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Apple: Just how concerned should Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft be?

That said, I don't think people are getting iPads in lieu of 3DS or Vita systems. There's not much evidence sales wise to indicate that the market for dedicated gaming systems is shrinking.

Interestingly enough, DS sales actually GREW overall right up until the release of the 3DS From there standard platform transition shenanigans combined with some misfiring on Nintendo's part resulted in a down 2011, which was then subsequently blamed completely on the Rise of Smartphones(TM) for no good reason.

I am curious to see how the Vita does though. The annoying part is that if the Vita fails to establish itself as more than a niche product no one will ever acknowledge it as having failed on its own merits because then they can just conveniently blame Apple again, regardless of the actual circumstances.
 
Rather not get into these types of discussions but I have to ask out of general curiosity; is people carrying around iPads really that common? iPads/iPhones destroying handhelds seems to always be brought up in these threads, and while it's impossible to go through the day without seeing someone with a smart phone, I can't say I've seen as many people causally carrying tablets. Hell, my mother has an iPad and is afraid of taking it out the house.

My company shuttle bus into work every morning and going home every night is full of iPads. Staff meetings are full of iPads. Walk around the city (Seattle) and you'll see a lot of iPads (and other tablets). I'm sure it varies widely from city to city as some cities are far more technology savvy than others (including widespread wifi). It probably also helps that we don't get tons of sunshine, which really inhibits the screens on phones, gaming devices, and tablets. I travel a lot and the planes and airports are wall-to-wall iPads.
 
Rather not get into these types of discussions but I have to ask out of general curiosity; is people carrying around iPads really that common? iPads/iPhones destroying handhelds seems to always be brought up in these threads, and while it's impossible to go through the day without seeing someone with a smart phone, I can't say I've seen as many people causally carrying tablets. Hell, my mother has an iPad and is afraid of taking it out the house.

i've never seen someone using a tablet outside nor do i know anyone with one. but i live in a pretty poor area.
 
Saying that it doesn't have buttons is an easy way to avoid the topic. While it may be an issue to you and other gaffers, it's obviously not an issue to a very large portion of the market.


That said, I don't think people are getting iPads in lieu of 3DS or Vita systems. There's not much evidence sales wise to indicate that the market for dedicated gaming systems is shrinking.

Exactly, in fact, the very opposite is being shown which is what makes these topics so puzzling.
 
Thats just US Xbox retail vs all ios worldwide including non gaming, ~30 million install base vs a couple hundred million ios devices. The ios market is growing rapidly but iPad3's share, and gaming share specifically won't be doing that kind of business for a while even if the current expansion continues at the high rate it is.
Developpers investments on ios are exponential, Apple sales numbers make everything possible. My main point still is, Apple is competing for the same customer money and freetime than console makers. The more desirable (new iPad) and cheaper (iPad 2) their products become, the more concerns it raises for competitors.
 
Rather not get into these types of discussions but I have to ask out of general curiosity; is people carrying around iPads really that common? iPads/iPhones destroying handhelds seems to always be brought up in these threads, and while it's impossible to go through the day without seeing someone with a smart phone, I can't say I've seen as many people causally carrying tablets. Hell, my mother has an iPad and is afraid of taking it out the house.

Do you spend much time on buses or trains, there 10x as many people with tablets(99% of them iPads) than there is DS's or PSP

Even with that said I don't think MS\Sony\Nin have much to worry about from Apple at least for now but speaking for myself due to lack of time and added personal responsibility I spend allot more time playing iOS games than console games but that's not Microsoft or Apple's doing.
 
What apple should do is release an official wireless control that can sync up with the device for games that are more traditional(like the onlive one).
 
My company shuttle bus into work every morning and going home every night is full of iPads. Staff meetings are full of iPads. Walk around the city (Seattle) and you'll see a lot of iPads (and other tablets). I'm sure it varies widely from city to city as some cities are far more technology savvy than others (including widespread wifi). It probably also helps that we don't get tons of sunshine, which really inhibits the screens on phones, gaming devices, and tablets. I travel a lot and the planes and airports are wall-to-wall iPads.

That makes sense. Miami's public transit is pretty weak compared to other big cities, and the constant sunlight doesn't help.
 
Saying that it doesn't have buttons is an easy way to avoid the topic. While it may be an issue to you and other gaffers, it's obviously not an issue to a very large portion of the market.


