Gameloft, one of the oldest and biggest names in mobile phone games, has cut its development investment in Google’s Android platform. The Washington Post quoted Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort as saying:
We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like … many others. It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone. Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue.
While he has a point about the Android Marketplace not being as “neat” as the iPhone App Store, I think this is an amazingly shortsighted move. Android handsets have only started popping up on three of the four major American carriers this fall. A number of analysts have predicted that Android will be the leading smartphone platform by 2012. Being first and being established on Android would be a wise move for Gameloft, but I’m guessing the bean counters are only looking at immediate returns.
Do you think Android has a big future? Or is Gameloft doing the right thing by cutting the cord early?
This might end up being more damning than when Verizon passed on the iPhone. Android has a way to go BUT I think they have way more potential than Mobile OS X.
Can't you just do Internet flash games with android?
I'd pass on ones in the store too.
Maybe that's why Apple doesn't support flash.
@TheJediRevan I just think it's extremely foolish on Gameloft's part. Sticking with the U.S. market, sure deployment has been slow — T-Mobile is the only carrier that has had Android phones for a year. Recently Sprint and Verizon entered the market. Momentum is building now.