Game Development Company: Mobile Game Development Services and Game App Development for iOS, Android and PC

Updated October 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

A game development company designs, builds, tests and ships games, and keeps them running after launch. We provide mobile game development services for iOS and Android, plus PC, web and AR/VR builds, in Unity, Unreal Engine or Godot, for studios, publishers and brands. This page covers the kinds of games we build, how to choose an engine, the game development process from prototype to live operations, store and age-rating rules, what mobile game development costs, and how to pick a game app development company. We build non-gambling games for general and adult audiences only, and every project starts with a free proposal and a written scope.

What does a game development company do?

A game development company takes a game from an idea to a release and then keeps it healthy. The work covers game design, engineering, art, audio, quality testing, platform builds and the services a live game needs, such as accounts, saves and updates. Some firms build only the code, some only the art, and a full-service studio does all of it. The phrase also covers video game development companies that build for consoles and PC; this page concentrates on phones and tablets, where game app development has its own rules.

The roles on a game project

A project needs a designer who decides how the game plays, engineers who build it, artists who make the characters, levels and interface, and an audio lead for music and effects. A producer keeps the schedule honest, and testers try to break the build. Small projects combine roles, and larger ones add specialists such as technical artists or live operations managers.

What a studio hands over

At the end of a build you should hold the playable game on your own store accounts, the source project and the art files, a written list of the tools and licenses the game depends on, and a plan for the first updates. What you own is set out in the written scope before work begins, so ask for it in writing.

How game apps differ from other apps

A game is an app with a different job. It needs to hold attention in short sessions, run smoothly on a wide range of phones, manage memory and battery, and keep players coming back. That changes the team, the engine choice and the testing. Our app development company page covers business apps; a game adds design, art and balance work on top of the engineering.

Game app development company services

A game app development company offers a set of services that can be bought together or one at a time. Some clients want a custom game development company to carry a title from the first sketch to the store, while others already have a studio and need extra hands, a port or a backend. A mobile game development studio or mobile game development agency can work in either mode, and the scope should say which. We also build the app side of a game through our app development company work.

Prototypes and vertical slices

A prototype proves that the core loop is fun with the least possible art and code. A vertical slice goes further and finishes one level or mode to final quality so you can judge the look, the feel and the effort the rest will take. Both reduce risk early, and both end with something you can play.

Full production

Full production builds out the levels, characters, interface, audio, progression and store assets over a series of sprints. Each sprint adds something you can play. Scope changes are written down and priced before they enter the build.

Porting and platform builds

Porting takes a game from one platform to another, such as a mobile game to PC or a PC game to phones, and it is rarely a simple export. Controls, screen sizes, performance budgets and store requirements all change. The work is scoped per platform so you see the cost of each one.

Live operations and updates

A launched game keeps changing. Live operations covers bug fixes, new levels, events, balance changes and the updates that follow each new operating system release. Agree an update rhythm and a reporting routine before launch so the first month does not turn into guesswork.

Co-development with your studio

If you already have a studio, we can join it for a defined piece of work: a platform port, a multiplayer backend, an AR mode or extra engineering capacity. Roles, repositories and review steps are agreed at the start so that two teams behave like one.

Mobile game development services

Mobile game development services cover everything that is specific to phones and tablets. Touch controls replace buttons, sessions are short and often interrupted, devices differ widely in speed and screen size, and every build must stay within battery and memory limits. Mobile game development also has to deal with store review, which can reject a build for reasons that never come up on PC.

A mobile build has to account for a short list of limits from the first sprint:

• Touch controls sized for thumbs and one-handed play.
• Sessions that can be interrupted and resumed without losing progress.
• A range of screen sizes, device speeds and operating system versions.
• Battery, heat and memory budgets that hold up in a long session.
• Store review rules for purchases, ratings and privacy.

Controls and session length

A phone game is played with a thumb or two, often one-handed, in minutes at a time. Designers plan for interruptions, so a game saves state when a call arrives and resumes cleanly. Tutorials teach by doing, and menus are sized for fingers.

Devices, battery and memory

A game that runs well on a new flagship phone can stutter on a three-year-old budget handset. Testing covers a range of devices, frame rates are capped to protect the battery, and textures and sound are sized to fit memory. We list the minimum devices in the written scope so everyone tests against the same targets.

Store builds and review

Each store has its own submission rules. Apple’s guidelines ask for honest answers to the age rating questions in App Store Connect and say demos and betas belong in TestFlight rather than on the App Store, for example. A build for each store is signed, tested and submitted from your developer accounts.

