Apple and Google are wooing game developers by to get popular mobile games in the their app store first, claims a latest report by The Wall Street Journal. The two tech giants are actively offering incentives and offers to mobile game developers for game availability on their platform.
Citing a source, the WSJ report stated that Apple used incentives to grab a two-month exclusivity for EA’s ‘Plants vs Zombies 2′ game and three-month exclusive for Zepto Lab’s ‘Cut the Rope last year. Apple in exchange for platform exclusivity, promoted the title in iOS App Store banners and featured games lists.
The tussle and desperation for exclusivity comes at a time when over almost 80% of smartphones worldwide run on Android giving a tough competition to Apple. Both the companies have denied the claims and stated that no money was exchanged as asserted by the WSJ report. It must be noted that most of the time, games are offered on both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store almost at the same time. But according to the WSJ sources, Apple and Google want to be the first one to offer a new game.
Amazon is another player which is also interesting in mobile game exclusivity to improve the appeal and impression of its devices, said the report. Mobile gaming is one of the most important part of a smartphone ecosystem and a study by App Annie and IHS revealed recently that about $16 billion were spent on mobile app gaming in 2013.