Indie dev says Android more successful than iOS

The developer of ambitious online mobile game Pocket Legends has a story to tell that’s quite different than the norm these days – it says its game has earned more money on Android than on the iPhone.

Spacetime Studios notes that the Android version of Pocket Legends has been downloaded 9,000 times per day, on average, while on the iPhone it hasn’t even reached 4,000 daily downloads. And it came out on the iPhone first.

This isn’t a common scenario. The current mindset among developers is that iPhone games are always bigger earners. But for Spacetime Studios, it has a unique and worthwhile product. And unfortunately for Android users, there aren’t many games like that. Less competition on Android means it’s easier to attract a larger relative share of that user base.

That’s not the full story, though. Spacetime says that of those who play the game, Android players are staying on longer, which means they’re the more likely ones to buy in-game items, even in spite of the fact that Google doesn’t have a good in-app purchasing system for Android yet.

The CEO of Spacetime, Gary Gattis, told Computerworld that Android is now the company’s primary interest, which is great news for Android fans.

 The heavy hitters on iOS can rack up millions and millions of downloads. So the rags-to-riches tale remains closely associated with the iPhone, but for those who aren’t so lucky, Android may start becoming a more attractive option.