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Sketchy Rumor Claims Apple Developing Nintendo Switch-Style Gaming Console

I’d be curious to see how they price it, but if it’s more expensive than a switch I feel like it’s a hard sell. I could see this being an iPod touch successor though. Have the benefits of the apple ecosystem (iMessage, FaceTime, App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV) but refocused around gaming rather than around music so to speak. Just because music playback has sort of become a basic function of our devices and the need for a dedicated device is pretty nonexistent.
 
Seems like several rumors crashed into each other.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are skunkworks shenanigans with console-friendly chips going on.

But I think we're more likely to see some official Apple game controller, now that Arcade is no longer constraining gameplay to what can be done on their Apple TV remote flip phone.
 
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To me this idea should just be a new iPad Mini in the “Pro” style flat edge format, with new magnetic controller attachments. So it is an iPad, with detachable wireless controllers that just snap on magnetically.

The idea is to make it the flagship “gaming” device to push Apple Arcade, compete with the Switch and bolster the game ecosystem by finally giving developers a fixed “target” to build for.
 
fel10 said:
it will probably cost an arm and a leg and Apple doesn’t have one thing that Nintendo does. Popular well known first party games.
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While I did pick up Breath of the Wild when I bought my Switch; my most played games are indie roguelites, and Dark Souls: Remastered.
 
tubular said:
I could see it as a natural outgrowth of the iPod Touch.
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Maybe this will be an updated iPod Touch with a focus on Apple Arcarde. It could come with a detachable controller grip, similar to the Switch.

The iPod touch hasn't been updated in two years and is still running the A10 chip, so an update is long overdue. Parents who subscribe to Apple One would buy it for kids that are too young for a cell phone. That way the kids could be setup with an Apple ID, use Apple Arcade, and now they're hooked on Apple devices for the future.
 
Perhaps Apple is going to make a cheaper iPhone Max, especially after the reported failure of the Mini. Apple really seems to want to make strides in gaming right now, so perhaps they make an iPhone Max with connections for some kind of controller attachments. Who knows. As others have pointed out, a dedicated gaming device makes no sense when people have iPhones and iPads.
 
Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
I can understand a controller-attachment for iPads, especially given how many people already own them - but an actual console?

I hope Apple understands that hardware alone isn't what makes a good gaming experience, it's the quality of the franchise, concept and development. Nintendo has decades of experience and intellectual property, which love them or hate them is what sets them apart.
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Yep.. precisely. Apple, if anything, has shunned gamers and gaming for a long time now. Even back in the Jobs era, Steve took issue with "violent games" and refused to sell any of the 3D shooters or war type games in Apple retail stores. Now, they seem to think the "casual gaming" like you'd play on an Apple TV is a space they can do well in. But I think that's an area with no real differentiation. Those titles can run on lots of hardware out there. Roku set-top boxes have been running Angry Birds for many years, for example -- and you can play a whole list of things on the touch-screen in a Tesla, even pairing up the same controllers that you'd typically pair to an Apple TV.

Software-wise, Apple is probably the polar opposite of Nintendo - who invested in the franchises of gaming characters and game titles. Their hardware is just the only means to run those titles unless they deem it otherwise and port one to another platform.
 
Could this actually be the mixed reality / Vr device? Would make a lot of sense for Apple to develop games for it prior to release.
 
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This would only work if Apple were to actually buy Nintendo. Or at the very least partner up for a generation in a deal that is very favorable to Nintendo. I'm sure Apple knows what Nintendo's true value is and that they cannot match that on their own, regardless of how nice the hardware is. Nintendo has consistently done well even when competitors had superior hardware.
 
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Assuming this would target Hardcore/Passionate gamers, Apple would quickly find out that it is a hard demographic to please. They don't want Apple's sanitized games; they want it raw, dirty, uncensored. It's much harder to make video games compared to Film/TV. Amazon, Google & many others have tried. Yet, only Sony, Microsoft, & Nintendo have survived over all these years.
 
Cyluks said:
Better not have drift lmao.
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Yeah. How many years has the Switch been out for and still no solution for the drift issue? I’m sure that they’re just waiting for the third revision to get it right. Maybe you’ll be able to use a Bluetooth headset without a dongle on the new Switch
 
I can see it happening.

but let’s say apple wants to go after the gamer audience. How the hell do you pull people away from Sony and Microsoft. Hell, even Nintendo with the amount of first party titles.

I clearly am not in the target audience (I have a ps4, still trying to lock down a ps5, a switch and gaming pc). But even then, if this were to come out and someone were to ask me what to get, at the very least I’d suggest a switch. Who wants an apple specific console for Apple Arcade lmao.

And let’s say they do they first party titles. Still, get either a ps5 or even a series S.
 
Bill Av said:
Yeah. How many years has the Switch been out for and still no solution for the drift issue? I’m sure that they’re just waiting for the third revision to get it right. Maybe you’ll be able to use a Bluetooth headset without a dongle on the new Switch
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Dude seriously. Just push the ticks in each direction and blow as hard as you can. I’m not being sarcastic. I had drift once and that fixed it. Both on my pro controller and joy cons.
 
PBG4 Dude said:
While I did pick up Breath of the Wild when I bought my Switch; my most played games are indie roguelites, and Dark Souls: Remastered.
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Ok. But people usually buy consoles mainly for their first party games. If Apple Arcade is any indication of how Apple games are going to be like, than Apple should stay away from gaming.
 
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