One telling thing that stands out about Windows Phone developers more than any other: very few are willing to make download figures public when talking of the platform's performance.

Marc Miles – CEO of Cheese Zombie Games – is no such developer.

Total downloads at the studio now sit at a respectable 300,000, yet Miles is still unsure as to whether anything but a one or two man team can generate enough cash to get by on - from advertising at least.

We caught up with Marc for his take on why, despite being in his view the best smartphone platform out there, Microsoft still has a way to go before it can claim to be winning with Windows Phone.

Pocket Gamer: Mango updates Windows Phone's Xbox Live hub and Marketplace. Do you think this will make any difference to a game's visibility? 

Marc Miles: A little bit. I think Microsoft recognises the kind of revenue games are pulling in that serve ads and are giving them an equal footing in the featured listings along side XBLA titles.

Visibility isn't the problem though - it's monetisation that needs immediate improvement, preferably via in app purchases in non XBLA games. 

Mango also adds multitasking to the platform. Was this a feature you'd been looking for?

It helps. It brings the player back to gameplay quicker, which means an extra ad or two can get served per session.

Anything that keeps a player in your game a bit longer is another opportunity to monetise in some way and it makes the overall WP7 experience that much better.

Have you had to re-code any of your titles to take advantage of Mango?

Our old titles received a few feature updates that had been waiting for sometime now.

These updates were timed with our Mango update as well as timed with the release of our new game, Jewel Miner. I see things like this as an opportunity, and every little opportunity I can get helps in the overall return on investment.

We didn't have to re-code anything as the only key thing to take advantage of with games was fast app switching and Microsoft made that a simple hook. 

What's your take on the platform's overall performance so far?

We have had over 300,000 downloads with three games and 43 million ads served in 11 months. Our newest game Jewel Miner was released just last week and climbing the charts fast.

We were very early to the market with the very first free word game - it was free game number 180 or so. It was initially released as a paid game and its performance was horrible - as with about 99.9 percent of the non XBLA paid games.

After making it free I never looked back. Two of our three games made it to the top 10 list for an extended period of time. We're one year in now and I can honestly say, if you are a 1-2 man indie shop, you could easily deploy to WP7 full time - only if you make good games that get in the top 10.

Otherwise, WP7 revenue for ads in games just wont scale beyond that - at least not right now.

We are looking into Unity and Corona for iOS and Android, leaning more so to Unity due to some good third party plugins like whats available from Prime31.

What do you make of Nokia's first two devices - the Lumia 800 in particular? Will it change Windows Phone's standing in the market?

I honestly have not had any time to look at the specs of any of the new Windows Phones, and I don't think it matters, in the US at least.

WP7 needs some a coolness factor or edge if its going to catch on. Unfortunately, consumers don't purchase products because its the 'best' phone on the market, which I do think WP7 is.

Instead, they buy a smartphone to fit in, stand out or both.

The same reason someone would buy a top name brand blue jean vs. some off brand from Sears.  Its a branding and marketing issue for Microsoft in the context of getting it into more hands and its a moneitisation issue in the context of getting more developers.

Fix those two issues and WP7 may do well in the next few years, calling it 'xPhone' would of been a start!

I think the real crux is they need to fix both of these issues at the same time. Calling the next version 'Win8 Phone' or 'WP8' will only make things worse. With these two issues fixed, the issues that exist right now at the point of sale will become a footnote in history.

How do you think Mango compares to the likes of iOS 5 or Ice Cream Sandwich?

I've never had an iPhone and WP7 is my first smartphone. Mango is a stellar improvement for apps - nothing really for games. I think, from what I read and aware of what's available on iOS, Mango puts WP7 on par with iOS in the areas where it wasn't and above par where it was already at par.

I think what iOS users need to realise is that the WP7 experience is focused on context of use vs. siloed app experience, and it's a much easier way to use a smartphone.

Apple, Google and Microsoft thrive on improving each other's products within their competing products. If WP7 could even get to 20 percent market share, that would be fantastic - more competitors is better for the consumer.

Nobody truly wants an all Apple market or an all Android market. There is plenty of room for three big players to keep each of them investing more into their users and developers.

Is there anything missing from Mango from a game development perspective?

In-app purchasing and native development. For starters, developers need to be able to monetise beyond just ads and beyond a lucky XBLA license.

Unity and Epic should both be on WP7 if native development were allowed. Can you image being able to build a game in one engine with one language and deploy to three completely different architectures and marketplaces?

You can pretty much do that with two marketplaces right now. I think Microsoft really missed out here - if Microsoft had launched with native support and quickly added IAP then I believe this interview would've been totally different..

I'm optimistic and would prefer deploying to three frameworks rather than just two because, in the long run, that's a win for everyone.
Thanks to Marc for his time.

You can find out more about Cheeze Zombie Games on the studio's website.