I can't decide if this means they are becoming more serious about gaming (highlighting external controllers), or less serious, by reducing functionality in this way. The fact they used an old A12 chip makes me think the latter might be true.
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New Siri Remote Lacks Accelerometer and Gyroscope for Gaming on Apple TV
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How much power do you need with ATV at this point?
I had the first version. It was pretty cool. Kept wondering what they would do with it for the future. At one point, I think they decided to kill it, but it survived. They are really complicated inside. They put a lot of stuff in that little box. The old Siri remote was incredibly complicated. It had an ST microprocessor in it. A whole lot of tech, for a 'remote control'...
Having a good sky-is-falling Apple moan attempting to establish forum cred, apparently. However, they need a sneering "TC needs to be fired" in order to get over the finish line.
I’m guessing the new Apple TV 4K also doesn’t support spatial audio with AirPods Pro/Max either?
weird that they don’t explain that you can use your iPhone instead of the remote or a controller. Unless something has changed there.
You don't have little kids do you? We have a 3yo and a 10mo. We now keep the AppleTV remote on a shelf about 4-5 feet off the ground. If we don't, it quite literally could be ANYWHERE, including the garbage or recycling bins, a coat pocket, the car, etc. Having it accessible also meant our TV randomly was turned on all the time because our oldest figured out quite awhile ago all he had to do was push any button on the remote to turn on the TV.
Wow, Apple. That makes this AppleTV a complete non-starter. I've been waiting since last August (when I got a new 4K TV) for a new AppleTV. My daughters play both a tennis game and Just Dance on the AppleTV. Both require a controller with an accelerometer. Just Dance will allow second, third, and fourth players to use their iPhone (and its accelerometer) to dance along, but the first person must still use the regular remote. This is a significant omission. 
I will be continuing to wait for the gaming-focused AppleTV.
I will be continuing to wait for the gaming-focused AppleTV.
This one should have been released months ago. It isn’t new tech and they’ll have lost customers who will have bought rival devices while waiting. Very strange to hold on to this so long when it was reported to be ready last year.
are you me? I was going to list these exact reasons why this is disappointing news for my household.Wow, Apple. That makes this AppleTV a complete non-starter. I've been waiting since last August (when I got a new 4K TV) for a new AppleTV. My daughters play both a tennis game and Just Dance on the AppleTV. Both require a controller with an accelerometer. Just Dance will allow second, third, and fourth players to use their iPhone (and its accelerometer) to dance along, but the first person must still use the regular remote. This is a significant omission.
I have ditch Apple TV 4K boxes and have all Firestick 4K and Fire Cubes now! Try selling them on eB*y and no takers yet!
That's a bummer.
My kids love the minimal gaming on the TV. and the remote comes in handy with the simple games they played. if we were bigger into gaming and wanted a 'real controller' we wouldn't be gaming on the TV. If we wanted to use an Xbox, PS3 controller we'd just use those game systems (which we don't have).
We have a switch, they use that but sometimes the simple flying games or Minions game on TV are good enough and use the gyroscopic motion and accelerometer. I thought about just grabbing a new remote for our year-old AppleTV4K but wont do that now, not when I would have to spend more money to have the games we played playable again.
My kids love the minimal gaming on the TV. and the remote comes in handy with the simple games they played. if we were bigger into gaming and wanted a 'real controller' we wouldn't be gaming on the TV. If we wanted to use an Xbox, PS3 controller we'd just use those game systems (which we don't have).
We have a switch, they use that but sometimes the simple flying games or Minions game on TV are good enough and use the gyroscopic motion and accelerometer. I thought about just grabbing a new remote for our year-old AppleTV4K but wont do that now, not when I would have to spend more money to have the games we played playable again.
Feel free to prove me wrong anytime you want rather than trying to score cute linguistic points
Well, there *is*, but the game companies take that as a challenge. 'How fast can we slow that baby down'...
I give my old ones to my brother, and put up with him complaining about what they don't support that he *has to have*... I did scrap one of the first gen black boxes (and both of the original jumbos) and dwas impressed at all the 'guts' there...
No, they don't want those sales. From Apple's perspective, a $39 streamer would be a loss leader for its far more lucrative streaming service. If other companies are willing to offer that streaming service, it's better to leave the low-revenue streaming products to others, especially since Apple would have to compromise its design and build principles to compete in that space.
As to merging the ATV with the HomePod, I'm sure that has been discussed, but it has serious downsides. The main one is probably that many (most?) ATV users tuck their ATV's into cabinets or place them behind TV's, etc. Many other ATV users rely on other audio devices (soundbars, external amps, etc.) and aren't necessarily interested in an Apple solution. In short, while there are some benefits to doing that (and I wouldn't entirely rule it out at some point), it's not an obvious win for Apple.
I may order two. I don't care about games. I wish they would allow the arcade app to be deleted.
The number of consoles and accessories sold. The graphics card industry. The PC gaming industry compared to total number of AppleTV’s sold since Gen 1 (before they could even run games) would say no serious gamer would be playing on AppleTV.
I like the AppleTV. I even game occasionally on it. But lets be real here...
You're missing the point. Even if all of that is true, are you suggesting that Apple should make zero changes to the AppleTV as a gaming platform, no attempts to attract any kind of gamers at all?
If not, what's your point? "Serious gamers?" Who cares?
No you're the one missing the point - that being that Apple has never been serious about gaming and it never will. Don't point me to AA. There's nothing there but glorified iOS titles.
Anyone who is even remotely serious about gaming stays FAR away from Macs. Bad thermals, poor graphics cards, even worse ram "options". Need I go on?