Games we build, by genre

We build non-gambling games for general and adult audiences: casual, puzzle, strategy, action and card and board adaptations without real money, plus games that run in a browser. The cards show the families of play, and each genre below says what it asks of a team.

Casual and hyper casual games

Casual games are easy to start and easy to put down. A hyper casual game development company concentrates on very simple mechanics, instant starts and constant tuning of the first minute, because the first minute has to earn the second. The art is light, but the tuning, analytics and ad or purchase placement need care.

Puzzle, word and trivia games

Puzzle, word and trivia games depend on level design and content. The code is moderate, while the long-term work is a steady supply of fresh, well-balanced levels, daily challenges and hints that help without giving the answer away.

Card and board game adaptations

A card game development company can adapt classic card and board games for phones with solo play, pass-and-play and online matches against other players. Our card and board games are played for fun only: no real-money play, no chips that can be cashed out and no prizes of value. A board game app development company also has to turn printed rules into code, including turn order, scoring and an automated opponent for solo play.

Strategy, simulation and idle games

Strategy, simulation and idle games run on systems: resources, timers, upgrades and long-term goals. They are code-light in the first week and balance-heavy for months, so we plan time for tuning and for the live updates that keep players engaged.

Action, racing and sports games

Action, racing and sports games depend on responsive controls and steady frame rates. They tend to need more art and animation than a puzzle game, and they reward polish in feel: camera, sound, haptics and the small delays that make a hit land. We build these for sport and play only, with no gambling features.

Browser and HTML5 games

An online game development company that builds for the browser can reach players with nothing to install, and an HTML5 game development company ships a build that runs from a link on a website, an ad or a social post. Browser games suit campaigns, promotions and quick sessions, and a web build can also share logic with a mobile version.

Branded games, advergames and training games

Not every game is sold in a store. Brands commission games to teach, to promote a product or to give customers something to do with the brand, and businesses commission serious games to train people. These projects start from a goal rather than a genre, and they succeed when the game is fun for its own sake.

Advergames and branded games

An advergame carries a brand through play: a puzzle with a product’s colors, a runner through a brand’s world, a quiz tied to a campaign. The brief covers the audience, where the game will live and how the campaign will measure it. Our video game marketing team plans the promotion when you want one.

Training and serious games for adults

Serious games teach a skill or a procedure: safety scenarios, sales practice, onboarding or software training. They are built for adult learners and measured by whether people finish and remember. We do not build games for young children.

Cross platform mobile game development: iOS, Android, PC and consoles

Cross platform mobile game development means writing the game once in an engine and shipping it to several platforms. Unity and Godot each describe that approach on their own pages, and our cross-platform app development page explains the trade-offs for apps in general. Each store still needs its own build, its own testing and its own listing.

iOS game development company work

An iOS game development company must know Apple’s rules as well as its hardware. iPhone game development company work includes testing on several iPhone and iPad sizes, handling the app’s lifecycle, and meeting the privacy and purchase rules in Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines. Our iOS app development page covers the platform in more detail.

Android game development company work

Android means a long tail of devices, screen shapes and chipsets. An Android game development company tests across that range, reads the Google Play policies for payments and content ratings, and plans for builds that differ by device class. Our Android app development page explains the platform side.

PC and Steam builds

A PC build needs mouse, keyboard and controller support, a scalable interface and more settings than a phone game. Steam store pages, wishlists and launch rules belong to video game marketing, which covers them in detail.

Console ports

We take on console ports only where the platform holder approves the developer. Ask any firm that offers console work how that approval is handled and who holds it.

Unity, Unreal or Godot: the best platform for mobile game development

There is no single best platform for mobile game development; there is the best fit for a game and a team. Unity, Unreal Engine and Godot are the three engines we work in, and the table compares what each vendor says about its engine. Choosing Unity for mobile game development is common, but the same game might fit Godot better if the team is small and the project is 2D.

Is Unity or Unreal better for a phone game?

Unity is a common starting point for phone games because its tooling and mobile focus are broad. Unreal is a strong choice when the game depends on high-end 3D visuals and the target devices can carry them. Neither choice is automatic. We recommend the engine after a prototype and a look at the target devices, and we write the reasons into the scope.

Can you build in Godot?

Yes. Godot suits 2D games, small teams and projects that value an open license. Its license page says the engine is free and open source under the MIT license, that the license does not apply to the game you make with it and that you are the sole copyright owner of that game. The one condition is that you include the engine’s copyright notice and license statement somewhere in your documentation or credits.

Licenses and costs to check

Engine plans change. Unity’s pricing page lists 2026 revenue thresholds for its plans, so a studio should confirm the plan it falls under before it signs. Epic publishes its license terms for Unreal Engine on its own site. We do not claim partner status with Unity, Epic or Godot, and we list engine licensing costs as a separate line in the scope.

