How The Battle of Polytopia Approaches Mobile Vs PC & Switch

You don't often see many 4X turn-based strategy games dominating on mobile over PC, so what sets The Battle of Polytopia apart?

Nearly a decade since Midjiwan first released The Battle of Polytopia, the more casual strategy game is still going strong. Using procedurally generated worlds, you take control of a tribe with unique abilities but the same technology tree. Your goal is to take down the other tribes, constructing and upgrading cities along the way as you research new technologies.

While it's also on PC and Nintendo Switch, Midjiwan recently confirmed that it'd reached over 25 million downloads on mobile. Perhaps that's not too surprising for a free to start game, especially when other versions require an upfront fee. Still, this had me wondering what factors led to the studio taking different approaches across each platform.

Speaking to Rewinder in a written interview, Midjiwan CEO Christian Lövstedt believes the game's strengths lie with its replayability and low-poly art style. Calling mobile “biggest platform and where the game stands out the most as a serious 4X title,” describing retention as “noticeably higher” on desktop due to the pick-up-and-play nature of the game.

No specific percentage figures were provided, though I'm informed that the Steam version “has been doing quite well,” while the Switch edition is “the most challenging” by comparison. Lövstedt believes that because the game was originally designed for touch screens, one challenge is that more Switch players tend to prefer using Joy-Cons.

“The original game was designed for touch screens, which translates well to desktop through mouse controls but is more tricky when using joypads. Even though the Switch has a touch screen, it is only accessible in handheld mode and players seem to gravitate towards using the Joy-Cons anyway. I think that may be the key reason why Switch has been the most difficult platform for us regarding player adoption.”

Because of the additional workload multiple platforms add when continually updating a game, Lövstedt cautions that “console ports should be considered very carefully” for such games. I'm told this is particularly an issue with the Switch version.

“We try to keep all platforms on par, but sometimes Nintendo Switch lags behind because the process of passing lot-checks is much slower than on other platforms. When it comes to prioritization, a bug in the mobile version gets higher priority than a bug in the Switch version, since the mobile version has a much larger player base.”

When asked if such platforms offer any advantages over mobile, he considers The Battle of Polytopia's mobile and desktop versions to be “quite equal” in terms of gameplay.

That said, he accepts you could argue that the PC version is better for seeing everything on a bigger screen in later stages, “but many people seem happy with how the mobile version works” otherwise.

“You can play the game in both portrait and landscape mode on mobile, which provides more options for player preference. We’ve noticed that most play in portrait mode, with one hand and only needing the use of their thumb to interact. This is really a testament to the effectiveness of the simple UI; that you can play a serious 4X game in portrait mode with just one thumb.”

Querying why Midjiwan chose a free to start model on mobile, but a one-time payment on Switch and PC, Lövstedt states it's a matter of adapting to the payment culture. The mobile edition has additional payments for other tribes and skins, though the other versions come with everything.

Lövstedt tells me that the free-to-play + DLC approach has been better received, crediting this with why the game reached a larger player base and citing word of mouth as a factor with players. He dislikes more aggressive in-app purchase models used in other games, stating this “ends up churning players” due to cost and calls this “a truly bizarre” approach.

“If a player likes your game, you want them to stay, and if you offer additional purchases, they should feel like good value; something that gives joy and that they can enjoy for a really long time.”

 The Battle of Polytopia is out now on iOS, Google Play, Switch, and PC.