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Minecraft for Apple TV Discontinued Due to Lack of Players

I'd say Microsoft intentionally killed this game on the AppleTV by deliberately crippling it -- it's been broken for over a year, with no access to multiplayer lan games or realms, due to an 'unresolvable bug' in the new Bedrock iOS version that affects Apple TV only -- so says Microsoft.

When you think about it, why would they want to maintain Minecraft on Apple TV when it's available on XBOX, Windows 10. Also notice that the Mac desktop version of Minecraft hasn't been updated for the Bedrock update -- you can't play on realms or multiplayer with that version. They are purposefully demoting Minecraft on Apple devices (except iPad/iPhone).

When Minecraft came out on ATV, I bought it for the premium price of $20 (versus $7 on iPad) and got the controller for $50, and it worked great for about 6 months until the Bedrock update came, and then it was broken for multiplayer LAN and the Realm service that we were paying for.

Yes, Apple fumbled at first requiring games to use the Siri remote, but that was pre-Minecraft on ATV. It was Microsoft denying this game on apple devices to push their own gaming devices and platform.
 
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IGI2 said:
Apple has really mocked that aspect of Apple TV.

It could be something great, they could team up with some great developers, they could show some love, refresh with latest A12 chip so that it could handle better games, anything...

But they choose to do nothing.
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Sometimes I really wonder what Apple is doing over there in their shiny new building. Maybe having money fights with their pile of cash...
 
AppleMark said:
Apple TV is not a games console, no matter how much Apple want it to be.
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Does Apple even want it to be a game console though? I feel like the implementation of "gaming" capability was just to check a box on the feature list against competing products, it seems too poorly designed and barely even talked about to be a real effort at a gaming system.
 
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AppleMark said:
Apple TV is not a games console, no matter how much Apple want it to be.
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BlargKing said:
Does Apple even want it to be a game console though? I feel like the implementation of "gaming" capability was just to check a box on the feature list against competing products, it seems too poorly designed and barely even talked about to be a real effort at a gaming system.
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I think the Apple TV works pretty well as a gaming box for the games that are designed to work well with a controller. So it can give quite a console like experience. But like has been mentioned in this thread I do think the Apple TV has much more potential to be a gaming device if Apple put a little more focus on that – perhaps for a start having a more inviting gaming section in the App Store for tvOS. Also promoting gaming and controllers a bit more on the site at https://www.apple.com/tv/ might be a good idea.
 
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Love my Apple TV ! Hate the remote, why can’t apple redesign it. Forget gaming, it’s terrible as a tv/movie remove , lottery that you pick it up the right way . And also a pain as it’s so easy to accidentally touch it, stopping or skipping content , Apple TV 3 remote was great , none of these issues
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radiology said:
Long time ago I said that Apple TV was not going to turn into a decent gaming platform. I guess all the signs tell me that my prediction was right.
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Agreed . It’s interesting that Apple thought they could replicate the iPhone success, thought living room is not the place people want to play games , it’s while commuting etc, pass time in my opinion
 
BlargKing said:
Does Apple even want it to be a game console though? I feel like the implementation of "gaming" capability was just to check a box on the feature list against competing products, it seems too poorly designed and barely even talked about to be a real effort at a gaming system.
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I think Apple wants to be everything to everybody and why it is not used very much in my household anymore. When you have games on your phone, that they then have dedicated replicas on ATV, then I think they do have gaming console ambitions - otherwise, we could just play via airplay to a big screen. However most 'real' gamers, will just buy an established games console instead.

Also, all new decent TV's are "smart" and you get Netflix, Amazon and other demand services - Even SKY (Bought by Comcast the other week), are integrating Netflix into their set-top box systems. Even, an Xbox and PS4 can do all those things.

