Apple's Greg Joswiak Talks Mobile Gaming

[chucker23n1]

Quite a number of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1998_video_games

Care to try again?

I don't know what "quite a number" means (1%? 10%? 90%?), but sure, let's pick a few.

Let's type "Anno 1602 windows 10" into Google. When I'm not even done typing, Google already suggests:

"Anno 1602 Windows 7 patch"
"Anno 1602 Windows 10 doesn't launch"
"Anno 1602 Windows 10 crash"

OK, so we apparently need a patch.

Let's try another: Descent: FreeSpace. First result: it "does" work — as long as you install nGlide, a 3Dfx Voodoo Glide wrapper. In other words, portions of the graphics layer get emulated.

Let's try Dune 2000.

Alrighty mate.

Let's not.

I'm not cheating here. These are literally the first three titles from your list that I actually recognized, and all three of them seem to have various problems on Windows 10.

Which, you know what? That's fine. That's neither terrible on Microsoft's nor on the game developer's part. It's been twenty years.

How about you address my points rather than hurling insults? You're telling me that a piece of glass is equal to a hard controller? Forget a mouse and keyboard, fingers on a piece of glass is equal to a controller in the hand? That PubG & Fortnight mobile are on par with their pc/console counterparts?

Maybe if your view of gaming weren't so simplistic, you'd be able to see that the multi-touch UI actually lends itself better to some games. And, yes, worse to others.

 

[Tech198]

I don't even bother with mobile games anymore. They monetized them into oblivion. It's quite sad actually.

Who to say an game cannot have in-app purchases? You don't expects good game to be free do you, weather u pay up front and that's it. or a free games (but with ads/and or in app purchases)

In any way, its just its also profit to developers. You may enough the experience for developing for iOS, but if you get paid for it as well, i would include that as number #1..

You go were the money is.

 

[deanthedev]

How about you address my points rather than hurling insults? You're telling me that a piece of glass is equal to a hard controller? Forget a mouse and keyboard, fingers on a piece of glass is equal to a controller in the hand? That PubG & Fortnight mobile are on par with their pc/console counterparts?

Yeah, I never once commented about controllers or a “piece of glass”. I commented about your generic initial claim that mobile games were “mediocre”. Which is false.

 

[warp9]

Nope, sorry Greg but Apple dropped the ball on gaming. Yes, Fortnite is very good (on iPhone X is very close to the Xbox One build) but shipped without controller support yet shipped with crossplay (touch screen vs controller vs mouse and keyboard).

Mobile gamers are cheap, we see it on Touch Arcade and have done for years; “That’s too expensive” or “I’ll be wait on the sale (for a £4.99 game)”.

Mobile gamers expect free or dirt cheap and have bred a mentality in mobile gaming that led to ridiculous IAP (Real Racing 3 is a disgrace and continues to be even now) and F2P models.

Until developers target the horsepower of Apple’s devices and target REAL gamers who want to pay top dollar for great games, then mobile gaming will never go anywhere. The Candy Crush generation are here to stay.

Real Racing 3 makes FAR more money than they would ever make from REAL gamers.
Which would you rather have: the respect of a handful of players, or $10 million?

 

[swingerofbirch]

When I upgraded to iOS 11 (which Apple said I had to do in order to help me troubleshoot my Health app not exporting data--it still doesn't in iOS 11 either), I lost access to my favorite games which were 32-bit. I know that the 64-bit requirement isn't supposed to be a big deal, but at an individual level it can be. So I wouldn't call iOS 11 a boon for gaming for me personally. I game much less on my iPhone now. It's a very unique game that can be a good fit for the limitations of the iPhone not having physical buttons. Those 3D games they show off at events like Infinity Blade seem more to just be demos of what the CPU/GPU are capable of, which is not at all the same as what is fun (look at Nintendo which does very well yet nearly always has the most underpowered console on the market).

 

[Altis]

I don't know what "quite a number" means (1%? 10%? 90%?), but sure, let's pick a few.

Let's type "Anno 1602 windows 10" into Google. When I'm not even done typing, Google already suggests:

"Anno 1602 Windows 7 patch"
"Anno 1602 Windows 10 doesn't launch"
"Anno 1602 Windows 10 crash"

OK, so we apparently need a patch.

