The day before yesterday, I attended a talk at WWDC, which is Apple's yearly developer conference. It was a technical talk about a moderately obscure new feature whereby developers will be able to package up assets that are targeted to only particular families of devices (don't worry if that made no sense). As I sat there, I suddenly realized: this task, this new capabilitiy, requires a professional. And then, suddenly, I had a moment of clarity: the day of the garage mobile developer is coming to an end.
I just started a job at a large mobile developer, Pocket Gems. We're working on something new, as well as a game that's already released (War Dragons; check it out). I'm not allowed to tell you how many people work on my team, but rest assured, it's more than a few. And all of those people are professionals, making professional salaries. There are artists, designers, programmers, marketing folks, office admins, middle management, etc., etc. We have a small army of Mac Books and standing desks and a full service kitchen. This is not an inexpensive operation. When I squint, it reminds me of the days I used to work on console games.
Make no mistake; it will always be easier to develop for mobile than it was for consoles. Back in the console days, we had to spend tens of thousands on custom development kits that were only provided if we passed diligence checks. We had to submit against a huge binder full of checks and cross-checks. It cost multiple tens of thousands just to ask nicely if we could publish on a platform. The promise of mobile still is an open ecosystem (especially on Android; problem is, nobody makes money on Android). But this idea that a dude in his garage can make an app is disappearing. It's just too hard. Modern gamers have increased their demands. They want professional art, 3D effects, smooth performance, interoperation between a variety of platforms, etc., etc. That stuff isn't cheap or easy. Competition is fierce. Yes, there's still a lot of money, but there's also a lot more people fighting for that money. In the old days, there were simply fewer people trying. This is all good. I'm not complaining. We're clearly moving forward, overall. One or two dedicated people still can make a game - but the key word is "dedicated". I'd expect to spend at least a few man years on anything that is going to be really quality and competitive.