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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?

PBG4 Dude said:
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.
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This all boils down to a financial decision both for game publishers and apple. There's reasons why publishers and developers choose to avoid the apple platform, they feel they won't make money it

Look at Cyberpunk, CDPR jumped through hoops to get the game released on the Switch 2
 
maflynn said:
This all boils down to a financial decision both for game publishers and apple. There's reasons why publishers and developers choose to avoid the apple platform, they feel they won't make money it

Look at Cyberpunk, CDPR jumped through hoops to get the game released on the Switch 2
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Yes, and they did an amazing job with the Switch release. Cannot believe how good it looks and how well it runs.

I figure Apple must have paid some serious dough or did some lifting converting from Vulkan to Metal to get these games onto Mac.
 
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PBG4 Dude said:
I figure Apple must have paid some serious dough or did some lifting converting from Vulkan to Metal to get these games onto Mac.
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Here's one potential issue as I see it.

Cyberpunk ran fine under crossover. How many mac gamers bought this as a windows game? They're not about to buy the mac version (well I'm sure some did). So if publishers can reasonably expect mac people to just use crossover, they'll get the sale without having to add another platform to the mix
 
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+1 for an AppleTV with a current gen A Series Chip. Or a M5. but imho, it’s not about the hardware. ATM I‘m happily doing most of my gaming on my playstation portal, streamed from the cloud. The RE4 remake looks and runs great on my ipad pro M5. But I wouldn‘t buy it because I already got it for the PS5 (including a VR version) long before it came out on the ipad and probably for less money. Apple would need to tweak the hardware a bit for dedicated gaming (better bluetooth antennas, maybe a fan, offer models with more storage or go fully cloud streaming, maybe partner with some hardware manufacturer for a splittable controller that also locks to the sides of ipads and iphones). The hardware is already there, they even got crazy fast handhelds. The problem is that they are probably not really interested in the gaming market apart from what they already get from little effort. They‘d have to allow cloud streaming at reasonable conditions (which will probably happen some day), court developers, for once really market gaming and make it more accessible on their devices. Looking for games one might like in the app store or in the games app is like shopping in the worlds largest supermarket but it has only four aisles, all products are distributed randomly every day and some of them are hidden behind really large posters. It‘s a shame, because games are fun and they could really be a Sega of old to Nintendo, but it seems like it‘s just not in their DNA.
 
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Apple should make the iPad the gaming device. Supposedly they are brining the a19 to the base iPad so that's a good sign. But the iPad Air and Pro need to have current gen console level graphics.
 
why would apple build a gaming machine instead of an fully integrated expresso machine / scotch Alexander blender
 
Unami said:
+1 for an AppleTV with a current gen A Series Chip. Or a M5. but imho, it’s not about the hardware. ATM I‘m happily doing most of my gaming on my playstation portal, streamed from the cloud. The RE4 remake looks and runs great on my ipad pro M5. But I wouldn‘t buy it because I already got it for the PS5 (including a VR version) long before it came out on the ipad and probably for less money. Apple would need to tweak the hardware a bit for dedicated gaming (better bluetooth antennas, maybe a fan, offer models with more storage or go fully cloud streaming, maybe partner with some hardware manufacturer for a splittable controller that also locks to the sides of ipads and iphones). The hardware is already there, they even got crazy fast handhelds. The problem is that they are probably not really interested in the gaming market apart from what they already get from little effort. They‘d have to allow cloud streaming at reasonable conditions (which will probably happen some day), court developers, for once really market gaming and make it more accessible on their devices. Looking for games one might like in the app store or in the games app is like shopping in the worlds largest supermarket but it has only four aisles, all products are distributed randomly every day and some of them are hidden behind really large posters. It‘s a shame, because games are fun and they could really be a Sega of old to Nintendo, but it seems like it‘s just not in their DNA.
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Everything you stated is completely true. Apple has to spend the money is the bottom line.

1. Is on marketing deices, especially, iPads as gaming devices.

2. Stop skimming out on RAM and processor strength. The iPad 12 needs at least 8gb of RAM and the A19 processor. The Air needs at least 12GB of Ram and all iPad Pros need to start at 16gb.

3. Apple needs to do the heavy lifting to get modern ports of FPS and sports games on to the iPad ideally. Honestly every third party game on the Switch needs to be on at least the iPad Air and Pro. Pay whatever you have to make this happen.
 
maflynn said:
Here's one potential issue as I see it.

Cyberpunk ran fine under crossover. How many mac gamers bought this as a windows game? They're not about to buy the mac version (well I'm sure some did). So if publishers can reasonably expect mac people to just use crossover, they'll get the sale without having to add another platform to the mix
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I know that I got the Windows version of Cyberpunk on Steam and played it under Crossover. I was also betting that the MacOS version would be released and that it would not cost me on Steam.
 
