As reports currently hitting the web talking of a pre-order sell-out suggest, whatever they may or may not think of the device itself, the latest iPhone will form a central part of their business plans for the next 12 or so months.
"The whole world was waiting to know what would be announced by Apple," GREE's UK studio director Shinsuke Mori told us.
"And so were we - hooked on Twitter and specialist sites, gathering as many details as possible."
It's interesting, nonetheless, that it's impossible to pin down a common view from all of the responses we've gathered so far.
Just as there wasn't one big new exciting feature for the press to grab hold of in the hours after iPhone 5's big reveal, so developers too have failed to pull together around one single response.
Tech talk
Instead, some studios are disappointed by what's pitched as a move by Apple to abandon its previous penchant for invention and innovation in favour on a more conservative approach.
Others, however, are pleased iPhone 5 offers stability.
When your business revolves around iOS and the App Store, any suggestion things are going to change overnight could threaten your livelihood.
"I tend to be a bit conservative - life's hard enough without having to develop for a new machine with 3D holographic display and touch-a-rama technology," said Spilt Milk Studios MD and AppyNation comms manager Andrew Smith.
"I'd rather concentrate on milking the existing tech."
Not that the tech itself isn't impressive.
While Smith admitted he was "hoping for something a bit more...exciting" and something that would "really put the willies up the competition", others suggested Apple's decision to refine what it had offered with iPhone 4S was nothing to be sniffed at.
Refine and repeat
"It seems to be the ultimate in refinement - faster, lighter, sexier," offered Halfbrick CMO Phil Larsen.
"Faster chips is brilliant news," added Neon Play CEO Oli Christie.
"As our mobile games move closer and closer to console quality, its great to see another leap forward for the iPhone's graphical capabilities and we look forward to taking full advantage of this."
As XMG president and founder Ray Sharma noted, simply keeping things ticking over by offering slightly better devices each time is not easy, either.
"From a pure engineering perspective its quite impressive to make incremental component improvements in screen density, camera resolution, processor speed, etc while shrinking the packaging," he said.
Nonetheless, the amount of hype that surrounds each iPhone release concept images and even videos depicting almost Minority Report style features flooding the web in the weeks leading up to a reveal means almost anything Apple presents will disappoint a portion of the phone's audience.
Especially when iPhone's competition appears to be ramping up at such pace.
No Apple envy
"I don't think it was as innovative as all the hype suggested, but there are some nice new features," summarised Yippee Entertainment's commercial director Lorraine Starr.
For Mobile Pie creative director Will Luton's part, a sense of deflation was always going to be inevitable, even if it wasn't warranted.
"I don't envy Apple's position in that there's so much expectation on the company, so no matter what it does there's going to be a lot of pissing and moaning," he added.
"I would have loved to have seen some new input innovation - eye tracking, rear touch or something - but they only make sense if they work. It shouldn't be tacked on. Plus, wireless charging is neat."
Indeed, it's to Nokia's credit that, for the first time, the firm's Lumia range - wireless charging now equipped - is no longer being talked about as a distant challenger. Like Samsung's Galaxy S range, it's now a genuine competitor.
In a healthy portion of the replies to PocketGamer.biz, the Lumia 920 was openly touted as iPhone 5's main competitor, perhaps justifying Nokia's decision to host its press launch just days before Apple's.
No price or release date, but the Lumia 920 has impressed
"To be honest, as a developer very little excites me about the iPhone 5. All the new features are nice as a consumer but bring very little to the table for me to use as a developer," added onimobi founder Dave Mitchell.
"Nokia and Windows Phone have brought some good competition to the table, and while I don't think they will tear iPhone users away in any large quantity, they are certainly going to be giving new buyers something to think about."
App Store happy?
Mitchell went on.
"I'm disappointed that we saw nothing major about improvements to app discovery. This is one big area that I had hoped Apple would improve on but perhaps it's too early to see these improvements after it acquired Chomp back in Feb."
Mitchell was not alone in his view.
Both iOS 6 and the App Store are arguably more important to developers than iPhone hardware itself, and as with iPhone 5 some developers appear happier with the incoming changes than others.
"It may have less features than the competition but the whole integration with the App Store and the number of quality apps as well as the painless migration of all your content is second to none," said Fishlabs CEO Michael Schade.
Ultimately, however, it may be the fact that many consumers continue to feel tied to iTunes and the App Store that ensures iPhone 5 remains top dog.
A matter of millions
"I can't call it, but I reckon this might be the first iPhone to sell less than its predecessor," concluded Spilt Milk's Smith.
Halfbrick's Larsen disagreed, claiming all signs point to iPhone 5 surpassing 4S's total in the year ahead.
"I have actually noticed a lot of friends still with devices as old as the 3GS, all who will pick up the 5," he contested.
Most, however, simply suggested that it was inevitable that iPhone 5 will be a best seller.
"All things considered, it's still the stand out smartphone for me, and it'll sell just as well if not better than the previous models," suggested Charles Chapman, director of First Touch Games.
"A lot of people have a big investment in Apple products, with music, apps and also other devices, so it'll take something really big from Samsung or Nokia to tempt them to move."
Mitchell added, "I'm sure it will sell millions, but I don't think it will re-define the market as some of it's previous models have done."
Better luck next time
For XMG's Sharma, while iPhone 5's future seems secure, Apple will need to up its game with future handsets to ensure it doesn't slip behind its increasingly eager rivals longterm.
"The dependence on a single new product means that it truly has to be heads and shoulders above the competition," he summed up.
"Our concern is that the iPhone 5 is now the second incrementally better hardware generation for a company that releases one phone per year.
"When you want one device to rule them all, it is important to be far superior to the competition."
Thanks to all the developers included for their time.