So ATV is rarely used theses days, when there are better options readily available.
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star-affinity said:
I think the Apple TV works pretty well as a gaming box for the games that are designed to work well with a controller. So it can give quite a console like experience. But like has been mentioned in this thread I do think the Apple TV has much more potential to be a gaming device if Apple put a little more focus on that – perhaps for a start having a more inviting gaming section in the App Store for tvOS. Also promoting gaming and controllers a bit more on the site at https://www.apple.com/tv/ might be a good idea.
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For me, I personally think that the other useful aspects of ATV have been surpassed by integration in other tech. Also and as you point out you need a controller to get a console like experience. However the price of an ATV and controller is not far off a current Gen PS4, or Xbox - where you get a full console experience and most, if not all the other aspects of ATV.
 
AppleMark said:
For me, I personally think that the other useful aspects of ATV have been surpassed by integration in other tech. Also and as you point out you need a controller to get a console like experience. However the price of an ATV and controller is not far off a current Gen PS4, or Xbox - where you get a full console experience and most, if not all the other aspects of ATV.
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I agree on the pricing compared to ”real” consoles, but there is some other things of value with the Apple TV if one has other Apple products such as ”AirPlay Display” for getting the Mac screen onto the Apple TV, or Screen Mirroring for the iOS screen and AirPlay for audio, remote controlling the Apple TV using and iOS device etc.

One in my opinion major advantage the Apple TV has over consoles such as PS4 and Xbox is how quiet it is. I also have a PS4 Pro and its fans go crazy when playing games such as Overwatch — the Apple TV 4K seems to stay quiet (even for games such as: http://www.vectorunit.com/riptide-gp-renegade) despite its fan, and the Apple TV (4 gen) has no fans at all and can still play games that look surprisingly good for such a small and fan-less device.
 
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I'd hope that the gaming aspect would've taken off. I actually bought a nimbus controller but only use it for a Sonic game. I also used it for Disney Infinity (before that game went under). I feel like they made a conscious effort to move away from the gaming market.

That being said, I do think there IS a causal gaming market.....I find that the party games on apple tv are the ones that I play the most (i.e. jackbox). These multi player games only require players to use their smartphones.
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BlargKing said:
Personally I don't buy movies digitally because I don't want my movies to be locked into one particular account. If its not on Netflix or Amazon Prime, then I buy it on Blu Ray just so I have it all in one format that works on multiple platforms.
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I think the tide is shifting in regards to digital movies. Movies Anywhere upped the ante. The cross platform aspect is great! You can buy a movie from any digital store & it isn't tied to that platform.

While the quality is better, it's tough for me to go back to Blu Ray, lol. The convenience of digital for me is too appealing, lol.
 
4k is great. Gaming *could* be good enough. Instead, it's a mess because it gets designed around that awful remote. Hell, that remote is the biggest problem Apple has by a long shot. If they got that sorted out, people might use it. Instead, Apple TV is an overlooked gadget, and that's a shame.
 
Not surprising. Compared to what Amazon are doing with FireTV apple are seriously lacking. They seem to have never taken the ATV seriously, and taken years to roll out very basic updates, whilst the competition just breezes past them. It's a bit embarrisng when my crummy Virgin Media Tivo box is better at streaming netflix than my Apple TV.
 
The way I look at the Apple TV 4K, I never got it as a game console. I got it as a tool to watch HBO and Kanopy and Shudder and a few other streaming services with my gf, things we subscribe to (there's definitely a few more). We both absolutely love the UI and the remote and honestly don't see that aspect being much better.

For me, playing games was a bonus. I thought, I might as well get a Nimbus so I can mess around, and I could use it for my other devices as well. So I think I paid around $30 for that around Black Friday last year. The way I look at it, if I can mess around with a game like Inside or Dark Echo or Machinarium or The Silent Age every once in awhile, that works for me. But I can understand someone into the Fallouts and the Battlefields of the world to long for something a little more substantial. I'm good though.

And yes, as I said in an earlier post, there is something about its size/weight and complete quietness on top of my TV that appeals to me.
 
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It’s a shame to see so many lementing the excellent and innovative atv4 remote. I understand orientation can be an issue, my bulletproof solution was to stick a googly eye on the rear at the top, instant solution.

