Support NeoGAF

[StereoVsn]

There are several major issues with iOS ecosystem being used for console like experience in the living room with TV gaming.

1. Lack of meaningful games. Yes, I can go play most of older Final Fantasies, Dragon Quests, Kotor or Baldur's Gate (and other ports), but that does not make an ecosystem. Vast majority of games are F2P and are targeting quick mobile cash grabs. yes, there are exceptions, but they are that, exceptions.
2. Majority of games are F2P and the scope, the focus and the target is not sit-down at TV experience.
3. Due to above consumers will not pay for mobile games. Situation is slightly better on iOS then say on Android, but its still terrible. You can't sell $20 game well enough (although SE tries certainly), heck, you can't really sell $6-7 for a meaningful amount of revenue.
4. Apple iOS is a terrible long term gaming platform. You can expect games/software to break with every release. While that's tolerated on mobile, it's hardly something you would want on your "console". I can go and play any 3DS games on my 3DS, same for Vita, same for PS3, PS4, etc... It's even better with PCs. There is no guarantee your premium game won't break on OS update. See many Capcom and SE games for reference.
5. Game storage is an issue. A lot of newer and larger iOS games (especially if targeting higher res) are fairly large, going into 2-3GB range. You would need 64GB or 128GB options to be available for the platform to be meaningful (apple does not allow expandable or usb storage of course) which would drive up cost significantly for the device (see apple pricing models). 16GB Apple TV could only host a handful of games before running out of room.

The iOS ecosystem is certainly large and profitable for some of the players (mostly F2P ones now days), but it would be very hard to convert to more of a console like model and even harder to convince devs to gamble with larger gaming experiences there. On the other hand middleware tools are getting better so PS4/Xbox/iOS releases may be possible. At the same time, some of the items above would be very tough to avoid (storage, iOS upgrades breaking APIs and games, etc...). We shall see what happens.

 

[petethepanda]

Yes it would be exciting as hell if Apple went for absolute fucking destruction and all that is left to play on our big screens is exploitationware time-wasters with pay to speed up mechanics, smh.

You're missing out on some quality stuff by assuming that's all mobile games have to offer.

 

[epmode]

4. Apple iOS is a terrible long term gaming platform. You can expect games/software to break with every release. While that's tolerated on mobile, it's hardly something you would want on your "console". I can go and play any 3DS games on my 3DS, same for Vita, same for PS3, PS4, etc... It's even better with PCs. There is no guarantee your premium game won't break on OS update. See many Capcom and SE games for reference.

And if the game isn't selling well when an iOS update breaks it, chances are pretty good that the company won't bother to fix it.

Ghost Trick, sigh.

 

[infiniteloop]

1. Lack of meaningful games. Yes, I can go play most of older Final Fantasies, Dragon Quests, Kotor or Baldur's Gate (and other ports), but that does not make an ecosystem. Vast majority of games are F2P and are targeting quick mobile cash grabs. yes, there are exceptions, but they are that, exceptions.
2. Majority of games are F2P and the scope, the focus and the target is not sit-down at TV experience.

There's a ton of great games that are neither older ports or f2p, so many that i can't keep up with playing them. There's numerous quality releases every week.

 

[Quasar]

5. Game storage is an issue. A lot of newer and larger iOS games (especially if targeting higher res) are fairly large, going into 2-3GB range. You would need 64GB or 128GB options to be available for the platform to be meaningful (apple does not allow expandable or usb storage of course) which would drive up cost significantly for the device (see apple pricing models). 16GB Apple TV could only host a handful of games before running out of room.

I wonder about that simply becuase Apple has no history of storage expansion. And so you are either stuck with limited storage or a really expensive model. Especially given the ATV form factor. So Apple can't follow the Nvidia Shield and offer a model with a big hard drive.

 

[7DollarHagane]

The ios crowd isn't looking to play games at home on a TV.

This will do well enough and people will probably buy some games for it but the reason ios sees such success is because its with people all the time and is easy to pull out and kill some time with.

Idk why it matters that app!e is doing it. Ouya and a dozen other Android boxes have shown that the casual/mobile crowd doesn't just transfer to the home television set.

 

[7DollarHagane]

It'd be exciting as hell if Apple took an actual shot with gaming, they're poised for absolute fucking destruction, but they've yet to show any sign of even remotely caring about it.

