Ann Hurley has worked within the games industry since 1986, during which time she has worked within distribution, publishing, QA and customer support.

She entered the European Women in Games Hall of Fame in 2012 and was named in the Top 100 women in games list in 2013.Her past roles include sales manager at Centresoft, sales director at US Gold and Ocean Software, business development roles within 20:20, Focus and Bigben Interactive. Ann now represents Pole to Win Interactive Entertainment across Europe.It's no surprise that with the growth of mobile, the video game industry has evolved.

There will always be a market for console gaming, but the power of these mobile devices right in our pockets presents a massive opportunity for game developers.

And they're wasting no time in capitalising on this market, with an estimated value upwards of $9 billion in 2013.

But mobile game development has, in turn, presented a new question: how do we meet the demands of our users?

With console gaming, it was simple. A developer makes a game, puts it on the market, and if gamers like it, they will buy it. However when it comes to mobile games, it's a bit trickier.

For one thing, its audience is not made up of 'hardcore' gamers. In fact, they are the minority. This market is dominated by casual gamers – mothers and college students and toddlers.

What this means in practical terms, is that the average mobile consumer is barely willing to part with the 99c, let alone the $59.99 for your typical console game.Race to the bottom

What developers have adopted to combat this is the freemium monetisation model, and it is sweeping the world of mobile games – representing an estimated 55 percent of all mobile game revenues.

Freemium isn't completely new, and free-to-play games date back to the mid-90's, when it was a popular monetisation method for MMOs. It's a great situation for both developer and consumer, and that is why this system has been adopted by so many mobile devs.

The benefits to the player are clear. It creates the lowest possible barrier of entry, and hands flexibility to the consumer.

If a user wants to just download a game and play with no strings attached, they can. If they want to add to their playing experience, they can do that too, by coughing up a little dough.

Want that extra level? 99c. Want some in-game currency? $9.99. Want us to beat the game for you? $99.99. The options are endless!

While this system works well for both parties from a payment and reciprocation perspective, it leads to a few complexities from a development perspective. The nature of these games is that to stay fresh, new content is needed regularly.Catch 22

And we're not just talking bug fixes here.

The race to the lowest price-point has also created intense competition in terms of content updates, and mobile gamers have already come to expect a steady stream of new levels, new characters and new items from the games they download free-of-charge.

And as easy as free-to-play games are to install, they're just as easy to delete from a device. This puts further pressure on developers to create high-quality titles that will engage gamers over time.

As such, the mobile market is can pose a sort of catch 22 for developers. The only way to successfully monetise is with a high quality content – and lots of it. But creating quality costs money, which is even harder to come by when your up-front price point is zero.

Ultimately, though, it's a matter of which developer can consistently bring the most relevant and exciting new features to their users. This is true in many industries, but especially so in mobile, given the low cost of entry, high turnover, and the intense competition.

But what does this never-ending cycle of updates mean to developers on an operational level?

It means that you have to be prepared to pump out updates like there is no tomorrow. As soon as users find a bug, there is no leeway in waiting another few months to release a fix.

Why? Because your competitor will one-up you before. In fact, there is nothing (besides your top notch legal team) stopping another dev from duplicating your game and throwing a new skin on it.Wheat from the chaff

While this highly popular F2P monetisation system offers more flexibility to the user in terms of paying as you go, it requires the developers to stay on top of these updates.

More ideas, more development time, more translations, more testing… the list goes on.

Each developer has their own way to keep up with this fast-paced market, as some choose to beef up their internal, some might outsource work to a third-party specialist and some may just work hours on end to get the project done.

However the developer chooses to deal with the demand, maintaining a high quality product separates the good games from the great games.To find out more about Pole to Win and the services it offers, take a look at the company's website.