Apple devices are extremely capable of running good games. However, things have been changing in recent years and we now finally have some AAA games available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Even so, most users don’t seem interested in playing console-level games on smartphones – which is why now is the time for a new gaming-focused “Apple TV Pro” with the M4 chip.
AAA games on Apple devices
The “M” family of Apple Silicon chips used in the latest Macs and iPads have allowed many console-level games to reach iOS and macOS for the first time. But even so, Macs and iPads have an infinitely smaller market share than the iPhone, so only a few developers have shown interest in bringing their titles to these devices.
But then came the A17 Pro, Apple’s first chip with hardware-accelerated ray-tracing. This led Apple to promote the iPhone 15 Pro as a gaming device, and somehow the company also convinced developers to port titles like Resident Evil Village and Assassin’s Creed Mirage to its devices.
Unfortunately, a recent report revealed that the demand for AAA games on smartphones is quite low – partly because users don’t want to spend $50 to play a game on a smartphone. But because all of Apple’s latest devices have powerful chips and they all run on the same foundation, these AAA games can easily be ported to all Apple platforms.
Personally, I’m not a fan of playing games on my iPhone. Even the Pro Max doesn’t have a big enough screen for a good gaming experience. With the iPad and Mac, things get a bit more interesting, but I prefer to play games on the big screen. And guess what? Apple has a tiny, little device for big screens – the Apple TV.
How about an Apple TV Pro?
Apple TV has been around since 2007, and Apple has always treated it as a hobby. In 2015, the product was given a major overhaul with a new operating system, tvOS, and its own App Store for the first time. At the time, Apple tried to show the world that Apple TV would also be ideal for gaming, but the reality was different.
The A8 chip was good for the time, but not enough to run console-level games. Plus, the App Store guidelines and tvOS limitations kept many developers away from the platform. For example, Apple required all tvOS games to be playable with the Siri Remote.
The latest Apple TV model, introduced in 2022, is powered by the A15 Bionic chip. FlatpanelsHD ran a bunch of tests and concluded that the CPU in Apple’s A15 chip is much faster than previous generation consoles like Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Of course, these consoles have better GPUs and more RAM than the Apple TV.
But we’ve now reached the point where even the iPhone has a chip powerful enough to run games made for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series, and that makes me want a new Apple TV with a faster chip – perhaps the A18 or even M4.
Apple TV on its own is not strong enough in terms of market share to convince game developers to build games for tvOS. However, as more AAA games come to the iPhone, it’s easier to port them to Apple TV, which could turn the device into a game console.
Apple could compete with the Xbox Series S, Microsoft’s entry-level console that costs around $299. Of course, the main focus of Apple TV is still streaming apps, and I argue that Apple should introduce a new “Apple TV Pro” for those who want to use it as a games console and keep the regular model affordable for those who just want to watch Netflix and YouTube.
Would you pay more for a gaming-focused Apple TV Pro? Let me know in the comments section below.
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