That said, I don't think people are getting iPads in lieu of 3DS or Vita systems. There's not much evidence sales wise to indicate that the market for dedicated gaming systems is shrinking.

a portion or the market that does not need buttons because playing is not why they buy the ipad. of course, they can play a few games, and that may mean a few consoles here and there, maybe i will use my tablet games for my kids instead of buying a ds, but if they want to play videogames, regardless of what you can find for ios or android, they will need consoles, or a pc. Tablets or phones are just not enough.
 
Do the different iPad version gets much exlusive content? I'm not just thinking about content in general like exclusive games that only excist on iPad, but is there much content that only works with iPad 2? And will there be much content that only works with iPad 3?
 
Whatever, its the truth. If we look at the market today, even the 3DS which is about a year old, we see growth and data that only supports the idea that these two gaming ecosystems can co-exist, and thats the sole reason why you want to dismiss the present, and attack anyone who brings it up, calling them shortsighted, and asking them to look into theiryour crystal ball instead.

I suppose thats why all I got was a restructured "U Mad" response.

The 3DS is doing great but the Vita is hurting. Now, the Vita is an amazing machine and despite me vowing not to purchase one for quite some time, I caved and am loving it. But the facts remain that it's doing very poorly. Anecdotal as they may be, we have seen quite a few people here who said they will be purchasing an iOS device instead of a console/handheld.


Also, the reason the thread title was changed is because it seems the conversation is becoming about Apple and its iOS devices in general instead of the iPad in particular. Hope you don't mind.
 
Developpers investments on ios are exponential, Apple sales numbers make everything possible. My main point still is, Apple is competing for the same customer money and freetime than console makers. The more desirable (new iPad) and cheaper (iPad 2) their products become, the more concerns it raises for competitors.

This is wrong. The reason so many developers do things on iOS is because the investment is tiny compared to that of the traditional gaming spaces. That and there is a huge install base.
 
If the new iPad didn't exist, I would buy a Wii U or a Vita sometimes this year. But it exists and I'll buy one instead instead of these gaming devices. Multiply my case by several millions and you've got the point of concern.

Right, in general if there are two objects available for purchase it causes less sales for either than if there were only one. If people didn't have to buy cars or gas, the amount of video game systems sold would probably increase. In that general sense they're competing. But specifically to gaming, I don't see it.
 
I think Apple should take first videogames more seriously before the big 3 could be concerned, how many times they dedicated to games? and 2 games only? seems like games is more of an added portfolio to their app offering rather than something they can actively going after.

Of course I'm not disminishing the impact of iPhone/iPad gaming at all, but Apple isn't actively trying to go after the videogame market, not yet.
 
This is wrong. The reason so many developers do things on iOS is because the investment is tiny compared to that of the traditional gaming spaces. That and there is a huge install base.

Sega, Square, Namco, EA, Epic... the list goes on. This is not wrong, this is just the beginning with the power they now have at hands.
 
i think the world is big enough and there's enough variety to sustain all 4 companies.

Apple will handily destroy their sales every time, as they have been, but whatever, it's apple.

I feel like if the new ipad had analogs, dpad, and buttons (never happening), then I'd wonder what's gonna happen next. It would have to really be poised as a gaming machine, but doing that will/could hurt their blue ocean sales and image, really.
 
It's more like the iPad is going to take market share from ultrabooks and other tablets.

If I buy an iPad, it wouldn't be for it's games. The games are fucking shit. It would be due to the fact it's essentially an even more portable computer or laptop. Let's me go on the internet whenever I want to, at the comfort of my couch.
 
The 3DS is doing great but the Vita is hurting. Now, the Vita is an amazing machine and despite me vowing not to purchase one for quite some time, I caved and am loving it. But the facts remain that it's doing very poorly. Anecdotal as they may be, we have seen quite a few people here who said they will be purchasing an iOS device instead of a console/handheld.


Also, the reason the thread title was changed is because it seems the conversation is becoming about Apple and its iOS devices in general instead of the iPad in particular. Hope you don't mind.

As "poorly" as Vita is doing, if you add it to the total sales of portable consoles, you get a market that is bigger than ever and continually growing. This does not support a theory of Apple/IOS making headway.
 
You are really reaching. Virtual inputs have come a LONG way. Is it as responsive as a physical controller? Absolutely not, but in most cases, it can serve the same functions that a standard controller can. Physical Feedback is not a good enough reason to overlook such a looming threat.

If anything, the thing that makes the Ipad less of a concern is that it is an expensive ANNUAL piece of technology. The average shelf life of a console is over 5 years. The Ipad is 1 year, at a cost far more than that of a console. The big question is, if Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft DO indeed begin seeing Apple as a large enough threat, how will they respond financially?

