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AppleTV as a future game console?
- Thread starter veena3
- Start date
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People have made comments in the past that Apple would never successfully break into industries like music players, phones, cars... but if there is any industry they definitely can't break into, that would be the videogame industry. They can't figure it out and they don't care enough to try.
They'd need to design hardware that would attract developers besides those already making smartphone games... which isn't impossible, their Apple-Silicon Macs are perfect examples of good hardware. But if those Macs aren't good enough to grab the PC-game market's attention, I have even less faith in an Apple console.
The input is also important, even more than the hardware power. Apple would need to build and bundle a controller, because if it has no controller by default, it makes devs uncertain how their game will be played. And remember that fiasco when Apple required game devs support remote-only gameplay...? You would never be able to play a AAA-console game with that. It just shows how out-of-touch Apple is with videogames.
Oh, and if the hardware design of Apple's keyboards, mouse, and remotes are any indicator, an Apple controller would be unergonomic as hell to play with... perhaps Apple could come up with some interesting gimmicks, but comfort is super important and they seem to struggle with that surprisingly often.
And making it affordable enough to attract typical console customers is... pretty unlikely. It doesn't seem like Apple cares about making afforable stuff, only top-of-the-line hardware they can charge premium or higher prices for, which is not in the realm of console gaming at all. It would make more sense in the Mac world when it comes to PC gaming, but even then you don't get the best price-to-value ratio when it comes to PC videogames.
They'd need to design hardware that would attract developers besides those already making smartphone games... which isn't impossible, their Apple-Silicon Macs are perfect examples of good hardware. But if those Macs aren't good enough to grab the PC-game market's attention, I have even less faith in an Apple console.
The input is also important, even more than the hardware power. Apple would need to build and bundle a controller, because if it has no controller by default, it makes devs uncertain how their game will be played. And remember that fiasco when Apple required game devs support remote-only gameplay...? You would never be able to play a AAA-console game with that. It just shows how out-of-touch Apple is with videogames.
Oh, and if the hardware design of Apple's keyboards, mouse, and remotes are any indicator, an Apple controller would be unergonomic as hell to play with... perhaps Apple could come up with some interesting gimmicks, but comfort is super important and they seem to struggle with that surprisingly often.
And making it affordable enough to attract typical console customers is... pretty unlikely. It doesn't seem like Apple cares about making afforable stuff, only top-of-the-line hardware they can charge premium or higher prices for, which is not in the realm of console gaming at all. It would make more sense in the Mac world when it comes to PC gaming, but even then you don't get the best price-to-value ratio when it comes to PC videogames.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Conceptually, Apple could make an AppleTV "pro" and put maybe a M1/M2 MAX chip in it. Then it would have plenty of processing and power for just about any game.
The primary problem with the concept is not so much hardware, it's MONEY. What the dedicated game consoles have and what PC gaming has that Apple gaming doesn't is a gigantic flow of cash to "sponsor" AAA game creation. This is not so much money flow at and after launch from gamers buying games but the- what might be called- "seed" money to basically buy exclusive AAA game creations for consoles and PC.
This is very visible through acquisitions of big gaming houses by who: Sony & Microsoft. They buy the big game producers, take those teams onto their payrolls and then own the releases of spectacular games for their systems.
Too many of us have some kind of illusion that programmers choose to code based on the power of the hardware: "if Apple built a AppleTV M1 Pro/Max/Ultra certainly the big game programmers would shift to coding for that super-powered hardware." But that's not it at all. Just like Apple, programmers want to make as much MONEY as they can. Coding for a slice of all AppleTV owners which is a slice of all macOS owners which is a slice of all iOS owners probably doesn't make them a fraction of what they can get for coding for middling+ PC specs... and certainly not what they get for coding an exclusive sponsored by Sony or Microsoft.
This problem wouldn't even get solved by charging $100 per game, $500 per game or $1000 per game to rich gamers... unless a big volume of those gamers could be moved to buy an AppleTV "pro" and then pay much more than the same game on a PS5, XBOX or PC.
To "fix" this needs Apple to allocate a pile of cash in the vault much like they allocate a pile of cash to AppleTV+ for video. Instead, each bit of news about this "major game developer" being acquired is pretty much always Sony, Microsoft or one of the major game houses still independent but with extensive "exclusive" relationships with Sony and/or Microsoft. What news is about Apple and major game developers: ongoing legal war fighting over a portion of a commission.
Do a search for "how much does it cost to develop an AAA video game?" The answer may surprise you. But what you'll also learn is that for the money Apple spent on the Beats acquisition, they could sponsor about 60 AAA games for Apple devices. Would 60 AAA games establish Apple gaming in a big way? Seems likely. Is what they spent on Beats too much for Apple? Obviously not. Now do a search for "how much is Apple spending on AppleTV+ content" and consider the 2 numbers head-to-head.
More simply: "show us the money." Who does that now are NOT entities interested in games for AppleTV, iOS, pro/max/ultra, etc. Apple can fix this by showing programmers the money much like they are showing video producers the money now... more money than they can get from the alternatives. Apple clearly has the cash to compete here... but consistently lacks the will/interest.
The primary problem with the concept is not so much hardware, it's MONEY. What the dedicated game consoles have and what PC gaming has that Apple gaming doesn't is a gigantic flow of cash to "sponsor" AAA game creation. This is not so much money flow at and after launch from gamers buying games but the- what might be called- "seed" money to basically buy exclusive AAA game creations for consoles and PC.
This is very visible through acquisitions of big gaming houses by who: Sony & Microsoft. They buy the big game producers, take those teams onto their payrolls and then own the releases of spectacular games for their systems.
- What was the last major gaming company that Apple acquired?
- What was the last major single AAA game that Apple purchased as an exclusive?
Too many of us have some kind of illusion that programmers choose to code based on the power of the hardware: "if Apple built a AppleTV M1 Pro/Max/Ultra certainly the big game programmers would shift to coding for that super-powered hardware." But that's not it at all. Just like Apple, programmers want to make as much MONEY as they can. Coding for a slice of all AppleTV owners which is a slice of all macOS owners which is a slice of all iOS owners probably doesn't make them a fraction of what they can get for coding for middling+ PC specs... and certainly not what they get for coding an exclusive sponsored by Sony or Microsoft.
This problem wouldn't even get solved by charging $100 per game, $500 per game or $1000 per game to rich gamers... unless a big volume of those gamers could be moved to buy an AppleTV "pro" and then pay much more than the same game on a PS5, XBOX or PC.
To "fix" this needs Apple to allocate a pile of cash in the vault much like they allocate a pile of cash to AppleTV+ for video. Instead, each bit of news about this "major game developer" being acquired is pretty much always Sony, Microsoft or one of the major game houses still independent but with extensive "exclusive" relationships with Sony and/or Microsoft. What news is about Apple and major game developers: ongoing legal war fighting over a portion of a commission.
Do a search for "how much does it cost to develop an AAA video game?" The answer may surprise you. But what you'll also learn is that for the money Apple spent on the Beats acquisition, they could sponsor about 60 AAA games for Apple devices. Would 60 AAA games establish Apple gaming in a big way? Seems likely. Is what they spent on Beats too much for Apple? Obviously not. Now do a search for "how much is Apple spending on AppleTV+ content" and consider the 2 numbers head-to-head.
More simply: "show us the money." Who does that now are NOT entities interested in games for AppleTV, iOS, pro/max/ultra, etc. Apple can fix this by showing programmers the money much like they are showing video producers the money now... more money than they can get from the alternatives. Apple clearly has the cash to compete here... but consistently lacks the will/interest.
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