And according to US outfit Spacetime Studios, that's exactly what's happening with its free MMORPG Pocket Legends, which came to Android in November 2010, following a successful iPhone and iPad launch in April.
Do the maths
According to Computer World, Spacetime reckons it's now getting around 9,000 daily downloads on Android, compared to around 4,000 on iOS.
Much more significant however is that Android users are three times as active as Apple-owning players, something that feeds into their keenness to buy in-app purchases; in this case the Platinum currency.
Available in amounts ranging from $5 - $90, Android players are apparently worth 30 to 50 percent more than iOS users, and that's despite the only payment options being PayPal, Google Checkout or Amazon's Pay Now service - all currently web-based options that take you out of the game.
Google's official in-game solution is due to be released anytime now, while Apple has offered IAP via iTunes for over a year.
Ring it up
The result is that while the game still has many more iOS users, revenues for both platforms are now broadly similar, running at around $3,000 daily.
Spread over an entire year, this means Pocket Legends would be generating at least $2 million from IAP revenues annually.
In fact, Android users are also better when it comes to interacting with the in-game advertising Spacetime uses to get players to download its game.
They click on ads in other games and apps around three times more than iOS users and end up making purchases in Pocket Legends as a result of such clickthroughs twice as often.
"We've just been blown away. Android has become our primary interest," said Spacetime's CEO Gary Gattis.
One result is that Spacetime has switched all its marketing dollars from getting iOS players to Android.
"It really just makes sense from a financial point of view," Gattis explained.
"In some ways, it's kind of like the wild, wild west. But that's where the gold rush people made their claim. For us, the challenges have become opportunities."
[source: Computer World]
