3 ms·

Not if you're making desktop games, where the vast majority of the users are on Windows.

Hydraulix989 9y ago
Mobile game revenue just surpassed desktop (and it's been on that trajectory for several years now). Vulkan means your users HAVE to run Android -- specifically, Android N (often they do not because of things like slow-moving carrier controlled OS updates). iOS is not supported.
- animal531 9y ago
  Well, two things. Firstly a generic indie hoping to get a slice of that giant mobile pie of cash is most likely going to end up very disappointed. Secondly, the majority of games on mobile does not need Vulkan performance. Sure, extra performance is always great, but the majority of big sellers are your generic run of the mill 2d games. But having said that, either way I really dislike the in-fighting between the companies, each trying to get their own API/vision to the top of the pile (The same is happening with VR etc). At the end of the day they're just damaging their own ecosystems.
  - Hydraulix989 9y ago
    "Firstly a generic indie hoping to get a slice of that giant mobile pie of cash is most likely going to end up very disappointed." How is this a different situation than with desktop or console? What in particular about mobile makes it worse for the indie developer? For one thing, I contend that you have FAR more eyeballs in front of mobile screens than desktop or console. "Secondly, the majority of games on mobile does not need Vulkan performance." The majority of apps on mobile don't need Vulkan, but the ones that do CAN benefit from it (e.g. mobile VR is SO sensitive to framerate).
    - animal531 9y ago
      Sorry for the late reply. The problem with mobile is that you have more eyeballs, but less investment. The price of mobile games (if bought) are ridiculously low compared to PC/console. As a result, go and look at the top sellers in the mobile market. The big winners are all the f2p games that can sell in-app purchases to whales, netting them a lot of money. Your average developer (because of the giant size of the store) gets sidelined by the store with no exposure, because the store doesn't believe he'll make any money...and as a result he doesn't because no one discovers his game. If you look at a graph of sales its heavily skewed to the front/top where they're making all the money, then there's a rapid drop in profitability. The guys on the bottom consider themselves lucky if they can recoup even the cost to use the store. This of course isn't true for all indies, there are many that are successful (and once you are you can continue based on people knowing your previous games). Sadly in general though odds are much better for you on desktop.

Mobile game revenue just surpassed desktop (and it's been on that trajectory for several years now). Vulkan means your users HAVE to run Android -- specifically, Android N (often they do not because of things like slow-moving carrier controlled OS updates). iOS is not supported.

animal531 9y ago
Well, two things. Firstly a generic indie hoping to get a slice of that giant mobile pie of cash is most likely going to end up very disappointed. Secondly, the majority of games on mobile does not need Vulkan performance. Sure, extra performance is always great, but the majority of big sellers are your generic run of the mill 2d games. But having said that, either way I really dislike the in-fighting between the companies, each trying to get their own API/vision to the top of the pile (The same is happening with VR etc). At the end of the day they're just damaging their own ecosystems.
- Hydraulix989 9y ago
  "Firstly a generic indie hoping to get a slice of that giant mobile pie of cash is most likely going to end up very disappointed." How is this a different situation than with desktop or console? What in particular about mobile makes it worse for the indie developer? For one thing, I contend that you have FAR more eyeballs in front of mobile screens than desktop or console. "Secondly, the majority of games on mobile does not need Vulkan performance." The majority of apps on mobile don't need Vulkan, but the ones that do CAN benefit from it (e.g. mobile VR is SO sensitive to framerate).
  - animal531 9y ago
    Sorry for the late reply. The problem with mobile is that you have more eyeballs, but less investment. The price of mobile games (if bought) are ridiculously low compared to PC/console. As a result, go and look at the top sellers in the mobile market. The big winners are all the f2p games that can sell in-app purchases to whales, netting them a lot of money. Your average developer (because of the giant size of the store) gets sidelined by the store with no exposure, because the store doesn't believe he'll make any money...and as a result he doesn't because no one discovers his game. If you look at a graph of sales its heavily skewed to the front/top where they're making all the money, then there's a rapid drop in profitability. The guys on the bottom consider themselves lucky if they can recoup even the cost to use the store. This of course isn't true for all indies, there are many that are successful (and once you are you can continue based on people knowing your previous games). Sadly in general though odds are much better for you on desktop.