TIGA: 47% Of UK Devs Self-Publish, iPad Most Popular Platform To Develop For

UK trade body TIGA today released survey results that show the number of game developers in the UK who self-publish their games is on the rise. The State of the UK Games Development Sector 2011 report surveyed 104 game development businesses, with 72 percent being TIGA members, and found that 47 percent of developers surveyed self-publish their own games. The report also noted that the iPad is currently the number one gaming platform that developers are working on games for overall. In comparison, 50 percent of respondents noted that retail was still their biggest monetization mechanic. 47 percent said that their games were also sold online alongside retail, with XBLA and the App Store popular choices. 13 percent said that they generated money from subscriptions, 26 percent generated money from micro-transactions, and 29 percent said they used free-to-play mechanics. 27 percent of those surveyed said they currently use in-game advertising in their titles. In terms of those who self-publish, 67 percent publish for iPhone, 45 percent for iPad, 41 percent for PC, 31 percent for Facebook, 31 percent for PSN, 16 percent for Xbox Live Arcade, and 12 percent for WiiWare. 14 percent develop for all other mobile device types. The average yearly spending by those surveyed was £2.4 million ($3.7 million). Those developers producing PS3 games saw the highest average cost of £1.94 million ($2.99 million), followed by Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and PC. The lowest average cost was iPad games, which cost £347,000 ($534.692) over all respondents working on titles for the Apple tablet. Elsewhere in the report, more than a fifth of those surveyed said they had worked on a game that was cancelled before the project was finished. The report also noted that a number of developers said foreign subsidies are holding them back. A third of those surveyed said they were being held back by subsidies handed to companies making games abroad, including countries such as Australia, Canada and France. A fifth of the developers surveyed said that they had lost employees due to people moving to work on games outside of the UK, while 74 percent said they supported a tax break for games production.