Game Development: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Game Development: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The landscape of the gaming industry has changed radically over the past few decades. Portable systems now are rapidly losing their weight – they are much worse at coping with the onslaught of free and cheap smartphone games both in terms of graphics and content prices. As technology becomes more complex, the requirements for creating games increase. Also, there is no room for small firms now. Everything is pre decided by the industry giants. 

But how do small developers survive in this world? What are their prospects? Let’s take a look at the dark and the bright sides of the game industry

The Phenomenon of Virtual Entertainment 

Over the past thirty years, the virtual entertainment industry has come in an unprecedentedly long way. It has turned from a hobby of scientific research institutes into one of the largest media industries, going side by side with scientific progress in the field of computer technology. New types of technology appear, followed by innovative research from the world VR game development. And the market continues to grow. We can expect dramatic changes in this area in the near future. According to Business Insider, the industry is showing a generally rapid extension.

top game developers

Today multimedia technologies have firmly entered our lives. The Internet, mobile devices, e-books, virtual spaces, and communities, computer games are an integral part of the life of a modern person. The information space is becoming increasingly full. The development of new media – the Internet, games, social networks- all this opens up an endless horizon of possibilities. It also produces the concept of “new media”, which led to the emergence of many different channels for providing the content.

The Hard Part of Game Creation 

Nowadays, the global market for mobile games is formed mainly by large leading companies. Significant firms are actively implementing various strategies that affect the degree of market power. Strong and experienced companies merge to increase their level of experience.

game developers

However, there are many risks associated with game development, especially for new players in the industry or for small firms. We highlighted the main ones below:

  • Multicomponent. A game consists of a minimum of three main components: technical implementation, art, and game design. Nobody will play a game with poor-quality design. All game development platforms may have their own characteristics that developers need to know. Each of the main components of the game should not be lower than a certain level that players expect to receive. As the gaming industry develops, the bar for each component rises higher, which, in turn, raises the threshold for entry into the industry for non-core investors or young developers.
  • High Costs. First, you need to remember that game design and development require well-coordinated work that comes only with experience. Yes, large companies can really rivet games in 3-4 months: they have all the developed processes, selected and tested personnel, a huge number of improvements, and workpieces that can be used. Young teams have none of this. The second point is that truly skilled workers and top game developers cost a lot. The high creation cost, coupled with all other high risks, makes the threshold of entry into the game industry for most investors unacceptably high.
  • Difficult Market. What to do when the game is ready? How to sell it? How to make money on it? There will be a lot of such questions. Industry leaders have sufficient experience, knowledge, and analytical data to answer them. In addition, the market is divided into many branches. For instance, iOS game development, android game app development, VR/AR technologies implementation in the game, etc. Each direction has its specifics and its difficulties, which beginners do not even suspect of. And when they encounter them, they may not survive in such a collision without proper preparation. 
  • Hit the Trend. If you don’t have an understanding of what the market will be like by the time you are ready to release the game, you have every chance to publish an irrelevant product that no one needs. In the course of development, you need to monitor the market and keep the project up to date, be able to make corrections on time, but not allow the project to mutate uncontrollably.

Bright Sides of the Industry

Why go into the game development industry with so many risks and so many unknown, unpredictable moments? Because there are many benefits, and for many game makers (or investors), they fully and repeatedly compensate for the risks and disadvantages described above.

  • Highest return on success. If you own a small mobile game development company and you are new to the market, then be ready for hard work. But if you determine your purpose and assemble the right team, then the profitability can be incredibly high, as it usually is for successful players of this industry.
  • Incomprehensible and complex production. The complexity of entry into the industry makes it relatively free, and thus the competition there is relatively small. The fact that very few new players are professionally and clearly included in the game system is definitely very good. In addition, this means that there are many times less fraud, scam, and corruption than in any other business. This does not mean that you are insured against such cases. 
  • Stable business. If you still manage to get to the point when your business begins to generate income, there are many chances that it will become very stable. Yes, the game needs a constant upgrade: if it does not develop, it dies. But if you do everything correctly and without unnecessary risky experiments, then you will succeed. 

The game development industry is complex and risky. If you want to be sure that your product will be successful and bring profit, then you need a competent and reliable service provider that will help you with this. SwagSoft is a game and app development company based in Singapore that helps with the creation of many types of projects. Our big experienced team guarantees high-quality service. Let us realize your ideas in the best possible way!