The Definitive Mobile Game Tech Market Map

This comprehensive overview highlights the key infrastructure and service providers that empower mobile game development, operations, and growth. This map covers 12 categories, from game engines and backend services to ad mediation, customer support, and data infrastructure. Whether you're a studio evaluating tools or an investor exploring the space, this map offers a concise overview of the most important players in the mobile game tech ecosystem. Below, we introduce each category and provide succinct overviews of the featured companies. 🧱 Game Engines Unity: The dominant engine for mobile games; widely adopted for its robust tooling, asset store, and cross-platform support. Unreal Engine: Known for high-fidelity rendering, though less common in mobile than console/PC. Cocos Creator: Lightweight and especially popular in Asia, great for 2D and casual games. Godot: Open-source and growing rapidly among indie developers. GameMaker: Accessible 2D engine, often […]

Joseph Kim May 27

Journal

Breaking the Failure Trap: Why We Choose 99% Failure Over 10% Success

The psychology behind our worst strategic decisions, and how to escape it. Choosing Success Over Failure: The Ghost of Christmas Future The psychology behind our worst strategic decisions—and how to escape it Would you rather have a 10% chance of success or a 99% chance of failure? I've probably asked employees, cofounders, and investors this question at least 30 times in the past few years. The answer seems obvious. But here's what's fascinating: when faced with this choice in real situations, almost everyone chooses the 99% path to failure. Here's why: Most people focus on the immediate pain of change rather than the ultimate cost of not changing. They would rather accept a 99% chance of failure than face what it would take to pursue a 10% chance of success. This is the failure trap, and it's everywhere. Fear Locks Us […]

Joseph Kim May 26

Journal

Solo Game Dev in 2025: From Peloton to Reinventing Fitness

Discover how a solo developer combined fitness tracking with RPG gameplay and leveraged AI and deep community engagement to power a unique approach to gamified fitness. What if your heart rate powered your RPG battles? Josh Singer, a former Peloton engineer and solo dev, built Cardio Quest, a fantasy game in which exercise fuels gameplay. In this conversation, we discuss what it takes to build an ambitious solo project that blends fitness, games, and AI and how Josh is trying to create a whole new genre from scratch. What you'll take away: How to validate, pivot, and build a solo game with real user feedback The technical and emotional challenges of launching without a team or funding How AI tools like MidJourney and Eleven Labs are transforming solo game dev https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Diko5FtcCF0&ab_channel=GameMakers 🎮 Solo Developer Builds Fitness RPG with Apple Watch & […]

Joseph Kim May 22

Highlights

Applovin vs. Unity: How Applovin Has Been Winning It All!

We are at a dangerous crossroads where Applovin is poised to dominate the mobile ads market completely. What's going on? How did this happen? And what's next? Pay attention, folks, this one is a banger and has critical implications for the games industry's future. Something strange has happened in the mobile ads market since the failed merger between Applovin and Unity in August 2022. Applovin has quietly been dominating and significantly growing its share of the market. Source: GameMakers 2025 We can easily see the relative performance of both companies reflected in their market valuations. What happened? How did Applovin win vs. Unity? Why does Applovin have a massive competitive advantage and iron grip customer lock-in? How does the current situation critically impact the games industry (this is important)? How can Unity or anyone else help create a healthier market […]

Joseph Kim April 8

Joseph Kim