Mac App Store Turns One Year Old, Aspyr Shares Numbers

[MacRumors]

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Mac App Store, Apple's attempt to remake software distribution by offering an easy-to-use digital download store for Mac apps linked to the company's existing iTunes Store infrastructure.

The Mac App Store gained prominence throughout the year as Apple added more and more of its own software to the marketplace, even opting to use the Mac App Store as the primary method of distribution for OS X Lion. Less than a year after the store's launch, Apple announced that the Mac App Store had seen over 100 million downloads, not including purchases of OS X Lion, app updates, or multiple downloads from a single transaction.

In an effort to assess the impact of the Mac App Store on established Mac software companies, we chatted with Aspyr, which offers over a dozen games through the store including the current top-grossing game and Mac App Store Game of the Year Civilization V: Campaign Edition [Mac App Store]. Other major titles from Aspyr include Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Call of Duty 4, and DOOM 3.

Aspyr is in a relatively unique position among Mac App Store developers in that it already offered a significant digital distribution platform of its own through its GameAgent marketplace. But the Mac App Store has still been able to attract a significant amount of business from Aspyr customers, with Aspyr telling us that the Mac App Store accounted for sales of roughly 500,000 units across all of Aspyr's titles in 2011, representing 50-60% of the company's digital distribution business.

In particular, Aspyr credits the Mac App Store with breathing new life into older titles, bringing them to the attention of more casual gamers who would not have otherwise sought out the games. Unsurprisingly, games that receive featured treatment from Apple in the form of banners and other promotional mentions are the strongest performers for Aspyr.

Even beyond the Mac App Store, Aspyr cites general growth of the Mac platform as another driver of increased software sales. The Mac has seen steady momentum in outpacing overall PC market growth every quarter for nearly six years, most recently setting a new high with 12.9% of the market in the third quarter of 2011.

Overall, the Mac App Store remains heavily skewed toward Apple's own software, with the top six most popular apps and the eight highest-grossing apps in the store being Apple software. But given the volume of downloads on the store, a number of other developers are clearly seeing success with the store as it is proving popular with Mac users looking for ease of purchase and installation. According to our sister site AppShopper, there are currently over 8,900 apps available in the Mac App Store, making for a substantial library of content easily found and downloaded through the marketplace.

Article Link: Mac App Store Turns One Year Old, Aspyr Shares Numbers

 

[soco]

Wow time flies. I vaguely remember wondering how long it would take for this store to take off. Now I get everything through it, including re-purchasing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

I seriously spend at least 20 minutes a night decompressing while riding the top of the Trolly that runs around San Fierro(sp?) with a rocket launcher.

Good times.

 

[Consultant]

Seeing Apple's success, perhaps other companies should use similar pricing on the Mac App Store.

 

[jelwell]

And how exciting is it that great apps like 1Password are dropping important features to fit in Apple's caged box?
Joseph Elwell.

 

[ChazUK]

The extra value of Stem Play will always slide me towards Steam when getting Mac games but the Mac App Store seems to be doing well regardless.

 

[*LTD*]

There was never any doubt that the Mac App Store would be successful. The very idea is a no-brainer. Take the App Store model for iOS and just bring it to the Mac. Boom, you're done. There is no easier way to obtain software. It's all there in one, central location, easily accessible. It's ridiculously simple.

And look where it is now. Yet another Apple content distribution model is lighting the way forward.

 

[thekeyring]

The thing is when Windows 8 brings the App store to Windows everyone will say "Apple did it first" when actually, Ubuntu did.

 

[maflynn]

It's more successful then I first thought it would be. If more developers use that over other distribution models then it will be a good thing for apple.

One major gripe or concern I have is what happens if an app is removed from MAS. There's no way to reinstall it, this is why I favor the "old fashioned" method, of buying, downloading and then backing up the installer.

 

[george-brooks]

Glad to hear the App store is doing so well. I have to admit I like/use it a lot more than I thought I would at first, but I still really wish that apple offered boxed versions of pro apps at a slightly higher cost. I don't like having to download huge files from the App Store, i.e. Lion or Logic Pro.

 

[rever3nce]

Happy Birthday Mac App store! Funny how I am reading this and I was just about to buy Snapheal from the mac app store

 

[BornAgainMac]

I bet 500,000 units is more than 10% of their total sales if you include PC physical distributions too. That Mac myth that you only can only make 10% in software sales because Macs are only 10% of the market needs to die.

 

[HE15MAN]

And still a year later, it is as boring and lackluster as ever..

 

[AdrianK]

The extra value of Stem Play will always slide me towards Steam when getting Mac games but the Mac App Store seems to be doing well regardless.

meh, I just want the game to launch when I click it, which is what you get from MAS. Steam always takes a minute or so to log me in, then I have an extra program I need to close when I'm done. I guess it's fine if you want the "Steam Experience", but if you don't it's a PITA.

There was never any doubt that the Mac App Store would be successful. The very idea is a no-brainer. Take the App Store model for iOS and just bring it to the Mac. Boom, you're done. There is no easier way to obtain software. It's all there in one, central location, easily accessible. It's ridiculously simple.

Agreed, it works great. I recently reinstalled Lion and had 6 of my 7 essential apps installed within a couple of minutes. No hunting for anything. No inputting serial keys. It just works.