Let's try another: Descent: FreeSpace. First result: it "does" work — as long as you install nGlide, a 3Dfx Voodoo Glide wrapper. In other words, portions of the graphics layer get emulated.

Let's try Dune 2000.

Alrighty mate.

Let's not.

I'm not cheating here. These are literally the first three titles from your list that I actually recognized, and all three of them seem to have various problems on Windows 10.

Which, you know what? That's fine. That's neither terrible on Microsoft's nor on the game developer's part. It's been twenty years.



Maybe if your view of gaming weren't so simplistic, you'd be able to see that the multi-touch UI actually lends itself better to some games. And, yes, worse to others.

I play many games from the mid-to-late 90s still on my Windows 10 machine. Some run under Windows 10 without any help, like Alpha Centauri (1999), Half Life (1998), Starcraft (1998), Age of Empires II (1999), Jedi Knight (1997). Pretty much anything after ~2004 runs without too much work, such as Day of Defeat (2003), Unreal Tournament GOTY (2000), Civ III (2001), Half Life 2 (2004).

For any that don't run in Windows 10, it's easy to use DOSBOX or a Windows virtual machine (XP can work well for this). I have yet to come across a single piece of software, let alone game, that I can't still run one way or the other on my modern computer. Heck, a company I worked for still used software from around 1992 by launching a Windows 98 VM. Not a problem!

I have iOS apps/games from just 2-3 years ago that are no longer supported and iOS updates broke 'em, and there's no way to revert back. Fortunately I haven't come across any that I actually miss all too much as iOS games don't do much for me.
[doublepost=1521694748][/doublepost]

I'll never take iOS gaming seriously until they find a way to stop removing your games from existence on the app store after a few years. When I by a game - I expect it's availably for life, such as is the case with PC gaming and consoles. If I still own an iPhone in 20 years I damn well expect to be able to play all my old games. Because Apple has removed some of the classics I payed good money for - I will no longer support their con market.

iOS gaming is designed as a throwaway market for a throwaway generation. I'm not into that and have already made the mistake of giving Apple to much. I still buy a selection of well designed apps - but that's it. If I game It'll be on my Nintendo 3DS, WiiU, PS Vita, Switch etc. Were I can come back to my catalog continuously.

Yeah, it's actually quite a shame but iOS will be the only gaming segment I can think of that will actually be absent in any form of 'retro gaming.'

Everything else has been emulated/runs in VMs, way back into the 80s.
[doublepost=1521695359][/doublepost]

Yeah, I never once commented about controllers or a “piece of glass”. I commented about your generic initial claim that mobile games were “mediocre”. Which is false.

It isn't really true or false though as it's almost entirely subjective.

 

[DeepIn2U]

iOS is the only place to be for developers.

And for Mr Joswiak to get paid to take up office space & play games /s

 

[apolloa]

Real Racing 3 makes FAR more money than they would ever make from REAL gamers.
Which would you rather have: the respect of a handful of players, or $10 million?

Yes and the reviews it constantly get highlight how it milks you for money, they take the mick though with a car costing £70 etc, an in game car...
Grid is far far far better and it’s a one off price.

People download RR3 because it’s free, then not too far into it realise it has a massive paywall and then try and grind or delete the game, their is a forum for RR3 fans that I’ve read and participated in, people use to be able to grind and earn gold but the game effectively ended up forcing you to spend a LOT of real money to finish it over recent years.

It is probably the worst example of IAP freemium games on the App Store.

 

[star-affinity]

Likely only when macOS is brought to ARM processors and app stores are unified across the platform.

You mean so iOS games can run on macOS? That's not quite what I was thinking about short term, but maybe you're right it will be something to count on in the future.

iOS is the most advanced and powerful gaming platform in the world. Coupled with the incredible performance and capabilities found in Apple devices such as iPhone X and iPad Pro, this is the place serious gamers now come to play.

