MGF 2012: Platform debate sees Neon Play and Deemedya argue over whether Android or iOS is best

Kicking off the 9th Mobile Games Forum was a panel talk entitled 'Platform debate: What are the right operating systems and hardware?'

There was a clear split between two of the four panelists.

"We've very iOS-focused and we make our games in Unity so it only takes a couple of weeks to bring them to Android, but we haven't cracked monetisation on Android yet," said Neon Play's Oli Christie.

"We've taken some games to Nokia, thanks to a little bit of funding, but I don't think we'll be working on any other platforms because the money's not there yet,"

Significantly, however, Israeli publisher Deemedya said it was very happy with its Android monetisation.

"Carriers are fighting to get access to games that can drive hype on the app stores," said its co-CEO Doron Kagan, which has had success with its Trial Xtreme games, downloaded over 15 million times.

Too free

"We had 98 percent piracy on the paid version of Traffic Panic 3D, so we set it free and got 50 percent piracy," countered Christie.

"The future is Android. We see the sales curve, and you have ability to drive downloads compared to relying on Apple featuring you," argued Kagan.

"We focus on smartphones - iOS and Android - for established and emerging markets, but only to build up brand recognition," explained Spil Games' partnership manager Robbert Bos, sitting between the two.

"But we think HTML5 is the true cross-platform for the future."

Vested interest

Opening up for questions, "Treat Android as a Darwinian environment," boomed PapayaMobile's Oscar Clark from the floor.

"We have games that are generating 24 percent paid conversion and ARPUs of $10," he continued.

"It's time we got smarter on Android and really engage with the audience."