Quick Summary: How much do gaming apps cost to make? How much should you budget for your custom game app development? We get these types of questions a lot! For aspiring game developers, it’s essential to know how much it can cost to make all sorts of games, where these costs come from, and how budgets for creating games are decided upon.
How popular are Mobile Gaming Apps?
- The mobile gaming content market was worth $140.5 billion.
- The gaming industry is projected to reach $118.90 billion with an annual CAGR of 6.39%.
- The number of users in the gaming industry is expected to reach 1.9bn users by 2027.
- During the pandemic, mobile game players increased by 12% in 2020, and gamers spent over $19 billion in the second quarter alone.
- Gaming apps contribute 21% of all Android app downloads, while iOS gaming apps form 25% of mobile application downloads.
- With 1.2 billion users, Asia had the largest mobile gaming app users in 2021.
What Are the Most Popular Mobile Games in 2024?
With 3.24 billion mobile gamers worldwide, the trend and demand for mobile games are constantly surging. Here are some of the most popular gaming applications. We have divided the list in two parts. Find the most popular mobile games for Android and iOS.
Top 5 Mobile Games for Android 2024
Monument Valley
Monument Valley is a prime example of mobile games as art, thanks to its beautifully designed optical illusion puzzles that showcase the platform’s strengths. Both the original game and its sequel offer visually stunning and thoughtfully crafted experiences.
Genshin Impact
This expansive action RPG immerses you in the fantasy world of Teyvat, a realm governed by ancient gods and enveloped in age-old mysteries. Your character starts with no knowledge of this world. In Genshin Impact, you go on a journey to find your lost sibling, battling monsters and aiding those you encounter along the way.
The game features a Zelda-like open-world environment and a steady stream of new events to keep you engaged for a long time. It boasts high-quality cinematics, excellent voice acting, and a spectacular soundtrack. Genshin Impact is free to play but uses a gacha-style monetization system, encouraging you to roll for new characters. You can earn these rolls through in-game currency or cash purchases.
Hearthstone
Hearthstone is a part of the Warcraft franchise. After revolutionizing the real-time strategy genre with its orc-versus-human battles, Blizzard created the ultimate MMO with World of Warcraft. Then, the developer introduced Hearthstone, a deep, accessible, and incredibly addictive digital collectible card game.
Minecraft
The mobile version of Minecraft has evolved to match its PC and console counterparts. The unified game versions now offer the same experience across platforms. So, when you’re building blocks and battling Creepers on your phone, you’re not missing out on anything.
Hitman Go
Hitman Go reimagines everyone’s favorite bald video game assassin in a stylish, abstract format. The levels resemble tabletop board games, where you move an Agent 47 game piece to eliminate targets. The game retains its darkly comic strategy, and the clean, elegant aesthetic suits someone who makes a living through dispassionate professional killing.
Top 5 Mobile Games for iOS 2024
Clash Royale
Clash Royale is like a card game where you build a deck but with appealing visuals. The cards come to life and fight each other on a battlefield, similar to a real-time strategy game. It’s super addictive and offers a good challenge.
Coin Master
Coin Master is a relaxing game that doesn’t take much of your time but still makes you feel accomplished. You log in every few hours to spin for coins and rewards, then upgrade your town. Sometimes, you get to attack or raid other players’ villages for more coins. For extra fun, check out our guide for free spins in Coin Master.
Call of Duty: Mobile
Call of Duty: Mobile is a smaller version of the popular shooter game series that you can play anywhere. It includes your favorite characters, weapons, maps, and modes from Black Ops and Modern Warfare. It’s a must-play for old-school Call of Duty fans. We also have tips and updates for the game.
XCOM 2 Collection
In the XCOM 2 Collection, aliens have taken over the world, and you must rebuild XCOM to save humanity. This turn-based strategy game lets you research new technologies, upgrade your base, and customize your soldiers. You also recruit engineers and scientists to help you. The game includes several DLCs for more fun.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, you play as a hero trying to save the galaxy. Set 4000 years before the Galactic Empire, you must defeat Darth Malak. Your actions and choices earn you points that determine if you turn to the dark side or stay with the light side. Use a lightsaber and force abilities in battle or use stealth to avoid fights. Visit planets like Tatooine and become the Jedi you’ve always wanted to be.