Yeah that was my second argument. There'll be apps coming out for that new fangled iPad that the year old iPad won't be able to play/can only play at a stupidly slow speed.

Meanwhile, my 3DS can and will play anything coming out for a 3DS in the future.
 
The iOS ecosystem's threat to Nintendo is two-fold: first, that it simply takes attention away from Nintendo games and other games available in the traditional gaming ecosystem -- in the same way that any other form of entertainment would; secondly, that the gaming content available in that ecosystem is compelling for casual gamers, and that they are willing to substitute it en masse compared to Nintendo's titles expressly directed at the broader market.

IMO the activity around Apple's devices have largely taken the spotlight and it's incumbent on Nintendo to recapture the public's attention. I don't think they will succeed during the next console generation. I also suspect they have lost a large chunk of the casual market. Someone said earlier that (particularly on Nintendo handhelds) many casuals perceive gaming as a means of passing time, and I suspect that's spot on. I recall Satoru Iwata and Reggie displaying graphs at prior conferences that showcased the percentage of their casual base that began acting more like core gamers -- as expressed through the number of games they purchased, and the intensity with which they experience our hobby. I'll be curious to see what percentage of those players persist through to this generation of consoles / handhelds.

One possible way to retain casuals is to continue to offer games that recreate the awesome local multiplayer experience offered by Wii Sports et al. I think that's a huge blindspot in the iOS ecosystem that Apple should plug (perhaps through Apple TV?) if one of their goals is to disrupt Nintendo.
All of that said, I don't think Nintendo faces an existential risk in the short term. I suspect they'll have a Gamecube+ generation with the Wii U and something analogous with the 3DS. Nintendo's IP remain extremely popular, and I think it's fair to say that the company can exist (though perhaps not thrive) on the back of their sales alone. Since they control the experience consumers have with their world by producing the only hardware that plays Nintendo games, they have some amount of security / stay-of-execution.

I'm uncertain that there's enough information out there to make meaningful predictions beyond the next generation. It's possible that attention will continue to be taken from traditional gaming, and that this shift will (critically) affect core gamers someday. It's also possible that as more people buy iOS devices, the market dynamics (i.e., pricing structure) will not change such that large software companies (e.g., Nintendo, Activision, etc.) can exist at their current size on the platform. Who, honestly, knows?
 
It's more like the iPad is going to take market share from ultrabooks and other tablets.

If I buy an iPad, it wouldn't be for it's games. The games are fucking shit. It would be due to the fact it's essentially an even more portable computer or laptop. Let's me go on the internet whenever I want to, at the comfort of my couch.

Not sure how "new iPad" will take away marketshare against better and cheaper tablets.

http://blog.gsmarena.com/tablet-war...10-1-vs-asus-transformer-pad-infinity-tf700t/

"new iPad" certainly isn't better.
 
I don't think a good chunk will care or stop buying gaming consoles.

Like me, I have no interest in mobile gaming or anything Apple's doing. I'm going to by buying the Nextbox. I'm sure there are many others in the same boat.

Consoles aren't going to die because of Mobile gaming.
 
And it is selling extremely well, with no signs to stop.

Let's face it, gamers in general are afraid of changes. It already stopped being a market around Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft only.

I wouldn't necessarily say that. Nobody buys an iPad as a gaming machine first. If they do.. well, powers-that-be help them, because they just spent $600 for a machine where out of the small fraction of "quality" games, most of them only would qualify as short time-killers.

(Note: I don't want to have a debate about "HERP ALL GAEMS ARE TIMEWAISTRS." There's a clear difference in depth between the most popular gaming handheld games and the most popular iTouch devices' games)

Let's be honest here, there's a large portion of Nintendo's handheld userbase (young children) that really doesn't give a shit what they're playing or what they're playing it on, they just want to play the newest, shiniest, most popular thing. If you compare the games available for recent Nintendo handhelds and in the AppStore, you'll notice a similarity: massive amounts of shovelware, made primarily to cash in on the demographic mentioned above. The difference is, they can buy 20-40 games on an iPad/iPodTouch for every one game on the DS/3DS.

In that regard, Apple poses the "biggest threat" to Nintendo, but, as I think we will as see eventually, they aren't a big enough threat to anyone to make a major difference. Worse case scenario, we'll start seeing $1-$5 "game apps" on the Sony/Nintendo handhelds, which isn't necessarily a bad thing at all.
 
