id Software: iOS Game Development Is Addictive, But Android Isn’t Worth It
[Via Cult of Mac]
id software is a game developing company known for pushing the hardware of any platform they embrace, starting from their earliest triumphs on the PC with Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake and continuing last year with Rage HD on iOS.
Don’t expect to see id software release their games on Android any time soon, though. It’s just not worth their effort, and it’s all about the benjamins… or at least jacksons.
According to lead programmer and co-founder John Carmack, “Every six months I’d take a look at the scope of the Android, and decide if it was time to start really looking at it… At the last Quakecon I took a show of hands poll, and it was interesting to see how almost as many people there had an Android device as an iOS device. But when I asked how many people had spent 20 bucks on a game in the Android store, there was a big difference.
“You’re just not making money in the Android space as you are in the iOS space,” Carmack concluded.
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Interestingly, the original games from id were developed on NeXT computers from Jobs’ previous company. I imagine that is part of why they like developing for iOS – it is still based on the same principles and development software as what they first started with.
Besides the whole makes more money thing.
Even if that was not a problem, Android is based on ad revenues where Google determines the rates. So a developer will always be beholden to Google’s choices. And Google’s needs may not always coincide with the developer.
