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If Apple made a dedicated gaming device, should it be a gaming Mac or an Apple TV/ video game console hybrid?

R

Rradcircless

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 9, 2022
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I wanted to offset the doomsaying discussions dominating MacRumors' front page forum row with a fresh topic. For years I've been speculating that Apple will eventually create a designated AAA ready Apple TV. With each iteration of the streamer box they inch a little bit closer to this destination.

I want to put it up to the MacRumors community to discuss... if Apple ever makes a device aimed explicitly towards the gaming community, should it be a PC type or a console type? Or what if it was something that could be both plugged into your desk monitor AND your 60 inch 4k OLED TV?

I've always been attached to the idea of a TV based console, personally.
 
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throAU said:
I'm not sure if you've visited an arcade in some time, but they're full of mobile-app type games.
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The OP is specifically looking to have a gaming console similar to that of a PS or xbox or PC. That means AA and AAA games. So point stands what enormous gaming library?

I agree that apple's mobile gaming segment is huge and extremely profitable, the complete opposite is the case with Mac or AAA gaming.

The current apple tv can play some games and that endeavor has completely flopped on apple.

throAU said:
They could compete with the switch hardware wise by putting an M5 in the Apple TV and calling it a day.
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The mini has cooling issues as it is, throwing a hotter running processor in a smaller enclosure will not bode well.
 
diamond.g said:
They could add the fan back, but would that be enough thermal dissipation for a m5?
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The M4 mini (a larger enclosure then the apple tv) runs hot, and it appears the M5 SOC runs hotter then the M4, so I don't think having a gaming console in the current apple tv enclosure if feasible. That's not to say apple couldn't create a new enclosure for this pie in the sky apple console, but with references to the apple tv, I wanted to say that its not feasible in the current apple tv enclosure
 
maflynn said:
The M4 mini (a larger enclosure then the apple tv) runs hot, and it appears the M5 SOC runs hotter then the M4, so I don't think having a gaming console in the current apple tv enclosure if feasible. That's not to say apple couldn't create a new enclosure for this pie in the sky apple console, but with references to the apple tv, I wanted to say that its not feasible in the current apple tv enclosure
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add a fan and it has better cooling than ipad.

it can be done. will it? probably not, but not for technical reasons.

M series are clocked on the edge of the heat/power curve out of the box in the mac. downclock them 10%, lose 10% performance and the heat is MUCH less.

nothing says apple has to run it at the same clock speed as anything else. they can do this and it would be faster than the switch 1 by a long way, and compete with the switch 2 quite easily.
 
throAU said:
the switch throttles on battery; you're coming at it from a PC perspective when we're talking about a 200-300 dollar streaming box doubling as a cheap gaming platform.
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I think folks see that differently. The Switch 2 is limited to like 10W in handheld mode. I think the clocks are not hard locked, but of course anyone who could tell you otherwise is under NDA, lol.
 
throAU said:
the switch throttles on battery; you're coming at it from a PC perspective when we're talking about a 200-300 dollar streaming box doubling as a cheap gaming platform.
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Are you advocating that throttling is ok? I mean people are unhappy with the switch2 situation. Also food for thought, the switch 2 is a hand held unit running at 720p, where as a gaming console will need to run a 4k display, i.e., more GPU demands which equates to heat.

Second point,people may be more willing to deal with a handheld throttling, but a game console, not at all. People have complained about 30fps on a number of console games.
 
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It’s not enough for Apple to just stuff the A19 in an Apple TV chassis and tell people to pick a controller. It needs software to justify its existence. It would be nice if Apple designed some sort of backend ‘transcoder’ that fooled iOS games into thinking the AppleTV was an iPhone. It would instantly add all controller-compatible iPhone games to its library which includes some heavy hitters that would play much better on a TV. This includes some of the better F2P titles like Infinity Nikki, Diablo Immortal, Destiny Rising and Wuthering Waves.

Giving Microsoft a stab to get a proper Gamepass app for it out as well wouldn’t go amiss. I used Onecast almost exclusively for a few months last year whilst the kids borrowed the Series S and performance was flawless, to the point that I questioned why I even had a console at all. Being able to stream and play Final Fantasy XIV on an AppleTV was quite something.
 
Rradcircless said:
For years I've been speculating that Apple will eventually create a designated AAA ready Apple TV
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Well, you can stop now. They are not interested. Heck, they are not interested in half the products they have already released. No AAA game development studio will take Apple seriously in this space until they have a track record of a few generations of trying and failing, so their only way into the market is to lose billions in acquisitions so they can create exclusive content to get the ball rolling. Microsoft tried this a few years ago and it has not been going well for them.
 