Yeah been saying it for year, that a Apple TV Pro Edition even if larger for cooling with M or A processor.
32GB ram and 1TB SSD. Would buy right now. But with the small little stupid updates from This is 4K. This is 4K with Doby. This is 4K with Doby Atmos. Whoop whoop.
Give me something worthwhile updating too.
They have a huge libary of games they could tap into. But for some stupid reason they choose not to give the apple TV any more value than a streaming box with dated games.
 
SevenTheGamingKitty said:
I think apple learnt enough from the Pippin to know that they probably shouldn't make a console that requires games to be made specifically for it.
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That may be true, but that is also the only user friendly way of doing it. Only hardcore folks put up with having to tweak settings in order to get a game to look and run good on a TV screen.
 
SevenTheGamingKitty said:
I think apple learnt enough from the Pippin to know that they probably shouldn't make a console that requires games to be made specifically for it.
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I think this is a fair point, though I will say this. Apple already has a “console” that requires games to be made specifically for it. It’s the iPhone. So with the iPhone’s large library of games, I could see an Apple TV with an A18 Pro chip or something, and that could run those games on a big screen more readily. That would make a lot of sense in my opinion. 👍🏻
 
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Kal Madda said:
I think this is a fair point, though I will say this. Apple already has a “console” that requires games to be made specifically for it. It’s the iPhone. So with the iPhone’s large library of games, I could see an Apple TV with an A18 Pro chip or something, and that could run those games on a big screen more readily. That would make a lot of sense in my opinion. 👍🏻
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Does Apple have a means to automatically translate controller inputs to touch inputs?
 
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Kal Madda said:
Apple already has a “console” that requires games to be made specifically for it. It’s the iPhone. So with the iPhone’s large library of games, I could see an Apple TV with an A18 Pro chip or something, and that could run those games on a big screen more readily. That would make a lot of sense in my opinion. 👍🏻
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I think the iPhone got more success by being a do-it-all device, gaming not being the main attraction. It was just fine for people who would like to check twitter one moment and play papijump the next. not to mention that Apple is more known for making devices that allow creativity, not the fact that it's nice to play games on their devices. marketing would kind of be an uphill battle (although maybe only about 10 degrees up or so)
 
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SevenTheGamingKitty said:
I think the iPhone got more success by being a do-it-all device, gaming not being the main attraction. It was just fine for people who would like to check twitter one moment and play papijump the next. not to mention that Apple is more known for making devices that allow creativity, not the fact that it's nice to play games on their devices. marketing would kind of be an uphill battle (although maybe only about 10 degrees up or so)
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I totally agree with that, that’s why I would say an Apple TV with improved gaming support with a higher performance chip would be most likely “console-like” device Apple will make (aside from iPhone and iPad). Apple TV is already connected to your TV, and combined with a more powerful chip, could run all iPhone games. Just pair it with a system that automatically translates gamepad controls to touch controls, and it would be great. And the Apple TV can be both, a streaming device for shows and movies, and a light gaming console that can run all the same titles the iPhone can. 👍🏻
 
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I will tell you this. Regardless of if it's technically a Mac, or an AppleTV, or something else, one things can be assured: It will not be an open platform similar to Windows,Linux, etc. Apple loves that sweet, sweet 30% cut too much to make a true, open, Windows/Linux Gaming competitor.
 
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Doubt it. There aren't enough good native games. There just aren't.

Plus, are you going to have the HDMI input on your TV set to game mode or not? Do you want low latency gaming but TV and movies that look like crap? Or do you want high latency gaming and TV and movies that look good?

That's why streaming devices and consoles should be separate. Total non starter.
 
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T'hain Esh Kelch said:
That number is from 2023, so unlikely to be AI slop.
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Maybe it’s not AI slop, but as @Basic75 pointed out, it’s definitely slop. Quantity alone does not equate to a healthy gaming ecosystem.

A commonly cited statistic is that Steam’s game library is estimated at a little over 120,000 titles. Even accounting for recent AI Slop, Steam is an older platform and effectively a monopoly in PC game distribution. Despite that, it reportedly has fewer games than Apple’s Mac App Store, which you stated has around 220,000 games.

The problem with that argument is that raw game counts are largely meaningless. Even if the Mac App Store truly does have 220,000 games, that number says nothing about whether it has games people actually want to play.

If Apple were to produce a console intended to compete with PCs, Xbox, and PlayStation, its biggest challenge would be attracting high-profile, mainstream titles that define modern gaming and drive consumer adoption.
 
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