What are the Factors Affecting The Cost To Build A Gaming App?
Pre-Development
Developing an online gaming app is complex and expensive. A single mistake can cause a massive loss. Thus, gaming app developers spend valuable time on pre-development planning and strategy. They create a detailed tactic and gaming strategy in the Game Design Document (GDD), which is fundamental for the entire mobile game development process.
The GDD covers the following things:
- Storyboard
- Game Levels
- Gameplay
- Game Environment
- Target users
- Plot and Characters
Storyboarding involves the story of the game which must be interesting to raise curiosity among users to play the game. The story should engage your audience to make people stick to the game. It involves deciding the game characters, plot, and the game environment. The story’s characters and plot must relate with users to stimulate their interest.
Gaming App Platform
The platform, Android, iOS, or both, on which you choose to build your mobile gaming app primarily affects the cost. Developing a mobile gaming app on Android costs more than iOS. However, Apple’s administration is more expensive than Android. Cross-platform game app development is cheaper than native development.
Game Design
A game design includes many layers; thus, designers must devise a proper plan to avoid bugs or glitches. The game layers include the gaming environment and gameplay. The user experience for mobile gaming applications must be highly engaging and satisfying. Thus, it would help if you had UI/UX designers, architects, and highly experienced game artists. You can hire expert UI/UX designers from Valuetree to design the most appealing mobile gaming applications. The hiring models are flexible, and the costs are budget-friendly.
Game Development Team
The location of gaming app developers will directly affect the overall development cost. Developers’ hourly rates are different in the US and India. Rates will vary with every new country or location.
Want to keep your gaming app development budget under control? You can outsource gaming app developers from countries where the developer hourly rates are cheaper.
- USA $100/ hour
- Ukraine $40/hour
- India $30/ hour
As you see, the hourly developer costs in India are very low comparatively. So, you can hire gaming app developers from Valuetree at the most budgeted costs.
Game Development & Testing
The development phase is the most significant factor affecting the cost of a mobile game app. You need professional gaming app developers and engineers to build dynamic mobile gaming applications. Once the application is ready, the next step is to test it. Testing and quality assurance remove all bugs and loopholes before the release.
Mobile Game App Marketing
Once you have launched your gaming app on the app stores, it needs promotion and marketing. If you do not market your gaming app, no one will get to know about its launch. Do you want your gaming app to get lost among millions of other mobile gaming apps? No, of course.
So, always count the cost for marketing while deciding the budget for your gaming application.
Categories and Genres
The type of mobile game also affects the cost of developing a mobile gaming application. The different game categories and genres can be simulation apps, social gaming apps, or casual gaming apps. Based on complexity, then gaming apps can be:
Casual 2-D games
casual 2D games are basic games with 2D graphics and sound. These games are easy and quick to build and can easily be scalable. Mobile game development costs range between $50,000 – $100,000.
Examples: red ball, Sudoku, etc.
Social Games
Social games are games that multiple players can play through social platforms. Gaming app developers build these apps with an SDK offered by the social platform. The cost of building social games ranges between $100,000 and $ 250,000.
Mid-level games
Games like Angry Birds fall into this category and offer good graphics, story, and sound. Such games successfully keep users engaged for fun and to reach higher levels. The cost to develop mid-level games includes $250,000 – $700,00.
Action Games
Action games, including battle or shooting games, are the most popular genre. Examples of action games include Battle Royale, Clash of Clans, etc. Building such games costs between $50K and $300K.
High-Level games
High-level games are complex and thus take longer time to build. In addition, the design and features of such games are complex. Senior gaming app developers can help you develop high-level games as they are well-experienced in developing such gaming applications. The cost to develop high-level games ranges between $400,000 – 1,000,000.
Example: Clash of Clans, Hay Day.
Role Playing Games
People are big fans of role-playing games and spend thousands of hours playing them. They love to create characters and tell tales around them. Building role-playing games costs between $10K and $400K.
Examples: Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, Monster Hunter Stories, etc.
AR/VR Games
Businesses and gaming app development companies use AR and VR in games like never before. Such games take users into the virtual gaming world and thus offer the most immersive gaming experiences. They are expensive to develop comparatively, ranging between $100K and $400K.
