Playtime in London

Author: Mark Bennett, International Director, Google Play

We don’t want the fun to stop, even as summer draws to a close. So this month we’re bringing Playtime, our event for Android apps and games developers, to London, Paris, and Berlin. More than 600 attendees will hear from experts and learn how to grow their businesses and succeed on Google Play, the app store for Android devices.

Europe has a strong culture of innovation and success when it comes to mobile development. Many of the world’s leading games and apps come from European companies — Rovio (Angry Birds), King (Candy Crush Saga), BlaBlaCar and SkyScanner are all building on Android to boost their business success globally. In fact, in 2015, the top five most downloaded games across iOS and Android globally all came from Europe: Subway Surfers (Kiloo, Denmark), Candy Crush (King, Sweden/UK), Clash of Clans (Supercell, Finland), Candy Crush Soda Saga (King, Sweden/UK) and Despicable Me (Gameloft, France). And with Android users downloading an average of 95 apps on their phone, there’s a huge opportunity for developers to create even more successful businesses on the platform.

At Playtime, developers will learn about the tools available in the Google Play Developer Console to test and develop their app. Take Playdemic, a 40-strong mobile game studio based in Manchester, UK, which has transformed the success of their app Village Life on Google Play by using the testing tools available to them. Over the past few months, they have seen their review score increase from 4.1 to 4.4, and their revenue has increased by 300%, with Village Life becoming a Top 150 grossing game on Google Play in May this year.

We will also show developers Early Access, a new tool that lets them test and develop their apps with actual customers in a beta version prior to launch — a crucial way to iron out any bugs. In the three months since we began offering this option, we’ve seen that users are eager and willing to send developers constructive feedback in exchange for getting their hands on the latest exciting apps and games. Open beta titles have been installed over one million times in a 40-day period, and demand is growing.

Playtime starts in London today, then continues on to Paris on 6^th September and Berlin on 8^th September. To continue supporting those who base their business on Android, we’ll be hosting more events over the next few months — stay tuned.