Can I live from just programming Android games?

[Rogerio Kioshi]

Hi,

I'd like to know if a person can live from just programming Android games.

Thank you.

[ian myers]

it depends what you mean. if you were to be employed by a company like gameloft, then probably so, but if you were to just make your own probably not, as it would take forever to make a 3d game that people would go crazy about by yourself

[Jared Malcolm]

That all depends on you! I remember one of Apple's promo video's featured the creator of Dizzy Bee which now works for himself and runs a company making mobile apps. With the addition of the Amazon Market and the Android Market there are more places then ever to get your app visible to the masses. If nothing else even a semi successful app may get you the skills needed to be able to work for someone else as an android developer.

[Mario Zechner]

According to my market analysis (*cough*) you can't make enough money on Android yet to build a business. First of all, paid apps just don't seem to work on Android. Hence, you have to go the ads supported way. For that to generate a good enough income stream you have to have incredibly high download/install numbers. And achieving that is kind of like a lottery. It all depends on your marketing really. Given the poor functionality of the Android market it's likely that your game will go unnoticed without any additional marketing (blogs, review sites, Android sites etc.).

[Bear Bibeault]

I'd recommend not quitting your day job.

[Mario Zechner]

+1

[Ulf Dittmer]

What's more, at least as important as programming games for Android is marketing games for Android - an activity many developers seem to have little inclination, patience or skill for.

[Igor Mechnikov]

Ulf Dittmer wrote:What's more, at least as important as programming games for Android is marketing games for Android - an activity many developers seem to have little inclination, patience or skill for.

Maybe there is a happy medium, where coders and marketing savvy counterparts will cooperate.
Also, perhaps Amazon might be a better conduit of marketing know-how than Google.

[Hauke Ingmar Schmidt]

Igor Mechnikov wrote:Maybe there is a happy medium, where coders and marketing savvy counterparts will cooperate.
Also, perhaps Amazon might be a better conduit of marketing know-how than Google.

I don't think that is what Ulf thought of. It is not about the market but marketing activities like product development, target group, brand development, advertisement, pricing, choice of revenue model... The choice of distribution channel (i.e. Google Android Market, Amazon App Store or other) is an important part, but not the only one. Neither Google nor Amazon can and will do the other things for you. How could they?

[Igor Mechnikov]

Hauke Ingmar Schmidt wrote:

Igor Mechnikov wrote:Maybe there is a happy medium, where coders and marketing savvy counterparts will cooperate.
Also, perhaps Amazon might be a better conduit of marketing know-how than Google.

I don't think that is what Ulf thought of. It is not about the market but marketing activities like product development, target group, brand development, advertisement, pricing, choice of revenue model... The choice of distribution channel (i.e. Google Android Market, Amazon App Store or other) is an important part, but not the only one. Neither Google nor Amazon can and will do the other things for you. How could they?

I know what you mean.

I am not talking about different app stores.

Amazon as a company has a lot of retail selling expertise that Google does not.
Not a great example but I bought my Nexus One phone used on Amazon because I trusted Amazon to make things right if something went wrong with the purchase.
Same phone Google tried to sell directly and ran into all sorts of customer support issues.

Amazon might very have developer advocates who might offer useful suggestions, based on Amazon's selling experience, to programmers building an app. If not, they are in the best position to make
those experts available.

[Joachim Rohde]

When I read Amazon here I had to think about an article the IGDA (Internationl Game Developers Association) published where they warned developers to use the Amazon appstore as a distribution channel. You can read the article here: http://igdaboard.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/important-advisory-about-amazon%E2%80%99s-appstore-distribution-terms-2/