Table of Contents:
Quick Summary of points
An understanding of fantasy sports apps
What goes into the making of successful fantasy sports apps
Simplified view of technology used in fantasy sports apps
Factors influencing the cost of developing fantasy sports apps
In-depth analysis of what constitutes the development cost for fantasy sports apps
Identifiers of the best fantasy sports app development services
Factors Determining The Fantasy Sports App Development Cost
There is no one-size-fits all approach when it comes to fantasy sports development. This is because every business is different and expects different functionalities they want to offer to their users. With that said, discussed below are factors determining fantasy sports game development costs-
App Customization
AT A GLANCE
Fantasy sports app development cost varies depending on how basic or enhanced it is,
Features to expect in basic and enhanced apps,
The competitive edge of superior user experience and Admin Panels.
Very simply put, what kind of sophistication do you expect your gaming app to have? Do you want to give your users basic features like creating their fantasy teams, choosing players and keeping simple scoreboards to eventually see who wins? Or do you want a competitive edge by offering an immersive and personalized gaming experience with real-time match updates, player analytics, predictor modules that simplify forecasting who is likely to win based on their performances?
Next comes in the degree of the control admins have. This weighs on the sophistication of the admin panel, which is usually designed to have a basic dashboard, reporting system and user accounts manager at best. This limits the admin considerably and increases their reliance on repetitive maintenance from the fantasy game development company. With our Custom Fantasy Solutions, you get complete control over your app, which you can manage on your own through the expertly crafted Admin Panel, or opt for White Label Solutions, for which you pay throughout the duration of its use.
Our new-age admin panels loved by clients rule out this problem permanently as they are designed to give full control to the admin, giving them all information necessary for determining business app health at a glance. Our admin panels show them a break-up of their total commission earned, total users, and verified users along with features like Master Module (for setting, customizing rules and automatic points calculation), push notifications for conveying relevant updates to each user and State Restriction (for admins to secure PlayStore approval for their apps in locations betting apps are not allowed). These features enable you to manage your fantasy sports app business effectively, covering each of your core functions and granular responsibilities as a fantasy sports business owner.
To define and determine your app complexity, it is always better to choose a fantasy app development company that aligns its development approach to your business needs, and not the other way around. This approach entails custom fantasy sports app development to ensure building the right app tailored to your business needs, rather than going with a white-label solution↗ that allows limited customization.
Development Platform
AT A GLANCE
Do you need a Native app (which entails specific development for each platform)?
Do you need a Hybrid app (where a single codebase can be deployed across both platforms)?
Technologies that work best for each platform ( Android↗ and iOS↗ )
When to opt for Native app development or Hybrid app development?
The specific development platform you choose for your fantasy gaming app will significantly impact the cost of building one. If you opt for Native apps (specific development for Android and iOS), then it will require separate codebases, which is bound to be expensive.
But this expense can be optimized to a great extent with a seasoned fantasy sports development company, well-versed in utilizing the essential technologies available for Android developers. For example, Kotlin is a comparatively easier and flexible language than Java because it accelerates development with its concise, expressive and easy to understand syntax. This significantly reduces the coding effort a given task and streamlines development. Likewise, SwiftUI reduces the coding effort for iOS developers to unleash both, productivity and an exceptional user experience.
A far more resource-effective choice is cross-platform development, which with the use of frameworks like Flutter and React Native, eliminates the need for two separate codebases and their extensive maintenance. Here too, an understanding of and experience in using technology best suited for such applications is imperative for its success, scalability and sustenance in the long run. The best fantasy sports app development services will ensure your app maintains thorough consistency across both operating systems (Android and iOS) with their prior knowledge of pitfalls pertaining to their complexities, that might otherwise impede user experience.
Hybrid app development↗, that is, the combined potential of native and web applications, facilitates work across several platforms using a single codebase. Flutter, React Native and even Xamarin, for example, a Microsoft-owned cross-development platform enables developers to use a single, shared codebase to build Native Android, iOS and Windows. It streamlines development because there is no need to run maintenance updates separately. This significantly reduces your time to market, and ensures your users always have access to the latest app version, irrespective of the platform they are on.
Knowledge of each development platform, complexity and use cases will help you decide which is optimal for your app, cost-wise and beyond. If you are looking to provide seamless user experience and need serious app performance, native app development is the better option for you. However, if you want to test the waters with comparatively lesser investment, hybrid app development is your go-to, for a quicker GTM too.
We believe that no technology should limit you in building your dream app, and that is why, we are tech and device versatile to help your business grow in any scenario.
Fantasy Sports API
AT A GLANCE
What is a fantasy sports API?
How a fantasy sports API↗ simplifies a fantasy sports app development?
Consider this point to be more of a money-saving technique rather than a cost impact measure while building fantasy gaming apps. These solutions offer you ready-to-use data, eliminating the need to aggregate it from scratch. This reduces your development costs significantly. You can create fantasy sport apps tailored to your unique vision because sports APIs enable developers to customize data to suit the unique needs of the sports platform they are building. This frees up a lot of resources for innovation and constant improvement to give your users a distinctive gaming experience.
Besides, with our sports APIs, you can get data necessary for your fantasy sports app ready at your disposal, such as live statistics, scores, complete commentary, historical player performance and other data for multiple sports like cricket, basketball, baseball, football, kabaddi, NML, NBA and so on.