This makes no sense? Destruction? The people buying ps4/xb1 and PC games care about apple now because why? They're going to drop dota and league to play some game of war clash of clans pay to win game? Lol

 

[binarymelon]

The ios crowd isn't looking to play games at home on a TV.

This will do well enough and people will probably buy some games for it but the reason ios sees such success is because its with people all the time and is easy to pull out and kill some time with.

Idk why it matters that app!e is doing it. Ouya and a dozen other Android boxes have shown that the casual/mobile crowd doesn't just transfer to the home television set.

The Apple TV has been a pretty underwhelming device for a couple of years now, but has still dominated the market. If they create a better experience it could do quite well. I just worry this is going to hurt the chances of remote play and psnow on iOS anytime soon.

 

[Quasar]

This makes no sense? Destruction? The people buying ps4/xb1 and PC games care about apple now because why? They're going to drop dota and league to play some game of war clash of clans pay to win game? Lol

Well I imagine the ideal scenario is like with handhelds where the dedicate folks still buy dedicated handhelds, but the larger market is happy enough with phones/tablets.

 

[Quasar]

The Apple TV has been a pretty underwhelming device for a couple of years now, but has still dominated the market. If they create a better experience it could do quite well. I just worry this is going to hurt the chances of remote play and psnow on iOS anytime soon.

Well hopefully this is the time where Apple takes the device seriously in terms of development like the iPhone/iPad and advance it every year or so rather than have it static. And certainly a full on app store would encourage that I think.

 

[7DollarHagane]

Well I imagine the ideal scenario is like with handhelds where the dedicate folks still buy dedicated handhelds, but the larger market is happy enough with phones/tablets.

But that already has happened. Why would a TV device change that? The people who are casual enough already just play games on tablets and phones.

Why would having a TV device that plays the same content bring more people over who are currently playing console or PC games?

The name means nothing, content is what matters.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

As I said in the other thread, this device has a lot of competitors, most of all used Xbox 360's. I don't think it can stack favorably against them.

The games will really decide the fate of this device. The Ouya had a few exclusive winners but went bust, and everything got ported elsewhere. The Apple developer community really likes coding for iOS exclusively, so there could be some real potential nested away inside of there.

But I can't see the library suddenly taking off (install base will probably start small, ports won't be effortless and iOS's yearly update will kill long-term buildup of must-haves), which means I can't see the Apple TV being more than a very, very little brother of the iPhone.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

The Apple TV has been a pretty underwhelming device for a couple of years now, but has still dominated the market. If they create a better experience it could do quite well. I just worry this is going to hurt the chances of remote play and psnow on iOS anytime soon.

Dominating the market means, last numbers I can find, somewhere around 25 million units LTD as of January 2015.

I don't think an improved Apple TV is a home run in isolation. They made it cheaper and got HBO, which I'm sure boosted those numbers, but if Apple's looking at leverage to use against TV content producers for its new streaming service, they might need more than that.

 

[cakely]

Beginning of the end for consoles.

Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans on your TV. Pack it up, Sony and Microsoft.

Spoiler

Zero f**ks will be given.

 

[FStubbs]

The ios crowd isn't looking to play games at home on a TV.

This will do well enough and people will probably buy some games for it but the reason ios sees such success is because its with people all the time and is easy to pull out and kill some time with.

Idk why it matters that app!e is doing it. Ouya and a dozen other Android boxes have shown that the casual/mobile crowd doesn't just transfer to the home television set.

Because Apple has way more money, resources, and rabid fans. They'll get exclusives like Infinity Blade and several SE games that aren't on Android. In fact, they'll get better support than Nintendo and make their position in the market much worse.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

with all this gaming talk from apple I wonder if Nintendo is going to unveil their first mobile game in their conference this september

 

[Quasar]

But that already has happened. Why would a TV device change that? The people who are casual enough already just play games on tablets and phones.

Why would having a TV device that plays the same content bring more people over who are currently playing console or PC games?

I don't think it would. Certainly for me it wouldn't, but I can see me buying one for the non game parts as I still don't have my perfect TV box. It would have been a AndroidTV box like the shield but so far its failed to get devs, plus I'd like a box that supported all the digital stores and so for that its pretty much Apple or no-one.

Though if it had a decent control I could see myself playing some of the indy games that appear on consoles and PC that don't actually need the horsepower of a PC or PS4. Just like I've started to play some of those games on PS4 rather than PC, even when I could get them cheaper on PC.

