From my experience and my talking to devs, I disagree with John and agree with The Ringer. Things really are bleak in mobile gaming. In fact, it’s a worse picture than the piece paints: it’s not only paid-up-front games that are suffering but also quality freemium indies. Sales have tanked in recent years. Discovery is getting worse. (Apple, for its part, has sunk or removed the ‘new’ lists in the App Store.) Not sure what’s next.
