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Developers Working With Apple to Bring iPhone 15 Pro's Console Games to the iPad and Mac

Some people are getting rather too excited here. All of the games Apple talked about are PS4 titles, hardware which is a decade old at this point. It's a level of hardware performance as seen in the likes of the Steam Deck. I'm not knocking it, I have a Steam Deck myself and it's great to be able to play PS4 level games on the go, but this is hardware with around 1-2tflops of GPU power and relatively weak 4 core CPUs. Compare that to a Series X - 12tflops, and an 8 core CPU and you're not really dealing with the same generation of hardware. Or if you want to really compare it to something cutting edge an RTX 4090 comes in at around 85tflop.

So yes there will be the ocassional last gen PS4 port and there will be novelty in playing console games on a telephone. But don't expect to be playing Series X/PS5 exclusive titles.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Look through threads on Mac gaming. Apple consumers don't want to pay more than a few dollars for an app, abhor in-app purchases, abhor advertising (revenue models), abhor subscription (revenue models), etc. Who among us pays $50-$100 or more for such a game? Will 5 or 10 people say they would? Could that get to 20? To make it worth it to the developer to develop for Silicon vs. the other options, we need more numbers willing to pay up than the numbers that will on those other platforms. Can that many hold their hand up ready to pay? Is there that many using Silicon?
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Not sure I agree - this is a chicken and egg argument. You don't see anyone dropping AAA prices on a AAA for the Mac because there aren't any (many). Back to the "if you build it, they will come" argument. I do agree with you about the whole Sony/Microsoft partial subsidy or at least backing of game development. Maybe Apple does need to step forward with some incentives or support to level the playing field. But I think your argument about customers being cheap is flawed. I would pay plenty for a really good AAA game for Mac and I suspect plenty of others would too. In fact, I would go so far as to say I suspect the percentage of platform users who want to play AAA on Mac hardware is similar to that in the PC world. Why shouldn't it be roughly the same? So that's a useful audience for the developers to target. So long as the return on investment works out similar, then why not target that additional revenue stream.
 
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Didn't call us "cheap." However, "we" do seem to be accustomed to cheap app prices and are quick to rebel against all ways for developers to make money without having to put it in the price. See countless threads where someone charges more than a few dollars for any app and how "we" rant about their greed, hate in-app purchases, hate subscription, hate advertising "in apps I've paid for" etc. Where can Silicon developers make big enough money to justify creating AAA for Silicon vs. putting the same resources towards much more proven platforms?

I see no chicken & egg here. It's a well established model now- exactly like how movies are made. Consumers don't get to pay anything toward making the movie until it is completely finished when they buy a ticket or a disc or rent/buy a stream. So who pays for all the costs in making the movie before there is any revenue at all? The Studios. They subsidize the elaborate production of movies (game studios subsidize the elaborate production of AAA games). Remove that "up front" money and the new big games do NOT get made... so that they are eventually available to customers to buy them.

As is, Sony & Microsoft offer up a LOT of subsidy money for game development... if not outright buying and owning game studios themselves. Apple offers no subsidy money and seems to have no interest in buying game studios when they are for sale. The AAA game creators just do what Apple does: go where the money is.

However, doubt this as anyone can. This seems to be one of the recurring themes that pops up every few years... that now (...that THIS time...) we are finally about to get AAA game development on the Mac platform. I recall posting this same general "money" message each time it comes up and then time shows that the AAA don't show up without the money.

Feel free to mark the thread to revisit in 2 or 5 years. If just "building it and they will come" has yielded an abundance of AAA games on Silicon in the next few years, reply and I'll be happy to acknowledge how wrong I've been with these posts... and as thrilled as anyone else that AAA games have actually arrived on Silicon. Else, I expect the same outcomes as all of the other times that someone at Apple is spinning how AAA games are ready to show up on Mac hardware. The hardware is quite capable but the money to make it happen is missing for "our" favored platform... unlike those other players.

IMO: the very best way for us Mac people to get AAA games is add a PC or console. You can be playing them today. Else, be prepared to wait & wait & wait for something that may never actually show up. I added a PC myself because I needed full Windows (not ARM Windows) for client work and the bonus was that I also got robust hardware capable of big games. Bonus: since the one I chose has a Nvidia graphics card, I can airplay-like toss the games to AppleTV to display on the TV and play on the best speakers in the house. The AppleTV Moonlight app does this very well. I'm actually quite surprised how great it works.
 
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Sakurambo-kun said:
Some people are getting rather too excited here. All of the games Apple talked about are PS4 titles, hardware which is a decade old at this point. It's a level of hardware performance as seen in the likes of the Steam Deck. I'm not knocking it, I have a Steam Deck myself and it's great to be able to play PS4 level games on the go, but this is hardware with around 1-2tflops of GPU power and relatively weak 4 core CPUs. Compare that to a Series X - 12tflops, and an 8 core CPU and you're not really dealing with the same generation of hardware. Or if you want to really compare it to something cutting edge an RTX 4090 comes in at around 85tflop.