It might just bring more people who aren't willing to buy a dedicated device though. Its hard to judge, especially without know what else the device does and how Apple is going to support it (both in terms of non games and games).

 

[7DollarHagane]

Because Apple has way more money, resources, and rabid fans. They'll get exclusives like Infinity Blade and several SE games that aren't on Android. In fact, they'll get better support than Nintendo and make their position in the market much worse.

Is infinity blade a popular high demand title? Are ports of 30 year old square rpgs going to push this device into 50 million homes? What is selling this thing?

 

[eyeball_kid]

There are several major issues with iOS ecosystem being used for console like experience in the living room with TV gaming.

1. Lack of meaningful games. Yes, I can go play most of older Final Fantasies, Dragon Quests, Kotor or Baldur's Gate (and other ports), but that does not make an ecosystem. Vast majority of games are F2P and are targeting quick mobile cash grabs. yes, there are exceptions, but they are that, exceptions.
2. Majority of games are F2P and the scope, the focus and the target is not sit-down at TV experience.
3. Due to above consumers will not pay for mobile games. Situation is slightly better on iOS then say on Android, but its still terrible. You can't sell $20 game well enough (although SE tries certainly), heck, you can't really sell $6-7 for a meaningful amount of revenue.
4. Apple iOS is a terrible long term gaming platform. You can expect games/software to break with every release. While that's tolerated on mobile, it's hardly something you would want on your "console". I can go and play any 3DS games on my 3DS, same for Vita, same for PS3, PS4, etc... It's even better with PCs. There is no guarantee your premium game won't break on OS update. See many Capcom and SE games for reference.
5. Game storage is an issue. A lot of newer and larger iOS games (especially if targeting higher res) are fairly large, going into 2-3GB range. You would need 64GB or 128GB options to be available for the platform to be meaningful (apple does not allow expandable or usb storage of course) which would drive up cost significantly for the device (see apple pricing models). 16GB Apple TV could only host a handful of games before running out of room.

1. I don't believe the iOS ecosystem will be used on the Apple SuperTV*; the form factor differences between TV and iPhone/iPad alone mean that most games wouldn't be compatible. I think they will have a separate store for the SuperTV. So I think they have an opportunity to start fresh and set a new tone. My guess is the keynote will bring out some gaming studios for demos we might be surprised to see. I'm still hoping Nintendo might even show up, but that's a real longshot. But you're right, if they show casual titles, it'll just be an extension of iOS gaming.

2-3. I think this store will be focused on higher-priced content, as Apple knows they need to attract traditional gaming developers to make new content, not ports of old games. And I think they know that non-mobile gamers want experiences aside from F2P.

4. The Apple SuperTV will not have the same yearly development cycle as the iPhone and iPad. Will it be as stable as traditional consoles? Who knows...you're conjecturing based on a different platform. This will be a new platform. New rules can be made.

5. Hard to say on storage options. Some of the things iOS 9 is doing as far as "App Thinning" and section-based downloads will definitely help squash app sizes. I'd be surprised if there's only 16 in the SuperTV; I'd expect at least 32GB.

As far as performance, I don't think we've seen all that can be done with the Ax chips. Combined with their code-to-the-hardware Metal framework, we could see PS3 or even Wii U level graphics in the SuperTV.

The biggest problem I see would be the lack of a traditional controller. If Apple really does just expect gamers to use motion and touchscreen controls, they won't make many inroads.

(*) SuperTV is just my stupid name to differentiate from the existing Apple TV which is rumored to continue to be sold.

 

[T-0800]

Mobile didn't try to take on dedicated handheld gaming devices, yet here we are.

The success of Mobile gaming has more to do with the fact that pretty much everyone already owns a phone. My wife plays games on her phone because it's just there. These same people aren't interested in console gaming.

 

[RedSwirl]

March 2007: Apple and Video Games?
2008: Apple Looking At Game Console Business
2010: Apple TV: The Next Disruptor?

People have basically been saying this ever since the Apple TV and iOS App Store were things. It's always been speculated that the combination of the Apple TV and the App Store, with all the developer support it gets, could have some kind of significant effect on living room gaming. It's just that Apple never went forward with an app store on a TV device... until now seemingly. Then again I was saying the same thing a few months ago.

And the thing is, I don't even think Apple itself really has to care about gaming to affect some kind of change in the market. Apple pretty much created the mobile gaming market and nearly destroyed dedicated handhelds on accident. Apple didn't set out to create this whole new market for portable games. It just created this store and let third party developers make software with few restrictions, and a shitload of them chose to make games. Apple only started doing the minimum to push games along after this happened.