AR, VR and 3D game development

Augmented and virtual reality change what a game asks of a team: the player’s body is the controller, comfort limits the design and performance targets are strict. A virtual reality game development company has to design for motion comfort, and an AR game development company has to place content in a real room. Our AR/VR app development and augmented reality app development pages describe the platform work.

3D art and mobile performance

A 3D game development company models, rigs and animates characters and environments, then trims them to fit the device. 3D mobile game development lives or dies on that trimming: polygon counts, texture sizes, lighting and draw calls all have limits on a phone.

AR and VR game design

AR games work best when the real world is part of the play, such as a tabletop or a room-scale quest. VR games need short sessions at first, clear comfort options and tested controls. Both start with a prototype on the real hardware before art is finished.

Shared worlds

Persistent shared worlds are a different kind of project with their own platform and community needs. Our metaverse app development page covers that work.

Multiplayer, backend and live services

Many modern games need a server. Accounts, cloud saves, leaderboards, matchmaking and analytics all run on a backend, and a multiplayer game adds real-time networking and basic anti-cheat measures. Our backend development team builds the services behind apps, and the same approach applies to games.

Accounts, saves and leaderboards

Accounts let players recover progress on a new phone, cloud saves protect their time, and leaderboards give them something to chase. Apple’s guidelines say that an app that supports account creation must also offer account deletion in the app, so build that in from the start.

Matchmaking, networking and fair play

Real-time play needs a networking model, servers that scale with demand and checks that keep the game fair. Anti-cheat starts with server-side rules: never trust the client for anything that matters, and log what looks wrong.

Analytics and live tools

Analytics show where players quit and which levels frustrate them. Live tools let a team change a setting, schedule an event or send a fix without waiting for store review. We agree which measures matter before launch.

The mobile game development process

The mobile game development process moves from an idea to a live game in stages that each end with something to play or read. The timeline shows the phases. We do not fix week counts here because art volume, platforms and scope decide them; for reference, our app development page describes a focused first release at 10 to 16 weeks and a two-platform business app at five to seven months, and a game is scoped on the same written basis.

Concept and game design document

The first stage fixes the target player, the core loop, the platforms and the monetization model, and puts them in a game design document short enough to read. It is the reference when scope questions come up later.

Prototype and playtests

A prototype is built to answer one question: is the core loop worth building around? Playtests with people who match the target player show what confuses them and what they ignore. Changes at this stage cost days, not months.

Production sprints

Production runs in sprints that each add something playable. Our app development process runs on sprints that end in a build you can install, and game projects follow the same working rhythm. Scope is tracked in writing, and changes are priced before they enter the build.

QA, devices and performance

Quality testing covers functionality, devices, performance, interruptions, store policy and, for connected games, network conditions. Bugs are logged and fixed against a list everyone can see, and the final build is checked on the minimum devices named in the scope.

Soft launch

A soft launch releases the game to a limited audience before the worldwide release. It tests stability, onboarding and the economy with real players. Fixes made here are far cheaper than fixes after a global launch.

Global launch and live ops

The global launch is the start of live operations, not the end of the project. The first weeks cover crash fixes, balance changes and the first update; a longer plan covers events, new content and the next operating system release.

Monetization that respects players

A game can earn from premium sales, in-app purchases, ads or subscriptions, and the design should make the choice early. We do not build gambling mechanics, and we design purchases to be clear. Where a game sells randomized virtual items, the store rules require disclosure of the odds.

Purchases, ads and subscriptions

In-app purchases suit cosmetic items, extra levels and convenience. Rewarded ads suit casual games where players choose to watch. Subscriptions suit games with ongoing content. Combining them is possible, but each adds design and support work.

Randomized items and disclosed odds

Apple’s App Review Guidelines say apps offering loot boxes or other mechanisms that provide randomized virtual items for purchase must disclose the odds of receiving each type of item before purchase (guideline 3.1.1). Google Play’s payments policy says apps and games with randomized virtual items from a purchase must clearly disclose the odds in advance of, and close to, that purchase. We build any such system to that standard, or recommend a design that avoids it.

Store rules, age ratings and privacy

Each store reviews games before release, and rating bodies label them for age. Plan these steps into the schedule, because an unexpected rejection can cost a launch window.

App Store and Google Play review

Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines cover purchases, privacy, ratings and more. Google Play has its own payments policy and content-rating rules. We read the current text for each submission, and we do not promise approval, because the stores decide.