Is it? I guess you mean the most advanced and powerful mobile gaming platform?
It sure seems to me the most powerful and advanced gaming platform is (and will continue to be for the foreseeable future) Windows. Despite both Metal and Vulkan Microsoft seems to be quite dedicated to gaming on their platforms. Two recent examples:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/12547/expanding-directx-12-microsoft-announces-directx-raytracing
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12549/microsoft-windows-machine-learning-for-gaming

And we also have the fact that driver vendors (AMD and NVIDIA) even optimize their Windows drivers for specific games, and we also have the fact that even if more and more titles are coming to macOS (and Linux) there's still quite a few that are Windows only. Also the performance of a title that exists on multiple platforms are usually best in Windows.

But things can of course change.

 

[Horselover Fat]

They'd better talk about desktop gaming, Apple's most favourite ignored area. No hardware choices, weird 3D API and bad GPU policy. This is such a mess.

 

[Ries]

Who to say an game cannot have in-app purchases? You don't expects good game to be free do you, weather u pay up front and that's it. or a free games (but with ads/and or in app purchases)

In any way, its just its also profit to developers. You may enough the experience for developing for iOS, but if you get paid for it as well, i would include that as number #1..

You go were the money is.

Paying up front is not free. Im like OP, I used to game and quit. If it has In-app purchase it is a hard pass. It means the game purposly has put in blocks or time-sinks to extort money from you. Just look at the classics, "sim/tycoon" something, you used to be able to build your empire in a fun game, now it is "wait 5-10min for this to complete or pay 1 diamond". You want this building, pay one diamond. Want to go to the next level? Come back in 10min or pay 1 diamond.

 

[neuropsychguy]

It's neat that Fortnite and PUBG have made their way to mobile phones but having to play those games with touch-screen buttons seems like absolute torture.

PUBG is not bad. I'm a keyboard and mouse type of gamer but I'm pleasantly surprised at how good the controls for PUBG are on iOS. They aren't as good as k+m but somehow better than other action games I've played on iOS.

 

[fatboyslick]

Im enjoying PUBG on my iPad but the controls are difficult. CAn anyone tell me if a bluetooth controller will work and if so recommend some?

 

[EvilEvil]

iOS is the only place to be for developers.

LOL. PC and consoles say hi.

 

[Smartass]

I cringe everytime i hear "Mobile gaming". The only time mobile "gaming" is usefull is when youre in some waiting room and have nothing else to do other than throw angry birds across the screen. I dont even know what kind of person you have to be to actually play PUBG on a phone. I mean it's just amazing that somebody actually came up with the idea of porting that game on to a mobile phone thinking that the experience will be the same as on a PC. It just shows how clueless mobile gaming industry is - just keep throwing different games in to the wall and hope that one will stick.

 

[DNichter]

LOL. PC and consoles say hi.

Right. When they get on the same level as mobile, I'll say hello.
[doublepost=1521717159][/doublepost]

You mean so iOS games can run on macOS? That's not quite what I was thinking about short term, but maybe you're right it will be something to count on in the future.



Is it? I guess you mean the most advanced and powerful mobile gaming platform?
It sure seems to me the most powerful and advanced gaming platform is (and will continue to be for the foreseeable future) Windows. Despite both Metal and Vulkan Microsoft seems to be quite dedicated to gaming on their platforms. Two recent examples:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/12547/expanding-directx-12-microsoft-announces-directx-raytracing
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12549/microsoft-windows-machine-learning-for-gaming

And we also have the fact that driver vendors (AMD and NVIDIA) even optimize their Windows drivers for specific games, and we also have the fact that even if more and more titles are coming to macOS (and Linux) there's still quite a few that are Windows only. Also the performance of a title that exists on multiple platforms are usually best in Windows.

But things can of course change.

I more so mean that Apple will likely create A series processors for their Macs in the short term future that will be very very powerful. With a huge developer base and a unified app store, it will certainly drive more advanced games being created.

 

[Jsameds]

Touch screen is only good for game genres that require few button presses, like tower defence games for example.

Anything that requires constant input such as 3D directional movement is no good on a touchscreen because there is no feedback. These games need tactile buttons.