Not sure how "new iPad" will take away marketshare against better and cheaper tablets.

http://blog.gsmarena.com/tablet-war...10-1-vs-asus-transformer-pad-infinity-tf700t/

"new iPad" certainly isn't better.

iPad 2 has been doing it for quite some time, when similar or better offerings in terms of raw hardware were already in the market.

And dat res, that's the kind of thing regular customers notice first, not the fact one or the other has more CPU and other things.
 
Third party support alone will not give them the edge, they'll need things like buttons and first party exclusives. Too much of an investment and not worth it at all, they do fine now without dedicated gaming.
 
The 3DS is doing great but the Vita is hurting. Now, the Vita is an amazing machine and despite me vowing not to purchase one for quite some time, I caved and am loving it. But the facts remain that it's doing very poorly. Anecdotal as they may be, we have seen quite a few people here who said they will be purchasing an iOS device instead of a console/handheld.


Also, the reason the thread title was changed is because it seems the conversation is becoming about Apple and its iOS devices in general instead of the iPad in particular. Hope you don't mind.

Its not a vacuum. The 3DS and the Vita cannot be separated like that. They both represent the traditional handheld gaming market. A market some people insist is being destroyed and replaced by said iOS/Android/WP7 devices. One of the handhelds is having a troubled launch in 1 territory that we know of right now, and the other one is making history.

As said above, all in all, the numbers are higher than the previous generation at this point in time.

So the real question for me becomes, if the numbers, data and trends are and have been showing you for about a year now that its much more likely that mobile gaming and handheld/console gaming can and will co-exist, why is it that you reject that and instead predict a scenario where one dies and is replaced by the other. From the consumers perspective not much changes, with the exception of you getting more options, so why fight the reality of whats happening?

Did you really create this thread to ask if Apple devices were on Console makers radars, when you provided your own darn quotes from them where they personally said that? I certainly hope not, that would be silly. What more could anyone here tell you about how they have already said they feel about it?
 
This may help make gaming more affordable, as per game pricing. If Ninty, Sony, and MS respond to the market shift, then all is fine. If not, well...
 
Ok. Over the past 12 months here is what I have bought from Apple.

iPad 2 Wifi 16gb - for the girlfriends graduation present
iPad 2 3G 16gb - for me
2 x iPhone 4 16gb white. 1 for me, 1 for the GF. I dropped her's that she got in contract in a cup of tea. :(
iMac 21.5" (the high end one)

That's a lot of stuff and a lot of money. But they never asked me the question which they professed to ask customers, you know the same one which told them that Apple customers prefer to game on a iPad than a home console. They should ask the core gamer.

Like I said in the event thread, it's only meaningful to boast about higher resolutions than the Xbox and PS3 when they have lots of decent content to play on it. Machanarium is a wonderful game, and really shows how iOS can be positive in this industry. But I think that was a port right?

Furthermore, I bought a 3DS day one and a Vita launch week too. There's a reason for that, because I like my games to have proper content and don't mind paying £20-£30 for a proper, fleshed out title. A Pokemon game can last me 70-80 hours and I still have stuff to go back too, a iOS game which costs me £0.69 is something I pick up and play when I have 5 minutes. I know what I'm buying and I don't mind in paying.
 
Sega, Square, Namco, EA, Epic... the list goes on. This is not wrong, this is just the beginning with the power they now have at hands.

But the size of their investments are still small. Compare Epic's budgets on home console vs iOS, for example. It has much less to do with technical specs than it has to do with what the market is reasonably likely to support. The machines can get more and more powerful, but if the likely ROI doesn't support big-budget blockbusters, they won't happen.

Budgets may go up for certain devs, but 'Apple sales' don't currently make anything possible. The distribution of success on those platforms is such that most pubs are only in it for low-investment and/or low-risk projects, on the chance they'll hit the jackpot.

As for the OP's question, I'm sure they're concerned that they're not dominating a space of gaming the way they might like. If they're worried about this space encroaching on their traditional turf...well, I'm not sure. I guess it depends on whether you see 'Apple gaming' (for want of a better term) manipulating tastes away from big, premium, blockbuster games at $50 in a substantial way, or if not, whether you see Apple's ecosystem being able to support those games in the future, and compete with the traditional platform holders in that arena.
 
Sony and their Vita should be concerned. Nintendo less so because of the demographic they target.

Not sure how "new iPad" will take away marketshare against better and cheaper tablets.

lol?

"new iPad" certainly isn't better.
considering the iPad 2 outperformed the Transformer Prime, i think we can for damn sure say that the new iPad is better than anything else on the market by a great margin.
 