All Apple really has to do here is release a successful Apple TV with an App Store. The developers will probably take it from there.

There are several major issues with iOS ecosystem being used for console like experience in the living room with TV gaming.

1. Lack of meaningful games. Yes, I can go play most of older Final Fantasies, Dragon Quests, Kotor or Baldur's Gate (and other ports), but that does not make an ecosystem. Vast majority of games are F2P and are targeting quick mobile cash grabs. yes, there are exceptions, but they are that, exceptions.
2. Majority of games are F2P and the scope, the focus and the target is not sit-down at TV experience.
3. Due to above consumers will not pay for mobile games. Situation is slightly better on iOS then say on Android, but its still terrible. You can't sell $20 game well enough (although SE tries certainly), heck, you can't really sell $6-7 for a meaningful amount of revenue.
4. Apple iOS is a terrible long term gaming platform. You can expect games/software to break with every release. While that's tolerated on mobile, it's hardly something you would want on your "console". I can go and play any 3DS games on my 3DS, same for Vita, same for PS3, PS4, etc... It's even better with PCs. There is no guarantee your premium game won't break on OS update. See many Capcom and SE games for reference.
5. Game storage is an issue. A lot of newer and larger iOS games (especially if targeting higher res) are fairly large, going into 2-3GB range. You would need 64GB or 128GB options to be available for the platform to be meaningful (apple does not allow expandable or usb storage of course) which would drive up cost significantly for the device (see apple pricing models). 16GB Apple TV could only host a handful of games before running out of room.

The iOS ecosystem is certainly large and profitable for some of the players (mostly F2P ones now days), but it would be very hard to convert to more of a console like model and even harder to convince devs to gamble with larger gaming experiences there. On the other hand middleware tools are getting better so PS4/Xbox/iOS releases may be possible. At the same time, some of the items above would be very tough to avoid (storage, iOS upgrades breaking APIs and games, etc...). We shall see what happens.

I think a lot of this (and a lot of the criticisms I keep seeing about microconsoles in general) assumes the software we're going to see on a TV device is the same software you have on your phone. On launch day you might be running iPhone or iPad apps on the Apple TV in some kind of compatibility mode, but eventually developers will adjust. They adjusted when the first iPad came out and even started making iPad-only games. Some are even adjusting to the Apple Watch and making apps run in a certain way conducive to the Watch. They'll do the same thing with Apple TV apps. Eventually the games you might see on the Apple TV might be totally different from what's on the phone or tablet.

Secondly, the audience this sells to doesn't expect the same things PlayStaton and Xbox owners do. To be honest this thing isn't even really for most of the people who would post on GAF. Existing console gamers aren't the audience at all. The people currently most engaged in iOS gaming probably have few to no expectations for living room gaming at all.

 

[Run Jump Stomp]

LOL, I get it, the sheep are supposed to stand for the consumers who buy apple devices every year! iSheep! LOL! You my friend are one creative person, so original!

Sorry I agree with you but you made me think of this.

 

[botty]

Would love to see Nintendo x Apple. I think apple has the know how to revive the Nintendo brand and bring it to the modern era. Nintendo in the mean time can keep their quality i guess.

 

[Jimrpg]

If it doesn't have a dpad and buttons, it'll be DOA. to you

I can't imagine the wiimote like thing to play angry birds on the TV being a big deal. You could already play those on your TV. Maybe a Bluetooth controller would help.

That said, I don't see it replacing a system for a 'core' gamer, but I'm sure they're not really expecting to.

Most of these other tv streaming devices such as Fire TV, Roku or Ouya don't have the clout Appe have. It doesn't really matter if it has a dpad or buttons to the mainstream casual users that will be buying the Apple TV because they're not going to be needing accurate controls like core users need them in something like Dark Souls. It's going to play things like Heavy Rain just fine.

For us 'core gamers', we do need dpads and buttons but as the iphone has shown it does not matter as the developers will do whatever needs to be done as long as the audience is there.

Also they're not after the core gamer, though there will be some titles that will suit them on the system. The iphone audience (and the wii to a certain extent) shows that the casual audience is way bigger.

 

[super6646]

Console killer confirmed! Just like the Ouya, Steambox, and Nvidia Shield.... you see where I'm going?

