Nowadays, given the continuous evolution of game development and playing technologies, the question of choosing the most suitable platform for a product is becoming a burning issue. More and more present-day game development companies build cross-platform solutions because the process of limiting yourself to a single one is not a cakewalk at all.
The dilemma of whether to opt for mobile, PC or console gaming is still a big deal for a high number of new-fledged studios. Before launching a project, you should take a break, step back, research the market, and maybe even search for a partner to support you. Luckily, there is already a wide range of game development services to assist you in this initiative.
From this article, you will learn what platforms and cooperation models are available to you as well as how to choose the best fit for your specific case!
What Is a Gaming Platform and How to Choose One for Your Business
Simply put, a gaming platform is a computer system built to provide people with an opportunity to play video games. Examples of such platforms include PC, Xbox, Sony PlayStation, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, and the rest. In other words, any device that can be used to play video games. However, if you have a feasible idea of what game you want to create, you will need to understand how to choose the one. Let us figure it out for you!
Mainly, try to answer the question of what game type will align with your idea and business strategy. The list of questions may be boiled down to the following:
- What budget do you allocate for this project?
- What core gameplay mechanics will your future game feature?
- What game engine will you opt for?
- What specialists are involved in your team?
- What is your target audience?
As you answer these and other essential questions, you will gain insight into the project scope, gradually starting to research the market. In turn, while googling potential competitors and gaming platforms to choose from, you will likely stumble upon another crucial dilemma — whether to develop your game from scratch with in-house forces, hire specialists (if you do not have any), or refer to a professional game development outsourcing studio.
Without a doubt, you had better decide prior to proceeding to the next stage because this decision will have a notable impact on your next steps.
Why Partner With a Game Development Outsourcing Agency?
You can certainly make a video game using your in-house team of developers, but you are likely to run across multiple challenges that will complicate the process considerably. In a nutshell, in what aspects of game development is outsourcing your project a preferable option to creating everything from scratch on your own?
- Resource optimization. By relying on professionals, you save time and cost as your in-house resources are free to work on more creative as well as ideological aspects of the future game instead of resolving technical issues. Moreover, a game development outsourcing studio already has access to all the hardware and software required to build your game with minimum extra expenses or efforts.
- Efficiency increases. Whenever you use outsourcing services, you allow specialists in their niche to reveal their whole potential to the fullest extent, which benefits all parties. An outsourced team is expected to deliver your project in the most optimal way, inasmuch as the experts comprising it have developed dozens or sometimes even hundreds of games already.
- Higher average quality. Since outsourcing studios work on game projects all the time, they know the score and are able to provide the best solutions within the shortest timeframes.
How Can You Easily Pick a Gaming Platform for Your Game Project?
According to Statista, 62% of game developers choose PC as their primary gaming platform, 43% prefer PlayStation 5, 39% opt for Nintendo Switch, and 30% work with Xbox Series X/S. From another perspective, statistics also indicate that the mobile gaming market is worth about $140bn in 2022, with forecasts to surge to $173bn by 2026. Nevertheless, you should go with an option that better fits your game concept and tech stack.
Fundamentally, if you are working on a hyper-casual mobile game built on Unity, you should not even inquire about what gaming platform to choose because you are primarily limited to iOS or Android if you intend to get the best of both worlds. Beyond doubt, there are cases when the choice is ambiguous.
To simplify the dilemma, research what game development studios prefer the most. For instance, the Game-Ace company frequently opts for VR and mobile games, whereas FromSoftware prefers PlayStation as well as PC. These parameters will be primarily determined by the project scope, expectations, target audience, and gameplay mechanics.
The Bottom Line
Even though there are multiple platforms to create games for, you should focus on the project itself. After all, the market is replete with porting studios that can make your game cross-platform. The crucial necessity here is to decide whether you want professionals to develop your game because it will immediately resolve half of all the issues you face.