 

[rmwebs]

Shame they haven't been able to replicate Steam - Stem is a heck of a lot better than the Mac App Store. Obviously it only focuses on games but it does a much nicer job of it.

I wouldn't think it'll be too long before we see Game Center for the mac either.

 

[nagromme]

Bring Quake Wars to the App Store! Down with key discs!

It really is a great system. I’ve bought more games than anything else. I use Steam also, but the ease and painlessness of the App Store makes me like Steam a lot less than I once did.

And for 95% of people (non-techies) this is SO much better than downloading and installing something in two steps! People always get one step wrong, and end up running something from a DMG (or right out of a Zip on Windows) or deleting the real app after the download when they meant to delete the archive.

The thing is when Windows 8 brings the App store to Windows everyone will say "Apple did it first" when actually, Ubuntu did.

No, most people will simply say Apple did it right first, and yet people will claim that everyone thinks Apple was first period.

 

[cmwade77]

It's more successful then I first thought it would be. If more developers use that over other distribution models then it will be a good thing for apple.

One major gripe or concern I have is what happens if an app is removed from MAS. There's no way to reinstall it, this is why I favor the "old fashioned" method, of buying, downloading and then backing up the installer.

I forget where it goes, but you can still backup the installer, you just have to find it before it gets automatically deleted.

 

[wiz329]

I'll be honest, I don't really like the Mac App Store.

The regular app store for iOS was ingenious. However, I also like the simplified, easy-to-use nature of iDevices. While I'm on the road, and dealing with small screen real estate, I don't want to have to mess with all the things I would on a regular operating system.

However, on my computer, its a different story.

1. The apps on MAS tend to be a lot more expensive. I don't like that.

2. I like to be able to back up the installer and use it again.

3. While I really like Apple products, a 30% seems pretty greedy to me, especially for higher ticket items.

Maybe its just my resistance towards turning OS X into iOS, and the movement against the file system -- I really don't like how iPhoto or the Mac App Store works -- but I'm not onboard with this.

 

[intox]

Good news for Aspyr, nice numbers to say Mac gaming isn't that popular.

Quite nice to see Call of Duty still up their too, good news for both Aspyr cod tool devs.

I too like to use the Mac App store, it does make buying a lot easier and you don't have to worry bout losing a license key or anything similar.

 

[Marcus-k]

There was never any doubt that the Mac App Store would be successful. The very idea is a no-brainer. Take the App Store model for iOS and just bring it to the Mac. Boom, you're done. There is no easier way to obtain software. It's all there in one, central location, easily accessible. It's ridiculously simple.

And look where it is now. Yet another Apple content distribution model is lighting the way forward.

You say that this is an "Apple content distribution model", when the first OS that used a similar concept was a Linux distribution? Have you ever heard of Synaptic or the Ubuntu Software Center ?

Apple did not invent this concept.

 

[soco]

You say that is is an "Apple content distribution model", when the first OS that used a similar concept was linux? Have you ever heard of Synaptic or the Ubuntu Software Center ?

Apple did not invent this concept.

This doesn't mean that Apple didn't adopt, refine, and use it. Thus, it's Apple's distribution model now. It's not a claim of ownership in the statement, but a clarification of who uses it.

In other words, I quoted you, so I could say "in my quote above" but not mean that the words are mine, I'm merely using them and saying I did the quoting.

 

[ChazUK]

meh, I just want the game to launch when I click it, which is what you get from MAS. Steam always takes a minute or so to log me in, then I have an extra program I need to close when I'm done. I guess it's fine if you want the "Steam Experience", but if you don't it's a PITA.

It's more about working on both my Windows PC and OS X machines. Steam Cloud is another big plus too (pick up where I left off on another machine).

That alone is worth launching Steam for me personally.

 

[PlaceofDis]

i think the Mac App Store is a good thing. i just think that there is one thing missing to make it really good:

Trials. there are a lot of Apps that i'd like to give a chance, but since i can't try them or justify trying out i pass them up and don't bother.


now only if they could break iBooks off into its own app, and movies/tv shows so that iTunes could really be just for music. but now i'm ranting...

 

[samcraig]

Haven't bought a single thing via the MAS.

It doesn't have everything - not even close.

I'm sure it's great for many people. I'm just glad that Apple hasn't (yet) locked down so much that they only allow Apps to be installed via their MAS. Because, quite frankly, that would make me leave the platform.

 

[Joos24]

Shame they haven't been able to replicate Steam - Stem is a heck of a lot better than the Mac App Store. Obviously it only focuses on games but it does a much nicer job of it.

I wouldn't think it'll be too long before we see Game Center for the mac either.

You're missing one major point here. Steam requires you to be logged in to play the games, therefore internet access is required to play games you bought. Can you imagine the uproar if Apple required us to be online to use apps we purchased from the App Store? You can't compare the two stores, they are totally different business models.


As far as Aspyr, I certainly hope that now they see the benefit of the MAS, and stop this "Windows-Only" mentality in regards to the latest game. Are they for real, Mac users can only play Call of Duty 4??? GTFOH.

 

[diamond.g]

I bet 500,000 units is more than 10% of their total sales if you include PC physical distributions too. That Mac myth that you only can only make 10% in software sales because Macs are only 10% of the market needs to die.

Aspyr sells PC games too?