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In 3 years, 50% of all computers capable of playing AAA games will be Macs
- Thread starter senttoschool
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You're using a single extreme example.
$325cdn is $250.
The closest laptop I can find at Best Buy is this crappy AMD A6 with 4GB RAM and 64GB Flash memory for $307.
That's just pure crap. It's barely usable for 8-year-old kids, let alone AAA gaming.
Do you have data?
Here's the data from a very reputable research firm that shows gaming laptops outsell gaming desktops by a fairly large margin and the margin is growing.
It makes a lot of sense to me. DIY, RTX 3080, PC Master Race crowd is actually quite niched. Most people I know are own a single computer, usually a laptop, and those who game sometimes buy a laptop with a decent mobile GPU.
As I said, I paid $325Cdn for it brand new in box. You have to shop around.
Also, the market for Apple computers isn't the gamers. Apple never really cared about games past the Pipin debacle.
We're going off topic, but I'll bite...
There are 2.5 billion gamers worldwide, which is 32% of the world's total human population. Take away babies and toddlers and very old people and most adults are considered as gamers.
Source:
There will be 2.5 billion mobile gamers worldwide at the end of 2020
By the end of 2020, it is believed that there will be 2.7 billion gamers around the world according to a Newzoo report.
Can people here do some basic fact-checking and run some basic math before posting? It's not hard. Just google stuff.
Yep. And it's a chicken-egg problem. Those who are interested in AAA gaming just don't buy Macs. Hence, AAA games studios aren't compelled to release Mac versions. Hence those interested in AAA gaming don't buy Macs...
1. Most people go to Best Buy or Costco or Amazon and buy whatever looks like a decent deal there.
2. I could not find a laptop close to the specs of what you described for $250 USD. Not even close.
3. Your laptop is significantly worse than the M1 Air in just about every way.
4. Wait for Macbook SE.
And in my original post, I laid out how Apple will create the chicken (or the egg).
Here's the thing, that 2.5billion gamers are 99.9999999% people opening up candy crush for 10 minutes on their phones. They're not gamers. They're people wasting time.We're going off topic, but I'll bite...
There are 2.5 billion gamers worldwide, which is 32% of the world's total human population. Take away babies and toddlers and very old people and most adults are considered as gamers.
Source:
There will be 2.5 billion mobile gamers worldwide at the end of 2020
By the end of 2020, it is believed that there will be 2.7 billion gamers around the world according to a Newzoo report.www.pocketgamer.biz
Can people here do some basic fact-checking and run some basic math before posting? It's not hard. Just google stuff.
The majority of people on earth have trouble feeding themselves and their families. They don't have time, or money, for AAA videogames and much less for brand new Apple tech.
So... as a developer, what's the incentive for me to develop AAA game on a Mac versus, say... PS5 or Xbox Series?
Keep in mind... the cheapest Mac (Mac Mini) is still more expensive than the most expensive PS5 or Xbox Series consoles, and yet the latter 2 are far more powerful than M1. If we're just talking about raw power.
I don't see your point, to be honest. If you want to game, just stick with your gaming PC or buy a console.
Keep in mind... the cheapest Mac (Mac Mini) is still more expensive than the most expensive PS5 or Xbox Series consoles, and yet the latter 2 are far more powerful than M1. If we're just talking about raw power.
I don't see your point, to be honest. If you want to game, just stick with your gaming PC or buy a console.
I don't see it. You don't just need machines than can run AAA games, you also need people willing to purchase games.
1. Most people can't locate their own capital on a map. I don't do "most" people.
2. That's on you. Maybe if you practiced your searching skills you'd get a good deal too.
3. My laptop does exactly what I bought it for and an Air wouldn't be adequate for the task.
4. Wish upon a star!
You're thinking as a user, not as a developer. The developer evaluates the market. If the ROI justifies it, a game studio may consider developing and maintaining a Mac version.
But I'm not sure the number of AAA gamers among Mac users will be large enough.
I am a developer, though. That's why I'm asking that question.
Granted, I'm not a developer working for a AAA studio, but the same logic applies: as a developer, what about M1 will convince me to write games for it over Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Xbox Series, or Sony PlayStation 5? Or iOS for that matter?
