk about free applications, then for Apple - 94 out of 300 were games, and for Google Play - 110.

It follows that developers who do not create games are forced to participate in a big race with obstacles in order for their product to become popular and generate revenue. “Discovery is a particular concern for the Apple App Store and Google Play, given the sheer volume of products they sell,” said Canalys senior analyst Tim Shepard. “Given the prevailing share of content from game developers in these stores, it is difficult for other equally high-quality applications to get the attention they deserve. Other developers should think about how to promote their applications. Depending on the type of application, they must understand how best to use social networks and recommendations in them, tactics for promoting their products and discounts, brand binding and targeted advertising within applications. ”

If there is any major way to attack the gold mine with gaming applications, then I must say that all successful game developers "almost always have a whole set of revenue-generating applications," says Canalys, so in other words, don’t put all Evil Bird eggs in one basket. The analytics center cites Zynga as an example, with the Apple App Store listing 300 of the most profitable iPhone apps for 15 games, and Google Play having 9. Even the creator of Angry Birds, Rovio, offered various options for its game.

As for game developers who were not included in the November list, there is even more bad news ahead: the analytical center predicts that most of the 25 named top developers will strengthen their dominant positions during the holidays, “applying discounts and special applications, as well as using opportunities for mutual promotion their applications. "

"It is expected that during the Christmas holidays in the United States, the dominant position of the main game developers will only strengthen," added Chris Jones, vice president and chief analyst at Canalys.