iPad Steam deck proves Apple missed an opportunity

[noraa]

For whatever reason, Apple has never focused on gaming. Yes the A and M series chips are powerful enough to play some AAA games, but Apple simply doesn’t care. You say it was a missed opportunity for Apple not to make a deal with Valve or do something more for games, I would argue never even saw it as an opportunity. Look no further than the Vision Pro - it has the potential to be an amazing VR gaming experience, but nowhere in Apple’s marketing for the device are games ever mentioned.

It’s all about priorities, and gaming has never been one for Apple.

 

[bousozoku]

there in lies the problem. Apple who was once considered the richest company in the world can’t manage to have a good gaming ecosystem on IOS. But a company like Valve who became big with a single computer game and then made steam has an ecosystem with practically no garbage at all and very reasonable prices.

Apple has to have administration who want gaming on any machines. They certainly talked about gaming on iOS at every opportunity while hindering gaming on Macs. The next operating system versions should be better at running games, but all that AI nonsense will keep me away for a while.

Valve is hated quite a lot. They are supposedly unfair and charge fees for sales and distribution.

 

[Isengardtom]

I have one but only to use it with an external monitor like a PC. I have no idea how anyone can play on such a tiny screen ( but then all my games are Grand Strategy or 4X , with big screen estate requirements )

4X and turn based games are actuall a genre that would be great on the iPad.

I really enjoy playing civ 6 with my apple Pencil lol.

 

[Isengardtom]

Side note; if anyone hasn’t tried a Steam Deck, it’s awesome. I love my OLED Deck.

One of the best tech purchases I’ve ever made. Highly recommended.

Same here - easily my best purchase of 2024 and makes me regret spending all that money on building a desktop PC, which I now barely use.

 

[noraa]

there in lies the problem. Apple who was once considered the richest company in the world can’t manage to have a good gaming ecosystem on IOS. But a company like Valve who became big with a single computer game and then made steam has an ecosystem with practically no garbage at all and very reasonable prices.

It's not that they can't manage to have a good gaming ecosystem, it's simply that it isn't a priority for them. I stated in a previous reply, but Apple has never once focused on gaming. Every so often you'll hear something about a company brining a AAA title to the Mac or iOS/iPadOS; but that's usually not as a result of any big partnership with Apple.

I would love if Apple focused more on games, as I think the M-series chips would be fantastic for it; but I'm under no illusion that that will ever happen.

Complaining about Apple missing an opportunity around gaming is like complaining that they don't focus enough on inexpensive hardware. I.e. You don't invest in the Apple ecosystem for games or cheap hardware, that's just not what Apple is about

 

[cjsuk]

I think they're boiling this frog slowly and quietly. Both M4 Pro iPads and the A17 Pro have hardware raytracing, support proper game controllers, iOS 18 has low latency game mode and they both can stream 4k out or use hardware scaling of 1080p up to 4k. This hardware will be mid-range in 2 years and in the standard iPhone and the iPad Air.

At that point there is commodity hardware that you already own and use every day in your hand on the market which is probably 75% as good as an XBox or PlayStation (which is good enough) with a store and multi-purpose ecosystem that backs it up. The development costs of proprietary platforms are much higher as well - you can't just walk into an Apple store one afternoon and be building games the next day with PS for example.

While they won't take the market entirely they will dent it massively and that's all they need to do.

What would be interesting is an Apple TV with an A17 Pro in it...

 

[rappr]

It's not that they can't manage to have a good gaming ecosystem, it's simply that it isn't a priority for them. I stated in a previous reply, but Apple has never once focused on gaming. Every so often you'll hear something about a company brining a AAA title to the Mac or iOS/iPadOS; but that's usually not as a result of any big partnership with Apple.

I would love if Apple focused more on games, as I think the M-series chips would be fantastic for it; but I'm under no illusion that that will ever happen.

Complaining about Apple missing an opportunity around gaming is like complaining that they don't focus enough on inexpensive hardware. I.e. You don't invest in the Apple ecosystem for games or cheap hardware, that's just not what Apple is about

Apple has never once focused on gaming? What is Apple Arcade then?