In fact, if the Mac can run iOS games, why do I even have to write Mac games? I can just write iOS games and then sell on all 3 platforms (read: iPhone, iPad and Mac).
You keep making stuff up without any sources. Let me know when you can write something that is a fact, rather than baseless things.
Global gaming revenue grows a healthy 10% every year and mobile gaming grows 13%. Mobile gaming is literally bigger than PC gaming, Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo combined.
Your next post should start including links to data sources. Otherwise, it's pointless to have discussions like this.
The vast majority of Windows computer buyers are not gamers. Only a small percentage of Windows computers are actually capable of playing AAA games.
Listen, I don't doubt that the hardcore gamers will stick to Windows.
But as I have written many times, most gaming computers sold are laptops. This proves that most people are not hardcore about gaming and will just play popular games such as Fortnite, WoW, CS: Go on their laptops. These games were already ported to Macs when it was only ~2% AAA-capable gaming machines. Now imagine 50%. This is the whole point.
It's chicken and egg and Apple has made the chicken (or egg).
PS. Mac users are probably the wealthiest group of tech consumers. If 50% of AAA-capable computers sold yearly are Macs and Mac users are the wealthiest and spend the most on software, I'm going to port my AAA game over. Period.
This doesn't have to be an "OR". You balance the cost of developing and maintaining the Mac version vs. the revenues that it could generate. If you think you can make a profit, there's no reason not to do it.
That doesn't change my argument. You may have 5% of PC users interested in AAA gaming vs 1% of Mac users. That means it would take 5 times more Macs than PCs to have an equivalent base of potential AAA gamers.
I don't know the numbers. My point is that the number of Macs capable or running demanding games is only part of the picture.
We finally agree on something.
AAA games can cost hundreds of millions to develop. Developers need to release the games on just about every platform they can.
Only Sony and Nintendo make games for one platform. Every other AAA developer makes games on multiple platforms.
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I understand what you're saying but you and I don't have those numbers.
I did address this point earlier with what we do know in a post:
You're giving me some very vague methodology to try but without actually giving me any concrete reasons or numbers other than Apple's revenues. Honestly, that doesn't interest me, because it doesn't say anything about how much I'll earn when I write a game.
But I can tell you this much: my games have earned me far more on iOS (and then Android) than the Mac versions did. Ultimately, that was why I dropped the Mac version. And now that Mac can run the same games I've written for iOS, I have even less of a reason to maintain a Mac-specific version.
@senttoschool
I don't dispute the argument that the AAA gaming landscape on the Mac may improve. I just don't think it will be remotely comparable to that on Windows if Apple doesn't do something radical.
You see, Microsoft could just rest on their laurels and be content with the Windows install base. Yet, they have done much more. They have built the best game development tools (which I believe are still far better than Apple's). They have purchases several games studios, they have released a gaming console,... That's what it takes to have that many AAA games on your platform.
I don't dispute the argument that the AAA gaming landscape on the Mac may improve. I just don't think it will be remotely comparable to that on Windows if Apple doesn't do something radical.
You see, Microsoft could just rest on their laurels and be content with the Windows install base. Yet, they have done much more. They have built the best game development tools (which I believe are still far better than Apple's). They have purchases several games studios, they have released a gaming console,... That's what it takes to have that many AAA games on your platform.
Exactly the situation that OP does not notice here, that why I said this:
Looks like OP is unaware that:
- Gamers plays different games, therefore not all "gaming device" is going to play an AAA title
- Apple has multiple platforms and Mac has the weakest gaming revenue among all Apple platforms
- Increasing sales of "capable hardware" does not automatically increase the player-base of a game, who is buying such hardware does.
- And "who is buying" has to be changed by the one who promotes the hardware, not the one wants to sell software on that platform.
I think this is quiet pertinent. I feel like the AAA gaming audience just isn't there for Apple laptops and desktops. Most of those people own a Windows machine. And agreed, 'largest' gaming audience is via iOS, where the games and the gaming audience there is quite different from what's thought of as traditional AAA gaming.
This is probably the most important point. Of course, the question is what one considers AAA games. Among Mac users, there are a lot who are interested in strategy, simulation or RPG games. But shooters for example are virtually absent from Mac.