 

[mcfrank]

Lol at all of the people who say that iOS gaming is nothing but candy crush and clash of clans. That would be like saying console gaming is nothing but COD and FIFA. Sure they sell well, but they are hardly representitive of the best console gaming has to offer. There are tons of fantastic iOS games and you are pretty ignorant if you think it isn't a viable and enjoyable gaming platform.

 

[StereoVsn]

Lol at all of the people who say that iOS gaming is nothing but candy crush and clash of clans. That would be like saying console gaming is nothing but COD and FIFA. Sure they sell well, but they are hardly representitive of the best console gaming has to offer. There are tons of fantastic iOS games and you are pretty ignorant if you think it isn't a viable and enjoyable gaming platform.

They are many good games which are mainly targeted at mobile experience or are ports of console games (SE/Capcom). However looking at sales charts, premium games don't really sell that well overall. That's why going for say $6 or $7 in the app store is actually a bold move. SE manages to sell some based on the name

 

[pislit]

Y'all hating Apple but they are the best company in terms of handling digital accounts and customer service, it will be interesting how will they enter the gaming space, very interesting indeed.

 

[Pops Maellard]

Mobile games on tv? No thanks. I'm surprised at the battery coming from apple, seems many people gave Microsoft crap for putting AA batteries in the xbone controller.

Having replaceable batteries has always been objectively more convenient than having to plug your controller into a wall/console while playing.

 

[MidgarBlowedUp]

This thing will kill the Vita TV.

 

[Steiner84]

yet another of these uncountable gaming devices that leaves me cold that came out in the recent years..

i think it will tank, like all the others

 

[MidgarBlowedUp]

If it has a decent controller, and games are compatible with it, I'd buy it at a decent price. It can't be worse than my vita tv I never touch.

 

[spekkeh]

Y'all hating Apple but they are the best company in terms of handling digital accounts and customer service, it will be interesting how will they enter the gaming space, very interesting indeed.

They pretty much single handedly created the exploitationware gaming industry that uses addictive gambling mechanics to fleece billions out of children and unwitting parents. And only after sustained campaigns by stupid tabloids did they refund some of it. Some customer service. I really don't think apple deserves any benefit of the doubt as they go into the gaming industry.

 

[Tobor]

They pretty much single handedly created the exploitationware gaming industry that uses addictive gambling mechanics to fleece billions out of children and unwitting parents. And only after sustained campaigns by stupid tabloids did they refund some of it. Some customer service. I really don't think apple deserves any benefit of the doubt as they go into the gaming industry.

Horseshit. They didn't create the freeware market. Developers and publishers did.

 

[RedSwirl]

Horseshit. They didn't create the freeware market. Developers and publishers did.

When you think about it Apple's only role in its creation was the company's apathy towards how the gaming business is traditionally run.

 

[M3d10n]

Mobile games on the TV has been tried many times already and still has to be proven. I'm also very skeptical of AAA games being ported over, due to hardware and storage issues.

 

[cbox]

Having replaceable batteries has always been objectively more convenient than having to plug your controller into a wall/console while playing.

of course, I loved the option with my 360 pads, and hated having my ps3 controller essentially become a wired controller incapable of holding a charge.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

Everyone is assuming way too many things which are highly likely to *not* be true.

Why would Apple let the Apple TV run the same universal iPhone and iPad apps and games? Apple Watch doesn't, because that wouldn't work. Neither will it for a TV based-system that uses a completely different input method and requires an interface designed for the television, not for screens that can be interacted with touch and are right in front of your eyes. Developers will work with a different SDK to craft Apple TV apps and games, like they will be doing with the Apple Watch.

Yes, there will be a fair share of games that are available on mobile as well, but there will be a tonne of games that just either didn't work on mobile, or will be designed around that remote. I'd wager Apple would rather encourage developers focus on the latter.

One major worry is how the "app ecosystem" will pan out on the TV. I hope there is more control here in trying to curate the right kind of market, as the current landscape just isn't healthy or sustainable for many developers, and by extension, many types of video games.

 

[Father_Brain]

New NYT article on this; not sure it needs its own thread as there's little new info here, but figured it was worth posting on top of the CultOfMac thread.

Apple is expected to make games a primary selling point of its new Apple TV product, which is scheduled to be announced on Wednesday in San Francisco, according to people briefed on Apple’s plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

This is a big change from Apple’s previous versions of Apple TV, a device shaped like a hockey puck that for the first eight years of its existence has mainly been used to stream videos and music.