Age ratings: ESRB and IARC

The ESRB rating categories are Everyone, Everyone 10+, Teen, Mature 17+ and Adults Only 18+, and its content descriptors and interactive elements explain what lies behind a rating. Interactive elements such as in-game purchases, including random items, are flagged but do not change the rating. Google Play says every app must have a content rating from the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), assigned from a questionnaire in Play Console, and IARC says developers rate a game with it at no cost. Apple asks developers to answer its age rating questions honestly. Answer every questionnaire accurately and update it when content changes.

Players under 13

The Federal Trade Commission’s COPPA rule places requirements on operators of websites and online services that are directed to children under 13, and on operators with actual knowledge that they collect personal information from them. Games directed to children carry extra obligations. We build for general and adult audiences.

Player data and privacy

Apple’s guidelines require apps to link to a privacy policy in App Store Connect and within the app. Collect only what the game needs, say what you collect and why, and review the analytics and advertising tools you add. We make no certification claims for privacy or security.

Art, audio and game feel

Art, audio and feel are what players remember. A strong art direction makes a small game look intentional, and good sound and animation make simple actions satisfying.

2D and 3D art pipelines

2D pipelines use sprites, skeletal animation and tile sets; 3D pipelines model, rig and animate assets that are then optimized for the device. Both need a style guide so every new asset matches. Art can come from our team, from your studio or from an outside art house.

Interface, sound and feedback

Interface design makes the game readable on a small screen. Sound confirms every action, and music sets the mood. Small effects such as screen shake, particles and vibration make the difference between a game that responds and one that merely works.

Launching and marketing the game

A game needs players, and players need to find it. Store pages, trailers, creators, pre-registration and advertising are marketing jobs, and they are separate from development. Our video game marketing page covers store optimization, user acquisition, launches and creators. Plan the marketing alongside the build so that assets such as screenshots and trailers are captured while the game is in production.

Mobile game development outsourcing

Mobile game development outsourcing means hiring an outside team to build all or part of a game. It suits publishers and brands without an internal studio, and it suits studios that want extra capacity. If you plan to hire a mobile game development company, the written terms matter as much as the portfolio.

Who owns the code and art?

Ownership is set in the contract, and it should name the source code, the art and audio, the game design and the accounts the game is published under. On our app development page, source code, repositories, developer accounts and signing credentials sit in the client’s name from day one, and a game project’s scope states the same points for code, art and design in writing.

Working with an in-house studio

Outsourcing works best when roles are clear. Agree who owns design decisions, which repository is the source of truth, how builds are shared and who approves what. A single weekly review with a playable build keeps two teams aligned.

Milestones and payments

Tie payments to milestones that produce something playable: a prototype, a vertical slice, a content-complete build, a release candidate. Avoid open-ended scopes, and write down what happens if the schedule or the goals change.

• Prototype: the core loop playable and tested with real players.
• Vertical slice: one level or mode at final quality.
• Content complete: every level, screen and sound in place.
• Release candidate: the build you intend to submit to the stores.

What does mobile game development cost?

Mobile game development costs depend on scope: the genre, the amount of art, whether the game needs a server and how many platforms it ships on. The tables separate our prices from market figures so you can compare like with like, and our app development cost guide explains the general drivers of app pricing.

Our prices

Our game builds are quoted after a written scope. We do not publish a fixed price for a game, because the genre and the art volume change the work too much for a single figure.

What the market charges

Other providers publish the ranges below, shown from the typical low through the published high. They are app development bands; games follow them closely, with art and multiplayer pushing toward the top.

A written game scope should name, at a minimum:

• The platforms and the oldest devices and operating system versions supported.
• The engine and any license it requires, with who pays for it.
• The amount of art, audio and content, level by level or screen by screen.
• Any backend, accounts, multiplayer or analytics services.
• Who owns the code, art, design and store accounts.
• Milestones, reviews and the way the project can end.

What moves the price

Five things move the price most: the scope of content, the volume and style of art, multiplayer and server work, the number of platforms and the live operations that follow launch. A prototype first is the cheapest way to learn which of these will dominate.

How to choose a game development company?

Choosing a game development company comes down to evidence, terms and fit. Ask to play what the team has shipped, to meet the people who will do the work and to read the contract before the first payment. Searches for a top game development company or a top mobile game development company return lists; a list cannot tell you whether a team suits your game.

• Can I play something you built, or a prototype made for a similar goal?
• Who will design, code and test my game, and who is my contact?
• Which engine do you recommend, and why that one?
• How do playtests work, and how will I try each version?
• What do I own at the end, and what happens if we stop?

More pages on the services around a game:

• App development agency
• AR/VR app development
• Cross-platform app development
• App development cost
• Metaverse app development
• Video game marketing agency

Frequently asked questions