Once that’s not an issue, the kinetic scrolling is brilliant. However what’s gone horribly wrong is Apple not enforcing their UI standard on apps for consistency of behaviour. As an example the YouTube app is not designed around the remote and makes it impossible to navigate large lists comfortably without the inertial scrolling.
 
Muzzakus said:
It’s a shame to see so many lementing the excellent and innovative atv4 remote. I understand orientation can be an issue, my bulletproof solution was to stick a googly eye on the rear at the top, instant solution.

Once that’s not an issue, the kinetic scrolling is brilliant. However what’s gone horribly wrong is Apple not enforcing their UI standard on apps for consistency of behaviour. As an example the YouTube app is not designed around the remote and makes it impossible to navigate large lists comfortably without the inertial scrolling.
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Agreed about the YouTube app. They’re the one app I have that has to be difficult for seemingly no reason at all. It’s as if they’re a competing company that wants their tvOS app to be crap haha
 
Coffee50 said:
I think the tide is shifting in regards to digital movies. Movies Anywhere upped the ante. The cross platform aspect is great! You can buy a movie from any digital store & it isn't tied to that platform.

While the quality is better, it's tough for me to go back to Blu Ray, lol. The convenience of digital for me is too appealing, lol.
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Yeah I can see the appeal and convenience aspect of digital. If they let you download the movies you buy to a local drive that would be okay to me, but I don't like having to rely on streaming personally. My internet likes to pitch a fit, and during the winter power outages are common. I can power my TV and blu ray player with a generator, but I can't power my internet connection :^)

But heck, I still buy music on CD so maybe its just me. I just like having physical copies that aren't tied to a 3rd party service.
 
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Rogifan said:
I never understood why people wanted Apple TV to be a gaming platform. Anyone who wants to sit in front of a TV and play games will have a dedicated console. Apple TV should be nothing more than a streaming media device and should be a lot cheaper.

How and as far as the remote goes...the best remote for Apple TV is your iPhone.
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The iPhone and the iPad are excellent gaming platforms. Why not the Apple TV?
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Solomani said:
Mojang and Minecraft are now Microsoft-owned thralls. It's not the same exciting franchise that it was back in 2015-2016.
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And that’s why Minecraft was killed on Apple TV. Microsoft.
 
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Misuteri said:
Apple TV’s update to 4K last fall was meh. It’s still not as good as the ROKU ULTRA and you can’t upgrade the memory in it. The reason I say that is I have never seen or heard of a content provider get into a dispute with them. Everyone will work with the “neutral” hardware maker.

With Google, Amazon and Apple offering streaming boxes/sticks I still find myself having no need to go away from ROKU. I just don’t want to start getting locked into ecosystems.
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In what way is a roku ultra any better than an Apple TV 4K? What content provider is in a dispute with Apple? If anything Apple TV has all of the same features as a Roku in addition to iTunes and Apple Music and iCloud. Nothing is “locking you into an ecosystem” except convenience.

Cheaper, sure, but better - I don't think so.
 
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We have Minecraft on several platforms, including iOS. We wanted to buy on Apple TV also, but $20 was too much to ask for it. It’s not that the game isn’t worth $20. It just that the platform is the last place anyone would be playing. It would have been just another option for when we wanted it.

I really had hoped my iOS purchase would have carried over to the ATV like several other games we own. But Microsoft wanted to make the ATV version something different and charge for it.

So I’m a bit disappointed it’s going away, but I probably never would have bought it anyway for the reasons above. It would have had to have a really good sale to get my attention.

Sadly Apple hasn’t invested any time in boosting the ATV gaming capabilities and so it remains a wasted opportunity.
 
Perhaps Apple should offer a discount on fees or royalties taken by them if a developer makes something for TVOS and IOS.
Say 30% for IOs or TVOS only
20% if your APP works on both platforms.

This should hopefully encourage some developers to port apps to TVOS.
 
Another failure of Apple to get fully into gaming. Yes, this is more a Microsoft thing. But it is still part of a larger trend going on for decades now.
 
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