It’s tough to know how compelling the games on Apple TV will be until the company reveals the system this week. Yet many of the components necessary for a satisfying game experience will come with the device, the people say — including more power for better graphics, a new remote that could double as a controller and, perhaps most important, an app store to buy and download games.

If anyone can make microconsoles happen, I think it's Apple. Which of course doesn't mean that the new Apple TV is anything close to a guaranteed success; there are still big unanswered questions about exactly how they intend to differentiate TV gaming from what's available on other iOS devices and whether developers are behind that vision. We'll have a better idea on Wednesday.

 

[Boombloxer]

All it would take would be, say, 20-30% of the existing Console developers to do one less Console project and instead dedicate those resources to something like an Apple TV, or for some percentage of Console indie devs to start focusing on something like this for it to have repercussions on the home console market.

But people say "I'm not interested! I'm a core gamer and I spend a lot on games! There will always be a market for Consoles!".

Sure, there will likely always be a customer interested in home consoles. But who will continue to produce the content if costs continue to rise (they are) and the Console installed base keeps declining (it is)?

At some point, the home Console market will be niche enough for a smaller number of titles to be made for it, and at some point after that the niche audience shrinks as their needs cease being met.

It's coming some day. Maybe not from the Apple TV coming out soon. But it'll happen unless something crazy happens which allows for production costs to decline or for more households to start adopting Consoles.

I actually don't think any of this is true.
The majority of the console market is in the top 10 publishers--that's the GTA/Madden/FIFA/CoD and other titles of the world. They drive most of the market.

And given the current sales of both current-gen consoles, you can't really use that as a barometer either. Both units and sales are pacing ahead--I think that there will be a lower install base this gen, but the overall revenue generated to be about the same.

So if we're talking about the middle tier, I actually don't think that's going away either, I just think it's being replaced with F2P games, some of which will ascend to the top tier. Stuff like Rocket League, Telltale, etc.

So this 20-30% you're talking about is really the mid-majors and smaller devs. They already have mobile experiments, and find the same thing, the Top 30 or so makes most of the money, so you're competing with Supercell, King, etc. Given the choice of competition, it's actually less likely for them to make a AppleTV title vs one of the main mobile guys instead trying their hand at something bigger.

So we'll see, but the scenario is fairly unlikely.

 

[Xander Crews]

I really don't think the gaming initiative from Apple will be that big of a deal. Gaming is huge on iOS because so many people own an iPhone. A great majority did not buy the phone to play games. They bought a phone that happens to also play games.

The new Apple TV will need a big draw outside of games to work in the causal market, I think.

 

[mcfrank]

I really don't think the gaming initiative from Apple will be that big of a deal. Gaming is huge on iOS because so many people own an iPhone. A great majority did not buy the phone to play games. They bought a phone that happens to also play games.

The new Apple TV will need a big draw outside of games to work in the causal market, I think.

The current Apple TV has sold 20 mil units without playing games. It's not blowing doors down, but it certainly sells respectably.

 

[Xone9]

This might help a bit with some apple tv gaming purchases:

$75 for a $100 iTunes Gift card - today only

http://gamers.cheap/?coupon=100-itunes-gift-card-for-just-75

 

[Trogdor1123]

I would welcome this if they had some games that were not F2P and had a decent controller.

This thing will kill the Vita TV.

What is dead may never die...

 

[infiniteloop]

I would welcome this if they had some games that were not F2P and had a decent controller.

iOS already has both so likely apple tv will too.

 

[mrklaw]

If they are having an App Store, then games is almost automatically a huge focus because so many apps on the store are games. they are also easy to demo and work well on a TV canvas.

It doesn't mean a sudden push towards console games. Although there may be an impact simply through displacement - using up hours playing on an Apple TV you have fewer left to play console games.

 

[Quasar]

iOS already has both so likely apple tv will too.

I'd kind of like to know what you would say is a decent iOS game controller already.

 

[AmyS]

If this Apple TV had PowerVR7XT GT7900 (perhaps the only GPU in its class than can rival Nvidia's Tegra X1 used in the Shield Android TV microconsole) I might bite.

otherwise I couldn't justify even considering it.

 

[Servbot24]

If true this will be great news for the console market. It should help transition phone gamers to a traditional controller.

 

[uncelestial]

Aren't 90% of TVs "smart" nowadays? I think people are overestimating the market disruption this device will have.