So yes there will be the ocassional last gen PS4 port and there will be novelty in playing console games on a telephone. But don't expect to be playing Series X/PS5 exclusive titles.
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Where will the M3 series like Pro and Max be compared to Series X and PS5 you think? I hear the PS5 is somewhat like an RX 5700 XT – a GPU that I bought over three hears ago and have in my 2010 Mac Pro. :)

Or ”…an RX 6600 XT is a stable PS5 GPU equivalent choice.”
 
teh_hunterer said:
I liked your post and I agree with you, but it should also be pointed out that tech does matter sometimes - the iPhone having displayport out via USB-C is pretty important.
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I will agree with that. The Switch had the dock that effectively turned the tablet into a console (hence the name Switch). I just think, especially for Nintendo, that without the first party titles it wouldn’t have been as much of a success.
 
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spcopsmac21 said:
Ehhh no.
You have to understand that to push 4k ray tracing to a 42” or larger TV you need a lot of power. It’s not like the power sipping your screen does on the iPhone. The iPhone is amazingly power efficient. But once you plug it into a TV it’s going to require ALOT more power. I could see 1080p being spit out to a TV, sure.
But not 4k. That would require the iPhone to have some sort of auxiliary power supply. Like a DOCK ( cough Nintendo switch )
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Or maybe like a controller with auxiliary battery you can slot the iPhone into. I would be excited for no extra devices needed, but you are still going to need a game controller anyway. Well until they pair it with a Vision Pro.
 
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Sounds like they're quite aware of how games can warm up and then dim the display and throttle the SoC on previous iPhones. I was let down that this still happens on my 13 Pro on Star Rail and gets visibly choppy. I wonder if this still happens on 15 Pro.

Which devices get MetalFX Upscaling support? They had it before but now they're advertising it as tying into the new double performance Neural Engine on A17
 
Developers and gaming studios won't bother porting console titles to the iPhone 15.

Its way more profitable and better use tog time to develop a freemium game that runs across ios and Android. Plaster it with ads + in-app purchases and boom! £1 billion in annual revenue.
 
who plays graphic intense games on their phone?

Mac has been lacking good graphic games for years.

come on now.
 
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Love-hate 🍏 relationship said:
it's nice that they can scale up pretty well between A and M chips...but at the same time it also makes it bad for users

for example ray traycing serves no purpose on a phone, but they put it in and enhanced GPU in order to make M3/PRO (devices that have the thermal and battery capacities for it)

while they could have given us some 20% battery improvement and a more "phone" oriented chip , if they were focused on providing the best for each product and chip category
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well considering how big the gaming industry is and how money oriented apple is, it was a natural course for apple to cater to gamers at the cost of non gamers within the smart phone business. Apple wants a piece of everything, even if it means everyone else has to pay for it.

"Somebody sh#ts their pants and now we all have to wear diapers"
 
It's the same bullet point year after year lol. Apple will throw some money at X amount of developers and that's all we'll see. No AAA studios are going to spend all the time and money to get their game on an iPhone and sell a few thousand copies. Never mind desktop Mac systems are nutorious for poor gaming performance.
 
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Luna Murasaki said:
No mention of the AppleTV?

Would love an AppleTV capable of AAA titles that could replace my Xbox.
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Why would you want to replace an Xbox Series X with 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD, four USB ports, 4K blu-ray player, a free wireless controller, hundreds of good quality games? Apple will never make and sell anything close to that for $500, an Apple TV for that price will have 8GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD, no blu-ray player, no more than 50 good quality games.
 
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Love-hate 🍏 relationship said:
it's nice that they can scale up pretty well between A and M chips...but at the same time it also makes it bad for users

for example ray traycing serves no purpose on a phone, but they put it in and enhanced GPU in order to make M3/PRO (devices that have the thermal and battery capacities for it)

while they could have given us some 20% battery improvement and a more "phone" oriented chip , if they were focused on providing the best for each product and chip category
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Gaming on mobile is huge and this is going to push it ahead rapidly. Having this functionality IS providing accurate features for this device. iPhone and mobile as a while will take as much of that technology ad they can get in a chip that will work at the TDP and other requirements of phones.
 
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iF34R said:
It's the same bullet point year after year lol. Apple will throw some money at X amount of developers and that's all we'll see. No AAA studios are going to spend all the time and money to get their game on an iPhone and sell a few thousand copies. Never mind desktop Mac systems are nutorious for poor gaming performance.
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But the whole point of Apple Silicon is that gaming in Mac will become great. That’s exactly why apple has developed the chips and will spend money and effort to sway developers, and in doing so grow in the gaming segment
 
Tyler O'Bannon said:
But the whole point of Apple Silicon is that gaming in Mac will become great. That’s exactly why apple has developed the chips and will spend money and effort to sway developers, and in doing so grow in the gaming segment
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If you say so.

Apple haven't made much effort to court game developers. Certainly, there have been a few newer titles but they need sales to drive other developers to Mac.
 
spinedoc77 said:
Or maybe like a controller with auxiliary battery you can slot the iPhone into. I would be excited for no extra devices needed, but you are still going to need a game controller anyway. Well until they pair it with a Vision Pro.
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They need a set of controllers, such as those from Nintendo Switch or Lenovo Legion Go.
 
iF34R said:
I don't know if you're being serious, or sarcastic.
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I’m not being sarcastic. Apples A series chips paved the way for gaming in mobile, and the M series chips are paving the way for gaming in Mac. Yes, it’s been historically not great, but this expect to see a lot more serious gaming come to Mac.
 
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