Should Apple be a games publisher?

[Bodhitree]

It strikes me that Apple own platforms on which people play games, but they do not themselves fund and publish games. It sets them apart from other people who own hardware platforms which are used for playing games, such as Nintendo and Microsoft and Sony. The major console owners all have a number of first-party studio’s and exclusive games which are optimised to run on their platforms, but Apple has ignored that route.

Technically, Apple’s hardware is perfectly capable. The M1 may not have the graphical grunt of an Xbox Series X, but it more than outperforms the Tegra chip in the Nintendo Switch. You don’t need cutting-edge, ray-tracing hardware to make good games or have a presence in the market. Nintendo show that. So then why do Nintendo have these huge franchises generating several billion euros in revenue — Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 31m copies at roughly 60 euros a copy. It works for them because their games are built specifically for their hardware, and that is how they build a market, a device that lasts five years and franchises that last 30 years and more. It seems like Apple is leaving money on the table.

More often than not, games end up being an afterthought on Macs, receiving ports that are several years late, and on iPadOS and iOS games are sold in a general marketplace which does not help in creating blockbusters. It gives the feeling that although games help drive App Store revenue, they are not really a first-class citizen in Apple’s consideration for making products.

Apple could fix these things by becoming the first-party publisher on its platforms, creating tent-pole franchises which they could publish across multiple of their platforms, leveraging quality into increased visibility for their hardware as a gaming platform and at the same time promoting the kind of game experiences which suit their brand.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Apple would need to provide a $400 or less gaming machine to compete with MS/Sony/Nintendo, so perhaps a supped up Apple TV. Then they'd need a few AAA games along the lines of Call of Duty or Halo. But they can't release them until enough people own a supped up Apple TV, or sales figures will show them to be a flop, and no one will buy them...

So first Apple needs to get people to buy a $400 Apple TV, when a $200 is "good enough". So perhaps Apple subsidizes the $400 device and sells it at a loss, for $200. Then, after a few years of this, releases 4 or 5 AAA games in a row, making everyone want an Apple TV for the games that already a lot of people can play.

That's the way Apple gets into the console gaming market. And IMO, that's the only way. Gamers aren't going to give up $400 consoles and $800 PCs for a $1500 iMac that only has 2 or 3 games on it.

Apple's other choice is to target the mobile gaming market, and take a 30% cut for every game and every in-app purchase that is sold.

Oh wait, they already do.

 

[Pakaku]

Apple Arcade? It's not publishing, but it's a first-party curation service.

 

[pmiles]

What? Like buy Bungie like Microsoft did and force them to make games for their platform? Because that is the only way games are going to be written for the Mac platform (desktop).

Just look at all the game studios out there... the majority of which are pulling away from desktop gaming with each passing day. Even Blizzard is slowly removing itself from the platform.

Apple is spending a small fortune to dip it's toes into the streaming arena... mainly because the days of purchaseable media is rapidly shrinking. Pretty much everything is going subscription service. Hate to say it, but the days of standalone game, music, and video purchases are pretty much coming to an end.

 

[Bodhitree]

Given the amount of money that Apple makes off games in the App Store — supposedly 30% of 47.5bn USD in 2020 across all platforms — they are already a really large player. But they don’t make any money off games on the Mac, and the Apple TV is a bit anaemic as a games platform, it seems to be mostly intended as a streaming box.

I do think there is room for a slate of first-party titles on Apple platforms. It really depends on what kind of vision they are willing to buy into in terms of rendering quality and so on. But it would benefit them to have a range of top-quality games available across the platform.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Politically it would be a non-starter. More cries of "Monopoly" (the business practice, not the game).

Practically? Hit entertainment is hard to manufacture. As much influence as the major TV and film studios, streaming services, record labels, book publishers, etc. have in what people experience, they almost never build their content from the ground up. They leave that to a much larger army of independents to create and develop stories, songs, shows, etc. and push their productions to the organizations that control distribution. In video entertainment Apple has waded deeper into the process than usual, but for the most part there's no shortage of good content that comes through Apple's stores and subscription services (with a 15% to 30% skim) without Apple needing to decide who might get up-front development money (and with the back end benefit of adding Apple's brand to the splash screen).

The game console makers need to distinguish their new platforms by having platform-exclusive content. Without it, they have a harder time differentiating their platform. However, once launched and established they need more titles than they could ever develop on their own, and the independent game developers (just like every other entertainment producer) prefer to have multi-platform availability, which enables them to reach a larger audience.

Apple has a long history of bringing third-party developers in on new foundational technologies such as Metal and ARKit - it seems every WWDC Keynote includes at least one game preview that leverages the new tech. And Apple's boast of running the world's biggest game platform is quite valid, even if most of the games sold are well behind the cutting edge of gaming technology.

But it seems Apple fans never tire of the dream that someday Apple will become the #1 platform for hard-core gamers. Some are now thinking, "Apple Silicon Macs will make my dream come true!" I have my doubts. Apple Silicon has been around for a while now on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. No shortage of games, but nothing to make the hard core gamers ditch their current platform of choice. The chances that an institution like Apple can create the kind of games that would tempt hard core gamers to jump to Apple seem pretty slim.

 

[Bodhitree]

I don’t think it would be such a problem politically. Look at the other games console manufacturers, they make hardware and constrained markets and first-party games both, it seems to be an established business model.

But I agree with you that making hit content is hard. Look at the struggle Apple is having doing that in the Apple TV+ area, they are making highly reviewed shows which hardly seem to move the needle in giving the platform visibility. In the tv arena they are somewhat forced into making content, because there are so many competing platforms that hit exclusives drive the adoption of the platforms. It is not a case of “build it and the developers will come”, content is more silo’ed.

I think you can apply the same reasoning to games. People buy games hardware to play the exclusives, and I don’t see Apple creating game exclusives to push the Apple TV and the Mac as gaming platforms. They aren’t giving people a reason to be on the platform for those reasons, while there is a sales and market incentive to do so. A lot of games enthousiasts own multiple platforms because they want to play the latest games when they come out.

The iOS and iPadOS game markets are obviously healthy and profitable. There are a number of hit games out there that are on the platform, although the size of the market creates major visibility problems for consumers, and this influences the creation of major franchises. It’s a problem they should resolve.

 

[skaertus]

I do not think Apple should do that. There are already different game platforms and many developers and publishers out there, making games for every possible consumer. There is no need for one more.

Apple should focus, as it once did, on providing disruptive solutions, and not on being an additional competitor in already crowded markets.