As long as they don't offer buttons and sticks on their iPad or a controller for their iTV or whatever it is called, Nintendo and the rest will just do fine.
 
CZhzZ.png


Replace iPhone w/ iPad.

SNAP!
 
If stuff like Infinite Blade Dungeons represents the top end effort in regards to console quality gaming (heh) on the iPad, at the very least, "hardcore" gamers aren't going anywhere. It looked like a slightly prettier (albeit incredibly high res), Dungeon Explorer (or whatever that ubisoft game is).

If that's the kind of content iPad fans use to champion the thing as a serious threat to traditional console gaming, I'd argue that they aren't or never were, console gamers. That or they are purposely being disingenuous.
 
Sony and their Vita should be concerned. Nintendo less so because of the demographic they target.

Really. Is this what we are going with now? I mean, these positions change so frequently that Im having trouble keeping up.

I'm pretty sure back in September when the 3DS was having its growing pains that people right here on GAF told me that it was in fact Nintendo that had the most to lose. You know.... because of all the casual gamers the DS picked up with its Brain Ages, Touch Generation, and Petz titles. But now its not Nintendo anymore whose demographic will be pulled by smartphones? Its Sony's instead?

Ok....
 
The 3DS is doing great but the Vita is hurting. Now, the Vita is an amazing machine and despite me vowing not to purchase one for quite some time, I caved and am loving it. But the facts remain that it's doing very poorly. Anecdotal as they may be, we have seen quite a few people here who said they will be purchasing an iOS device instead of a console/handheld.


Also, the reason the thread title was changed is because it seems the conversation is becoming about Apple and its iOS devices in general instead of the iPad in particular. Hope you don't mind.
The Vita is hurting because it lacks games with selling power. Any Sales-Gaffer can tell you that. Also the anecdotal evidence is just that. If we quoted what a few odd members say here and there it doesn't represent a significant shift in things because there are always outliers. The general attitude among gaming enthusiasts is that the ipad/iphone aren't sufficient to deliver experiences that can be found on 3DS, Vita, 360, Wii, PS3, etc. Games are the most important aspect and iOS isn't providing experiences sufficient enough for people who purchase 3DS, Vita, 360, PS3, etc. games.

Should Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft be concerned about Apple? A little bit but they aren't a significant threat yet. They should always be prepared and thinking of ways to remain competitive in the videogame industry against Apple(and their fellow competitors) but there are plenty of other threats out there and I don't believe today's press conference elevated Apple's threat level.

I think Apple should take first videogames more seriously before the big 3 could be concerned, how many times they dedicated to games? and 2 games only? seems like games is more of an added portfolio to their app offering rather than something they can actively going after.

Of course I'm not disminishing the impact of iPhone/iPad gaming at all, but Apple isn't actively trying to go after the videogame market, not yet.

Exactly. For Apple to be a significant threat they need to stop advertising "Oh it can also do games" and start advertising "Here is a product made to play games and look at this amazing lineup of games appearing on it".
 
Its not a vacuum. The 3DS and the Vita cannot be separated like that. They both represent the traditional handheld gaming market. A market some people insist is being destroyed and replaced by said iOS/Android/WP7 devices. One of the handhelds is having a troubled launch in 1 territory that we know of right now, and the other one is making history.

As said above, all in all, the numbers are higher than the previous generation at this point in time.

So the real question for me becomes, if the numbers, data and trends are and have been showing you for about a year now that its much more likely that mobile gaming and handheld/console gaming can and will co-exist, why is it that you reject that and instead predict a scenario where one dies and is replaced by the other. From the consumers perspective not much changes, with the exception of you getting more options, so why fight the reality of whats happening?

Did you really create this thread to ask if Apple devices were on Console makers radars, when you provided your own darn quotes from them where they personally said that? I certainly hope not, that would be silly. What more could anyone here tell you about how they have already said they feel about it?

I haven't argued that Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony are doomed, RATHER that they should be concerned that the piece of the pie that they have had for the decades will shrink. Again, anecdotal as it may be, if somebody has $500 to spend on a piece of electronics, what would have gone to a dedicated gaming machine before may now go to an all purpose one. A smart phone, a tablet, etc.

Also, I simply provided the quote from Nintendo, not from Sony and Microsoft. The issue though is relevant to this forum since we are a community that enjoys gaming. It can't be denied that iOS and smartphone gaming in general is growing. While the piece of the pie is growing as more individuals are becoming interested in games, the shares of said pie are no longer being shared by the big three and since this is the case, the question is how big of a piece of the new pie is Apple taking.
 
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