If your favorite mobile game is stuttering, it may not be your phone’s fault. That might be how the game was made. Google and Samsung have teamed up to help Android Studio catch these performance issues before they start downloading.
The result is Sokatoa, a GPU profiler released on March 10 by Samsung Austin Research and Development Center and Advanced Computing Lab. But Samsung didn’t create it alone. The tool was developed in collaboration with Google and LunarG, a company deeply involved in Vulkan graphics development.
This tool is aimed at Android game developers, but can be used by anyone building graphics-heavy apps for the platform. It also works on a variety of hardware, with support for Samsung’s Xclipse GPUs along with the Qualcomm and ARM GPUs found in most other Android devices. The goal is better games, more stable frame rates, and fewer rendering issues for the teams that create them.
What makes Sokatoa different?
The breakthrough here is what Samsung calls “multi-frame GPU profiling.” Most existing tools allow developers to peek into a single render frame to spot obvious defects. However, there is a nasty bug lurking across multiple frames that causes random stuttering or frame drops every few seconds.
Sokatoa allows engineers to progress multiple frames at once. By watching rendering behavior unfold over time, you can spot patterns and occasional issues that can easily be missed in a single frame capture. In the studio, you can edit shaders, which are small programs that handle lighting and effects, and instantly play your workload right on your device. These fast iteration loops mean teams can test fixes, compare results, and move forward in minutes rather than hours.
What early testers say
The team put Sokatoa in front of real developers before launching it, and the feedback showed that Sokatoa actually solves a problem.
Graphics engineers at Supercell, the studio behind Clash of Clans, have been testing since the first beta. One engineer highlighted a simple but powerful feature: the ability to view two traces side by side. Visual comparisons help teams isolate problem areas faster, especially when correlating data from specific draw calls to the final frame. Unity, the engine that powers many mobile games, also helped Sokatoa.
How this affects the next game
Sokatoa is available now. Samsung didn’t share specific pricing or download details in the announcement, but Profiler is positioned as a direct answer to the frustrations Android Studio faces when optimizing graphics. The involvement of Google and LunarG suggests that this tool could become a standard part of the Android development ecosystem.
After developers become familiar with the profiler, take a look at games that have been built or updated. Early access feedback from Supercell and Unity suggests that titles already in development may see performance improvements. And it works with Qualcomm and ARM GPUs, so the benefits shouldn’t be limited to Samsung devices.