Country-specific Regulations
AT A GLANCE
Each country has specific rules for fantasy sports apps.
How to ensure your business thrives while adhering to established laws?
Sports is the only thing that can unite people across the globe at one time, for a single cricket or football match. Consider your fantasy sport app to be just the digital version of the joy that unites across geographies. Going global is the natural by-product of building an effective and scalable fantasy sport application, but it comes with the consideration of adhering to regulations each country has laid down for its fantasy app builder. This is particularly true for payments, which play a crucial role in making or breaking the gaming experience as well as the credibility of the fantasy sport app business.
Fantasy sport users want the thrill of a game to extend beyond it as well, and expect nothing less than seamless, instant transactions. We’ve seen this for every fantasy sport app we built, be it cricket, soccer, football, baseball, kabaddi, NBA and so on. But how do you enable this seamlessness for your users in different countries?
We’ll tell you how we did it for one of our flagship fantasy sport apps. If you want a similar app like American Dream 11, you will also want to understand what makes it so loved. Our client, American Dream 11, was having trouble implementing two payment gateways for users in USA and Canada. We simplified the implementation of two payment gateways for them (Zelle for USA and Gigadat for Canada), so they could effectively cater to users from both countries. However complex the implementation, it could not have been an obstacle for our client to expand their user base.
This is just one aspect of financial regulations applying to fantasy sports apps. Businesses have to obtain licenses according to the gambling laws in each country, such as the UK, USA or Europe. Our consultation can guide you towards necessary resources to obtain these, drawn from our extensive work in fantasy sports app development across the globe.
User Experience Design
AT A GLANCE
User experience can make or break your fantasy sports app
Good user experience design simplifies all touchpoints of user interaction with your app.
Optimizing development costs is desirable and even necessary, but never at the cost of compromising user experience. From our experience, businesses doing the latter chase a futile endeavour of benefitting from the lucrative and highly competitive fantasy sports industry. This is because users have a lot of options at their disposal and their preferences take the basic expectation of smooth experience as a given for fantasy sports apps they choose.
Failing to provide this seamless transaction can quickly result in plummeting engagement for core game activities and ultimately user churn. Thus, user experience design is a pivotal investment for making your fantasy sport app desirable for people whom you expect to willingly spend money on it.
Instances of compromised experience can be seen in complex onboarding, poor reading and visibility, difficult navigation and so on. If granular attention is not paid to “smooth out every crease of user experience”, as Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn puts it, users will soon find reasons to reconsider their money and time investment in your app.
Features
AT A GLANCE
Understanding features beyond mere functionality
Building carefully targeted features for your unique business requirement.
Features serve a purpose beyond a list of attraction points in your fantasy sports app. They are mediums to make your app create value for those it is intended, and ultimately for your business. Below is an example from one of our work diaries.
Our client, Boomer 11, headquartered in UAE needed to adhere to the regulations of their country (which prohibit the use of real money in fantasy sports apps) and still have a stable revenue generating model for the same.
Our team came up with an e-commerce feature that addressed these issues. Users can use real money to buy real products on Boomer 11, like any other e-commerce app, and each product has a set number of virtual coins attributed to it, using which they can play fantasy sports. Not just that, Boomer 11 also wanted an unprecedented Predictor Module, which we built for them, that can accurately forecast match outcomes and individual player performances to predict which player is more likely to win the match.
Our new features were targeted to address our client’s problem, and not just to attract users with an upgraded feature list. We transformed the app to an e-commerce platform and implemented virtual coins for every product purchased, to adhere to norms as well as generate stable revenue.
White-label vs Custom solution
AT A GLANCE
Difference between a white-label and custom solution
The scope of each solution
How much time each solution takes to get and market?
Another crucial factor determining the cost of developing a fantasy sports app is the development approach- whether you opt for a White Label Solution or go deep into one that is Custom built for your business.
A White Label Solution costs comparatively lesser and reduces your time-to-market (approximately 7-14 days to market ). Our White Label Solutions come with a customizable design and standard fantasy features, covering multiple sports and formats.
A Custom-built Solution is one that is built from scratch according to the unique needs of your business, within 1-3 months, or sometimes even in 6 months depending on your needs. It is your own fantasy sports app, as we deliver the complete source code to you, along with custom design, tailor-made fantasy features that make sense for your business (such as e-commerce feature for Boomer11), supporting all games and formats.
For both these solution types, costs vary naturally. However, we ensure that whichever solution you opt for, it is secure and free of bugs, and provide guaranteed Appstore, Play Store Release.
Reach out to us to know more about the solutions & pricing
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Development Time
AT A GLANCE
Higher development time translates to higher costs and lost market opportunities
How does the fantasy app development time prolong itself?
Your fantasy sport app development time extends itself (only to cause unnecessary burning of resources) if the project scope is not defined clearly and prior knowledge of pitfalls of each stage of development is missing. With a seasoned fantasy sports app company like Sciflare Technolgies, this is never a concern. We are committed with our skin in the game, and a proven track record of delivering on time. This not only reduces your time to market, but also enables you to capitalize on launch opportunities, and keep the fantasy app development cost in check.
Development time also varies based on the type of solution you choose (7-14 days for a White Label Fantasy Solution, and 1-3 months for a Custom Fantasy Solution ).
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