Ctrlos said:
It’s not enough for Apple to just stuff the A19 in an Apple TV chassis and tell people to pick a controller. It needs software to justify its existence. It would be nice if Apple designed some sort of backend ‘transcoder’ that fooled iOS games into thinking the AppleTV was an iPhone. It would instantly add all controller-compatible iPhone games to its library which includes some heavy hitters that would play much better on a TV. This includes some of the better F2P titles like Infinity Nikki, Diablo Immortal, Destiny Rising and Wuthering Waves.

Giving Microsoft a stab to get a proper Gamepass app for it out as well wouldn’t go amiss. I used Onecast almost exclusively for a few months last year whilst the kids borrowed the Series S and performance was flawless, to the point that I questioned why I even had a console at all. Being able to stream and play Final Fantasy XIV on an AppleTV was quite something.
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Eh, part of the issue there is the AAA games would probably look like crap upscaled from such a low resolution.
 
HouseLannister said:
Well, you can stop now. They are not interested. Heck, they are not interested in half the products they have already released. No AAA game development studio will take Apple seriously in this space until they have a track record of a few generations of trying and failing, so their only way into the market is to lose billions in acquisitions so they can create exclusive content to get the ball rolling. Microsoft tried this a few years ago and it has not been going well for them.
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MS screwed up from the 360 era by letting all the weird and unique ip's die in an effort to chase "consistent" profits. Sadly Sony has started to follow them down the same rabbit hole.
 
diamond.g said:
Eh, part of the issue there is the AAA games would probably look like crap upscaled from such a low resolution.
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That’s where Apple’s secret sauce comes in. They’d be able to put a software layer in to remove control overlays and use DLSS to upscale the visuals like Switch 2.
 
Ctrlos said:
That’s where Apple’s secret sauce comes in. They’d be able to put a software layer in to remove control overlays and use DLSS to upscale the visuals like Switch 2.
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None of the AAA game ports, that I am aware of, run at native resolution on iPhones currently. So they are already upscaling. Doing so from lower resolutions (less than 720p) very very rarely look good on a 4k display. I've not seen a lot that points to MetalFX being able to scale up that far while retaining image quality, but I could be wrong.

And for the price Apple is likely to charge, it would probably have to look competitive to their contemporaries.
 
Rradcircless said:
I wanted to offset the doomsaying discussions dominating MacRumors' front page forum row with a fresh topic. For years I've been speculating that Apple will eventually create a designated AAA ready Apple TV. With each iteration of the streamer box they inch a little bit closer to this destination.

I want to put it up to the MacRumors community to discuss... if Apple ever makes a device aimed explicitly towards the gaming community, should it be a PC type or a console type? Or what if it was something that could be both plugged into your desk monitor AND your 60 inch 4k OLED TV?

I've always been attached to the idea of a TV based console, personally.
Click to expand...
I could totally see Apple doing this with either a standard Apple TV at some point (perhaps even the next model, with a chip upgrade, it should theoretically be able to run any game an iPhone can at least), and also possibly with an Apple TV Pro or something with an added fan and more power for heavier games. But definitely think something like the Apple TV makes more sense, as the experience of docking a Mac Mini at a TV would not be very great. You’d want a simpler interface that’s more focused and easier to navigate with a gamepad, more like tvOS. 👍🏻
 
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Neither a PC or console device. What type of market could Apple really have when they would be competing against Windows PCs, existing consoles and the Steam Deck.

Apple should spend that money instead in improving the gaming experience on the existing Macs.
 
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I’d rather Apple convince game publishers to release for macOS. The few games that have released (Baldur’s Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, XCOM2, and more) all run quite well on my M4 Pro MBP.

Also, I guess this is the semi-annual Pippin ][: Electric Boogaloo thread.
 
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Rradcircless said:
I wanted to offset the doomsaying discussions dominating MacRumors' front page forum row with a fresh topic. For years I've been speculating that Apple will eventually create a designated AAA ready Apple TV. With each iteration of the streamer box they inch a little bit closer to this destination.

I want to put it up to the MacRumors community to discuss... if Apple ever makes a device aimed explicitly towards the gaming community, should it be a PC type or a console type? Or what if it was something that could be both plugged into your desk monitor AND your 60 inch 4k OLED TV?

I've always been attached to the idea of a TV based console, personally.
Click to expand...
I would love this, connected to my TV. It's the biggest screen I have, connected to the best speakers I have, and it's got a great couch parked right in front of it. For me, way better and more socially-oriented than playing a game at my desk.

An Apple gaming console/device would also connect to AirPods with Spatial Audio, which would be a killer feature IMO.
 
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