Pachter: Apple 2013 Console
- Thread starter TheChefO
- Start date
Apple is still a hardware manufacturer first, they make most of their income and their profit on selling phones, tablets and computers (and accessories!). Yes they also make a lot of money from iTunes and the App store, but hardware is still the most important segment.
In fact this entire new ecosystem with iOS and OSX integration is also mostly aiming for selling you more hardware. The key software components are free; but you need a Mac and an iPhone and an iPad to get the most out of it.
A gaming console with competitive hardware and a good enough profit margin would be way too expensive to sell. It's also a huge investment in both hardware R&D and in building up or buying first party developers to move the system.
I just fail to see how Apple could see this venture worth the effort. They are probably making good enough money on the App Store games on their platforms not dedicated to gaming, so why bother with a less profitable approach?
Also, current trends suggest that the hardware may get unimportant within a generation or two anyway, as smartphones and tablets get fast enough for hardcore gaming - or every other vendor may move to streaming in a decade. The better option is to wait and leverage the existing platforms when they become mature enough. Connect your tablet of phone with your TV, grab a controller, and you're there - why waste billions on something new that could easily remain a money sink by the time this convergence happens?
In fact this entire new ecosystem with iOS and OSX integration is also mostly aiming for selling you more hardware. The key software components are free; but you need a Mac and an iPhone and an iPad to get the most out of it.
A gaming console with competitive hardware and a good enough profit margin would be way too expensive to sell. It's also a huge investment in both hardware R&D and in building up or buying first party developers to move the system.
I just fail to see how Apple could see this venture worth the effort. They are probably making good enough money on the App Store games on their platforms not dedicated to gaming, so why bother with a less profitable approach?
Also, current trends suggest that the hardware may get unimportant within a generation or two anyway, as smartphones and tablets get fast enough for hardcore gaming - or every other vendor may move to streaming in a decade. The better option is to wait and leverage the existing platforms when they become mature enough. Connect your tablet of phone with your TV, grab a controller, and you're there - why waste billions on something new that could easily remain a money sink by the time this convergence happens?
Imagine the new Apple tv having dual Apple A8 chips inside, there you have your 99 dollar wii u spec competitor. they already sell the Apple tv for 99 so..
If they can get major developers on board to produce 9.99 dollar AA games then I can see it being a big succes, especially for the casual market, who already buys things on their iPhones or iPads
Apple's strategy for gaming would most likely be to keep bumping the iPad and have it hooked up to tvs directly or through Airplay. They could put a new processor in the AppleTV. I don't think it would hurt their iPhone business or their tablet business. Following what they've done in the past, it would probably be the A7.
they would just mirror it through airplay wouldnt they?
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Airplay requires an Airplay compatible receiver like an AppleTV or XBMC device. I can't see Apple devising a gaming strategy that relies on more than one device.
But then I've been an Apple customer since around 2003/04 and I don't think Apple really care that much about gaming above and beyond the revenue is makes for them already. I think Metal is all about maintaining a competitive advantage over Android in the traditional iPhone/iPad gaming arena.
I believe the same thing. I don't think they're going to aggressively chase after a piece of the console market. They're just going to let the mobile gaming industry grow "naturally" and make sure they keep as big a piece of pie as they can. They seem to be serious about gaming, and now they have a "to the metal" API that the big publishers and middleware providers wanted. At what point does the mobile market start to eat into the casual side of the traditional console market? If people are buying iPads that end up being a good way to play some nice looking games at an affordable price, when does that start to diminish their interest in a traditional console? There is still a huge performance disparity, but this console gen started with low-end specs and the mobile space is improving quickly (maybe it will hit a wall because of power limitations in a small form factor). How close to they have to close the gap for that casual market to start to overlap between mobile and console? It'll be interesting to see.
Just noticed the thread title. This is definitely one mark against Pachter (for whoever's keeping score!).
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I think it's already begun. People who game to fill time with little preference for the type of game they play may already have moved to mobile devices. However sales of games like GTA V (30+ million) and early WATCH_DOGS sales (4 million) suggest there are still a lot of people who like to play the kind of games that are best played on a big screen with a good controller and as long as there are enough of them left, there will continue to be a viable traditional console market.
I don't think it's even about performance, I think the bigger reason to game on a console if better interaction with the game, i.e. using a decent controller. I've never met anybody who preferred a virtual (touch) joystick on a phone/tablet over a real controller.
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Deleted member 11852
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To be fair, most pundits predictions about tech and gaming are terrible but the fact that he's a financial analyst, presumably with clients who listen to him, is terrifying
This is why I rarely like to play the prediction game. It's a crap industry. People who are paid to predict things are either lucky or shit. Being an armchair predictor is pretty dumb, and the only reason to do it is just for fun. Anyone that takes their own predictions seriously is fooling themselves.
There is some kind of iOS controller standard now, for snap-on controllers and for peripheral controllers. It specifies buttons and all that crap. I don't know how popular it is, but if say Unreal, Unity, Cryengine release SDKs that support it, and they start to release high quality "to the metal" games that support it, it could become a thing people want. For some reason EA dice, Unreal, Crytek and others are really getting behind the release of Metal. Will be interesting to see if any of that is games that require controllers, or are played ideally with controllers. You could basically make DS style games, but with much better graphics.
Hundreds of millions of potential new core gamers to consume a higher quality experience than the usual shite tap-fest for which these companies (thankfully!) can't compete. Metal shows Apple are serious about getting core games onto their devices, which is possibly huge for core games companies and middleware vendors to the same.
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Deleted member 11852
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True but it's chicken and egg. Although it's easy enough to support these controllers in the types of games where virtual touch pad controls already exist, I think it's a different story for developers currently writing games designed for the pure touch interface.
I think a lot of these controllers would need to be sold to send the message that there is a demand for those types of games. The API has been present in iOS7 for 8 months now and I don't see them setting the world on fire. Here's the Logitech one, which is £60.
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Deleted member 11852
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Yup. And the Logitech is designed specifically for the iPhone 5/5S and iPod Touch 5th Gen. So when I get my free upgrade in October 2015 (I have a 5S now), do I need to buy another controller because Apple have predictably changed the shape of the iPhone 6/6S?
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Deleted member 86764
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True but it's chicken and egg. Although it's easy enough to support these controllers in the types of games where virtual touch pad controls already exist, I think it's a different story for developers currently writing games designed for the pure touch interface.
I think a lot of these controllers would need to be sold to send the message that there is a demand for those types of games. The API has been present in iOS7 for 8 months now and I don't see them setting the world on fire. Here's the Logitech one, which is £60.
That thing makes the iPhone look like a first-gen Atari Lynx.
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