There needs to be an official dedicated gamepad, and any game complex enough to require a gamepad should be forced to support the gamepad alongside touch controls, if it wants to be on the App Store.

 

[TomOSeven]

Right. When they get on the same level as mobile, I'll say hello.

What are you even talking about?

The biggest AAA titles are all on consoles, the best indie games are on Steam / GOG and virtually all major e-sports games are primarily PC games (and Mac games as a remote second).

By what possible metric is iOS winning? ****** microtransactions sold?

Even 8/10 of the best rated iOS games were PC games that got ported at some point.

 

[kiranmk2]

I play many games from the mid-to-late 90s still on my Windows 10 machine. Some run under Windows 10 without any help, like Alpha Centauri (1999), Half Life (1998), Starcraft (1998), Age of Empires II (1999), Jedi Knight (1997). Pretty much anything after ~2004 runs without too much work, such as Day of Defeat (2003), Unreal Tournament GOTY (2000), Civ III (2001), Half Life 2 (2004).

For any that don't run in Windows 10, it's easy to use DOSBOX or a Windows virtual machine (XP can work well for this). I have yet to come across a single piece of software, let alone game, that I can't still run one way or the other on my modern computer. Heck, a company I worked for still used software from around 1992 by launching a Windows 98 VM. Not a problem!

I have iOS apps/games from just 2-3 years ago that are no longer supported and iOS updates broke 'em, and there's no way to revert back. Fortunately I haven't come across any that I actually miss all too much as iOS games don't do much for me.
[doublepost=1521694748][/doublepost]

That's the problem with iOS gaming though - Apple will never allow an emulator to 'run' a separate app (e.g. having an iOS 10 emulator to run a 32-bit game app in iOS12). So all your solutions of patches and VMs don't apply. Try playing a 20 year old game using nothing but a modern PC and nothing but the original game media... The only real solution would be to keep an old iPad knocking around on iOS 10. I think we tend to get these 'break older app' iOS updates ~every 4 years or so which is starting to look like a console generation. The other problem will be if you want to keep an 'iOS10 generation iPad' to play these older games it will be difficult as most people will update capable units (e.g. iPad Air 2) and those that are left being at iOS10 (e.g. iPad 4) don't give great performance...

I have a feeling that games companies would rather sell you another version of the same game updated for newer hardware...

As for controls, I agree that touch screens are hopeless for console-style games, but very good for alternative games. Unfortunately, to be considered an all-round platform console-style games are needed. I really like the idea of a joystick/nunchuck that connects to the Apple remote - very clever and would greatly reduce the costs.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, if Apple wants to take Nintendo's lunch they have to invest money rather than sit back and wait for the developers to do all the work. At the moment it looks like all the money is going into TV content. Perhaps once Apple just suck it up and buy Netflix they can focus on gaming as there is no reason why the current ATV couldn't match the performance of the Switch.

 

[DNichter]

What are you even talking about?

The biggest AAA titles are all on consoles, the best indie games are on Steam / GOG and virtually all major e-sports games are primarily PC games (and Mac games as a remote second).

By what possible metric is iOS winning? ****** microtransactions sold?

The article is about mobile gaming. The amount of people that are into PC gaming is still very small compared to the available market for mobile gaming. iOS is winning when it comes to mobile gaming and mobile developers as whole.

 

[Bishope1999]

The article is about mobile gaming. The amount of people that are into PC gaming is still very small compared to the available market for mobile gaming. iOS is winning when it comes to mobile gaming and mobile developers as whole.

How are PC's and Console's not on the level of "mobile gaming?" I didn't get that answer from your reply.

 

[DNichter]

How are PC's and Console's not on the level of "mobile gaming?" I didn't get that answer from your reply.

Because they don't have nearly the user base that mobile does. This means something to developers. The majority of money is in mobile gaming as well.

 

[TomOSeven]

Citation needed.

 

[DNichter]

Citation needed.

Plenty of articles about it. If you combine PC and every individual console platform, it's close. I don't think that's a fair comparison though. The potential for mobile is much higher though and still generates the majority of revenue.

https://newzoo.com/insights/article...-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/

 

[TomOSeven]

Fair enough, closer than I thought.