 

[Howard2k]

there in lies the problem. Apple who was once considered the richest company in the world can’t manage to have a good gaming ecosystem on IOS. But a company like Valve who became big with a single computer game and then made steam has an ecosystem with practically no garbage at all and very reasonable prices.

That analogy makes no sense.


Apple who was once considered the richest company in the world can’t manage to have a good CRM ecosystem on IOS

They’re not in the CRM market. They‘re not in the game console market. They’re barely in the gaming market, though that’s changing. It’s nothing to do with being “considered the richest company”.

Valve doesn’t have a good Tablet ecosystem either.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I know lots of people with iPads. I don't know anyone that has even seen a steam deck..most have never heard of it. I've never seen one.

 

[CapitalIdea]

You’re confused. I said the steam deck exists because Apple didn’t make the iPad able to use existing ecosystems like steam. The Arm chips in the iPad are powerful enough to play Mac/windows games (as seen in MacBook airs and pros).

By Apple not working with Valve, not allowing Mac games on iPad OS and not banning freemium to encourage quality triple A games, a system like steam deck (& windows gaming handhelds) were born filling the niche that Apple clearly missed the mark on.

Could steam deck have still been created by valve if iPads were able to play steam games (possibly, but there would have been a lot less incentive if iPads could play steam games)

Cite your source that Valve would have even collaborated on such a thing, and explain why Apple should have worked on a device to run Windows games. Make sure you justify your argument and explain why further enabling windows is somehow beneficial long term to the MacOS and iOS platforms.

 

[heretiq]

the iPad is clearly more powerful than steam deck and could play games better. However, Apple decided from the get go to allow companies to make freemium garbage and ruin the gaming ecosystem of iPad.

Hence, Steam Deck was created to fill the niche and also windows gaming handhelds. If Apple were to partner with Valve to allow steam on iPad it would be a game changer, but we won’t see that and it will continue to get outclassed by these new gaming handhelds coming out.

Some Facts:
1. Steam deck sales: 3M
2. iPad sales: 500M+

I think we can agree that Apple hasn’t hyped the iPad as a gaming device, but claiming that Apple missed an opportunity with gaming while the iPad delivers $30B in revenue vs Steam total revenue of less than $9B is problematic at best — and an obviously premature waiving the checkered flag based on the iPad gaming announcements and demos at WWDC last week.

 

[Logic368]

Side note; if anyone hasn’t tried a Steam Deck, it’s awesome. I love my OLED Deck.

One of the best tech purchases I’ve ever made. Highly recommended.

It looks kinda heavy to me. Is it tiring to hold it up to play for a long time?

 

[PaperMag]

Isolating for game sales, Apple makes 4x more revenue than Valve does as a whole company (Steam store, game IPs, Steam Deck, etc).

Apple didn't make a financial mistake. They used their strength to grow a trend in mobile gaming. Maybe at the expense of PC gaming but thats only becoming possible with current iPhone/iPad hardware, and wasn't the case ten and five years ago, but mobile gaming was booming so they did right by shareholders and game developers.

Apple is now in a position to receive AAA PC titles on iPhone, iPad and Macs—so they seem positioned to win in that arena moving forward because those studios want to sell to iPhones and iPads as well. Seems inevitable.

 

[Abazigal]

So what exactly would allowing Steam on iOS devices accomplish for Apple? I doubt Valve (the parent company) would be happy with letting Apple double-dip into their earnings (ie: let Apple take a cut of game purchases before they take their own cut). Also, you face the issue with Steam games usually needing physical game controllers, which the iPad and iPhone don't have, and the issue here is that you can't really assume that every person who downloads the steam app would own a game controller.

That's a lot of assumptions, which is likely why freemium games took off on iOS - they have a very low barrier to entry, and are designed to be played in small pockets of time (which again, fits in with the scenario of a consumer wanting to kill a few minutes here and there). It's going to be much less innocuous sneaking in a game of candy crush during a boring lecture or waiting for the bus than a more immersive game like Doom or Street Fighter which demand 100% of your attention.

With a game console like the Switch or Steam Deck, the user likely knows that they need to set aside at least an hour of play time, and most people are not bringing these devices outside with them.

