“Apple’s recent foray into video games — with the iPhone, the iPod Touch and its ever-expanding online App Store — is causing as much hand-wringing among old industry players as the global economic slump, which threatens to take the steam out of year-end shopping for the second consecutive year,” Tabuchi reports.
“Among the questions voiced by video game executives: How can Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft keep consumers hooked on game-only consoles, like the Wii or even the PlayStation Portable, when Apple offers games on popular, everyday devices that double as cellphones and music players?” Tabuchi reports. “And how can game developers and the makers of big consoles persuade consumers to buy the latest shoot’em-ups for $30 or more, when Apple’s App store is full of games, created by developers around the world and approved by Apple, that cost as little as 99 cents — or even are free?”
“Apple did not participate in the Tokyo Game Show, which ends Sunday. But the company introduced a beefed-up version of the iPod Touch this month, explicitly comparing it as a gaming platform with the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable,” Tabuchi reports. “Apple’s assault could even eat into sales of home consoles like Nintendo’s Wii, Sony’s PlayStation 3 or Microsoft’s XBox, as game-playing quickly becomes centered on cellphones.”
Tabuchi reports, “Analysts say hardware is fast losing center stage to software in the game-playing world. What will draw consumers, said Hirokazu Hanamura, president of the Tokyo market research company, Enterbrain, is software prowess, like Apple’s App Store, which already has 21,100 games — far more than Nintendo and Sony combined.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Mists of Avalon” and “MacDust” for the heads up.]
Oh for fsck sake, get over yourselves. Life and the world doesn’t revolve around apple contrary to what people would like to be. Call this news???
“What are you guys having for lunch? Umm, yeah, I’m gonna take that too.”
This just in over the AP wire: Terry has very little to add to the discussion.
Great argument guy. Come to a site where the news revolves around ALL aspects of Apple’s business, then complain when it does (or doesn’t?) What’s you’re whole argument again?
@Terry,
don’t hate the player, hate the game.
If Apple ever gets Pokemon, Zelda, Mario or something at that level to take on gaming I’d think there would be some concern but please – this is a fantasy of an Apple fanboy. In 25+ years of gaming the lone time you even thought of gaming and Apple in the same sentence was Apple ][e and the Sierra On-Line stuff. You have to jump way into the early 90’s and the few games Bungie made.
If anyone thinks the casual gaming on AppStore is of any value to gamers they are sorely kidding themselves. Sure casual users love a quick game waiting at the airport / in transit but please understand the gaming market.
Maybe a Steve Job’s in a turtle neck gaming ala Mario is neeed, can Apple even 1. get an exclusive title and 2. offer more then a casual short gaming experience with no controls other then touch based? 3. Develop their own gaming franchise
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Apple fan, and I love my iPhone. But very few iPhone games have the depth of your typical DS or PSP game. Plus touch/motion controls don’t work well for all types of games. I think there’s room for the iPhone to innovate in the portable games market, but it’s not going to knock Nintendo or Sony from their thrones.
@Yawn, what you fail to understand is that gaming comprises more than just the games that you play. It’s everything from a casual solitaire game to puzzle games, from 80’s games on MAME to the first person shooters. It’s not just Evercrack and WOW. Each piece of that pie is money to developers. And each piece of that pie that Apple takes with their 99 cent games takes away from something that someone else might have bought.
So in your narrow view, Apple will not touch the gaming market with the iPhone & iPod Touch. But that doesn’t mean that the entire market is not affected by it, and that the heavy hitters in the market right now should not be worried.
Apple has proven time and time again that they can get into a new market and have an impact because they make quality products. Don’t be surprised if it happens in your little world too.
Terry, you ignorant asswipe, beat it.
@Terry,
Get over ourselves? MDN or Apple fanboys didn’t write this; it was a fscking article from the technology section of the fscking New York Times… partially written FROM the Tokyo Game Show.
Now, it makes complete sense that a multifunction device that’s designed really well, that people enjoy using, and that’s always in their pocket, and has some good games available for it, is going to take market share from dedicated devices. If you’re Sony or Nintendo, then that’s a concern. As Jimbo pointed out, there’s only so much money to go around, and Apple and iPhone/iPod touch developers are taking an increasing share of that money.
So, the issues raised in the NYT article are probably closer to reality than the world according to Terry. In fact, it’s probably you who needs to get over himself!
Shadows: ON
Reflections: ON
Textures: MAX
Gamelevel: BLOODBATH
@Jimbo – Fully aware of every type of “gaming” you can classify but I’m sorry compare the sales of those types of games to the core for gaming on dedicated consoles and they get outsold hundreds to 1. Please stop in a gamestop and ask where the “casual solitaire game to puzzle games” are .. I doubt you find more then 2 if that on any of the current gen systems .. that is all DLC (thats Down Load Content for you non-gamers).
I’ll take Call of Duty: Modern Warfare over ANYTHING on iPhone and trust me I have tried a ton of iPhone “games” in the last 2 years. The fact is iPhone users do not want to pay more then 99c a app and as app prices increase sales drop significantly, research has shown this over and over.
Apple’s been in the PC market for what 25+ years and have basically the same market share. iPhone will be the same as what drives Apple is profit margin period.