Example: Pokemon GO
A game with simple features and casual graphics is less complex to build and, thus, costs less. On the other hand, complex games like PUBG or Pokemon include complex features like high FPS, HDR Graphics, voice integration, etc., that increase the overall game development cost.
Further, the mobile gaming engine also affects overall game development costs.
Single-Player and Multiplayer Games
A multiplier game enables players to communicate with each other during the play. Such games fall under the high-level and AAA games category. Such games require voice integration and high internet speed. Such features raise the game development cost.
What are the Popular Mobile Game Development Tools?
Unity
Unity from Unity Technologies is the most popular and preferable mobile gaming tool. The tool offers fantastic features to enable game app developers to create 2D and 3D games. Gaming app developers can also work collaboratively on tools. Further, they can purchase different assets from the Unity Store. Unity supports Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Fire OS, and Tizen OS.
Games developed using Unity: Pokemon Go, Lara Croft Go, Angry Birds 2, etc.
Titanium
Another popular mobile game development tool is Titanium. It facilitates modular programming and allows developers to use a single code base for different mobile devices, saving them a lot of time and coding effort. Titanium supports Android, iOS, HTML5, and hybrid game app development.
Games built using Titanium are Crash Trilogy, Prototype 1 & 2.
Cocos2d-X
Cocos 2d-x allows developers to create 2D games and perform all development tasks simultaneously. For example, resource management, game debugging, previewing, multi-platform publishing, etc.
Facebook powers the tool and offers detailed documentation, making it easier for developers to learn and develop games quickly. Cocos2d-X supports Android, iOS, HTML5, Windows, and Mac platforms.
Games rolled out using Cocos2d-X are Clash of Kings, Brave Frontier, and Angry Birds Fight.
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine is user-friendly and does not require expert knowledge in mobile game coding. Beginners can use the app to create gaming applications effortlessly.
Unreal Engine supports Android, iOS, Linux, Windows PC, Mac OS X, SteamOS, VR platforms, Sony PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and HTML5.
Games built using Unreal Engine are Lineage II: Revolution, ABC Augmented Reality and Heart at Attack.
Solar2D
Solar 2D or Corona SDK is an easy-to-use tool that allows beginners to develop 2D games. The app offers a fundamental simulation feature to allow developers to see how the app will look after the changes.
Solar2D Supports Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, Mac OS, Android TV, and HTML5.
Games built using Solar2D: are I love Hue, Grow Beets Clicker
How Much Does Mobile Game Development Cost?
As you know, the cost depends on many factors and the mobile game app development steps. The type of gaming app, app platform, design, features, etc., decide the cost.
How to Reduce Mobile Game App Development Cost?
So, how can you build a gaming app within your budget? Follow a few tips and steps to avoid unnecessary costs and maintain the development cost within your budget.
Pre-development Research
Research your audience, market, and app specifications before developing. Your mind should be clear on the features required to develop your app. This will make it possible to calculate a reasonable cost of game development. Further, there will be no confusion, errors, or reworks, and you can save these unwanted costs.
Cross-platform game app development
Hybrid mobile gaming will cut the development cost to almost half. The latest hybrid frameworks enable gaming app developers to build high-performing cross-platform gaming apps. They offer a native feel and perform faster than native apps.
Start with a functional MVP
It is always better and wiser to start with an MVP. An MVP includes the essential features and, thus, requires a lesser initial investment. With an MVP, game app owners can gather user feedback, gradually improvise, and add new features.
FAQs
Why should I invest in mobile game development?
Mobile gaming apps are in massive demand and are raving in the market. The return on investment in these apps is much higher, so it is worth investing in gaming applications.
Can you build a hybrid gaming application for us?
Yes, of course. We develop native and hybrid gaming applications. We use advanced cross-platform frameworks that deliver native-like, high-performing and engaging applications.
How to monetize gaming applications?
You can earn revenue from your gaming applications in many ways. Here are the most relevant ones:
- In-app Purchases
- Subscriptions
- Advertising
- Premium
Conclusion
We hope the answer to your question about how much it costs to build a mobile gaming app is clear. Now, you know the cost of your mobile gaming apps depends on various factors and how to control it.
However, an experienced gaming app development company can guide and advise you better on the budget and development of your gaming application. Valuetree is one of the best gaming app development companies in India, with an experienced team of gaming app developers.
Want to discuss your gaming app development project, email on sales@valuetree.io.
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