It really comes down to the environment and business model influencing the outcome.

 

[noraa]

Apple has never once focused on gaming? What is Apple Arcade then?

True, I kinda forgot about Apple Arcade; which, on some level, kinda proves my point. Apple made a bit of a splash with Apple Arcade, and at first there were actually quite a few good games with more on the way. Unfortunately, due to Apple's antipathy towards game, they let Apple Arcade flounder, and now it's mostly filled with old games that used to be freemium, but are offered on Apple Arcade without the in-app purchase crap. THere's no longer any good new games being released on Apple Arcade like there were in the beginning.

 

[rui no onna]

It looks kinda heavy to me. Is it tiring to hold it up to play for a long time?

Yeah. I rest my arms on a pillow to take the weight off.

One nice thing with the Deck vs Switch is the charging port is at the top so you can charge it while playing. Then again, it needs the power more than the Switch.

 

[TechnoMonk]

Gaming is a huge multi year investment. Microsoft bled money with Xbox for years. I doubt Apple will ever focus on gaming, and it’s not hardware. It’s investing in top studios and titles. They are in casual gaming with Apple Arcade, nothing serious.

 

[Sezel]

the iPad is clearly more powerful than steam deck and could play games better. However, Apple decided from the get go to allow companies to make freemium garbage and ruin the gaming ecosystem of iPad.

Hence, Steam Deck was created to fill the niche and also windows gaming handhelds. If Apple were to partner with Valve to allow steam on iPad it would be a game changer, but we won’t see that and it will continue to get outclassed by these new gaming handhelds coming out.

This and a lot of other things could be easily accomplished if iPad had full macOS functionality.

 

[macfacts]

Apple has no interest in making emulators for other systems.

W.i.n.e. is not an emulator. Steam deck has all the direct x stuff running under Linux. Apple doesn't get a cut of windows/macOS games sold on the internet or bestbuy. Apple wants devs to make native iPadOS/iOS games sold in the iOS app store, that's how they can force devs to give up a percentage of sales to apple.

 

[macfacts]

Mac apps

This and a lot of other things could be easily accomplished if iPad had full macOS functionality.

How can apple force devs who make macOS apps and games give up a percentage of sales? They can only do that by forcing them to make native iOS apps/games and selling in Apple's online store.

 

[macfacts]

Valve is hated quite a lot. They are supposedly unfair and charge fees for sales and distribution.

I can buy games from bestbuy or good old games or epic store and play them on the steam deck.

 

[bousozoku]

I can buy games from bestbuy or good old games or epic store and play them on the steam deck.

I know. I have a keyboard and mouse, plus two launchers on the desktop for such games.

 

[bousozoku]

It looks kinda heavy to me. Is it tiring to hold it up to play for a long time?

It really isn't that bad. However, lighter would be better.

Some games can be played with Steam Deck on a dock with keyboard and mouse or even a Bluetooth-capable controller.

 

[macfacts]

I know. I have a keyboard and mouse, plus two launchers on the desktop for such games.

So who hates valve? And for what reason?

 

[leman]

W.i.n.e. is not an emulator. Steam deck has all the direct x stuff running under Linux. Apple doesn't get a cut of windows/macOS games sold on the internet or bestbuy. Apple wants devs to make native iPadOS/iOS games sold in the iOS app store, that's how they can force devs to give up a percentage of sales to apple.

You are arguing semantics. The purpose of WINE (and Proton) is to run applications developed for a foreign OS, using foreign toolkits and non-native APIs. Whether one calls this emulation or something else does not change the matter. Goign that route means giving up your autonomy as an independent actor. If your gaming strategy is running games built for Windows, you don't have any say anymore in how your platform develops — Microsoft does. I don't think Apple is willing to give up strategic control of their software and hardware development so that they can make a tiny bit of extra sales for gaming enthusiasts.

Now, Apple is fully aware of their status as underdog in gaming, and the difficulty (and risks!) involved in porting gaming software. They have been working on removing common friction points and incompatability sources. This year's Metal updates add some of the much-requested compatibility features for resource management, making it easiert ot implement Vulkan's or DX12's semantics. So yes, they are working on these things, and they are doing it in a way that still gives them control.