Microsoft will combat the trend by doing what they always do… buy out the competition. Say goodbye to EA games for anything other than the X-Box.
Obviously the iphone isn’t going to take over consoles and PC gaming, since the games are very different and are for a different market. They’ll probably affect sales of PSPs and Nintendo DS, since the more ambitios games are comparable to typical games on the games specific handhelds but I don’t believe its something to seriously worry about.
I personally think that Nintendo is doing the right thing in focusing exclusively on games and making its console better at playing them while having more battery life, more confortable controls, cheaper device (though not cheaper games) etc.. On the other hand, Sony seems to be trying to go up against apple by making its device more expensive and adding some of the features found in an ipod touch.
As for Microsoft, well, they aren’t really in this playing field, though I’m sure Zune Tang will differ.
I just don’t really understand why MSWinDOS loving trolls lurk and comment on Apple related news sites?
Oh wait… I DO understand!
There’s absolutely NOTHING interesting going on it the world of Windows.
Troll on, dudez, troll on!
Yawn,
Your view is myopic. You represent the minuscule percentage of the ordinary PSP (or DS) user. “Core” gamers are people who have a hard time letting a day go by without playing for an hour or so. Core gamers are kind of like wine connoisseurs. They are intimately familiar with what’s available, closely follow the developments and find great enjoyment in using the devices and playing games. Still, as I said, just like the wine connoisseurs, they are a very small minority. People I see on the subway carrying PSP or DS are ordinary kids/teens/young adults, who have a game or two and these people use the consoles in between other activities. These people are precisely the target market for iPod and iPhone. This is the reason Sony and Nintendo are worried. They can’t tell the difference between the $15 bottle of 1999 St. Clement Chardonnay from Napa Valley and 2006 Corton Charlemagne from Côte De Beaune at $120. Just like they don’t care about the difference between PSP and iPod, and a $40 PSP game and a $9 iPhone one.
Sony and Nintendo are looking at a very likely prospect of losing a very large market share of casual gamers. I’m sure they’ll hold onto guys like you, but you won’t be able to sustain their existing business model on your own. This is why they are very worried.
Screw Games …Give me an iPod touch with pic/video, X-Ray vision,water proof and anything else Cool Apple can stick in the thing!!!
if you can’t beat them – join them by creating iPhone/iPod touch games.
@Predrag.
Yes and also…
the iPhone/iPod touch aren’t single function devices, whereas the single purposed handheld gaming devices are essentially just that. (Okay the PSP does a few more things than simply play games.)
I’m guessing that parents are buying the majority of these devices for their kids. If they’re smart and compare, even without factoring in the iPhone’s telephone abilities, buying one-trick gaming devices makes no sense. Adding the organizational, communication, music and app running abilities all in one device is a huge step forward and hard to compete with.
As it stands now, neither Nintendo or Sony can’t hope to compete head-to-head.
They have 3 choices.
Focus on gaming alone and make their devices for hard-core gaming audience… pretty much where they’re at now.
Add tons a features in an attempt to match or surpass the iPhone/iPod touch platform.
Quit now.
So Apple is becoming Franzia? Ha!
Well I see your point I don’t agree with it as the core games are the ones who buy games often. A casual gamer buys maybe a couple every few months. So over the period of device ownership who provides you more profit?
And who’s trolling? I enjoy technology from a number of companies Apple being one of them. Been a user likely longer then some of those on here who likely started when they got an iPod.
Before iPhone can pull people away from gaming portables, we need something like the <a >iControlpad</a> to come to fruition.
Damn it.
@ Yawn.
First, Apple’s business model isn’t predicated on selling the unit for a loss so they can profit off of game licenses. Making a tiny profit on a simple game several million times over is precisely what Apple can do that Sony & Nintendo can’t. In the end, the type of game doesn’t matter — the aggregate profits do. Apple has started out by tapping a market they couldn’t reach and by doing so, are building legitimacy for taking over marketshare from the existing players. The complicated, in-depth games that offer an immersive experience can and will be offered on the iphone and when this happens it directly threatens their business models.
As an aside, my nephew has an ipod touch that is filled with games. Easily 50-60 plus. Yes, they were probably only a buck each but now 50-60 diffferent publishers have bitten into the pie where previously it was only a small number (Activision, EA, Konami, etc.) who had the resources to do this sort of thing.
There will always be room for the big publishers with the big games in the Apple model but suddenly those publishers aren’t quite as necessary as they used to be…
The iphone App Store model is simply a paradigm-shifting device.
Serves em right as far as I am concerned! Especially when it comes to Nintendo!
All they do these days is RE-RELEASE 5 year old GameCube games with a new box and mediocre Wii control support added, and call those NEW products!
I am still waiting for something worth buying for my Wii, which has been gathering dust for months. Guess if I didn’t already own all these GameCube games they keep shoveling out to Wii owners, I might feel differently.
Guess I am still upset by the lackluster quality of Animal Crossing for Wii, which demonstrated the degree of lazyness Nintendo developers have dropped to lately.
@PreDrag,
“Yawn,
Your view is myopic.”
Absolutely….. right on. My guess, an MS troll.
It could be a gamer but as you said, these people make up a very small but noisy group. Apple is right not to go crazy trying to cater to them.
Just a thought.
en
Just a thought,
en