Did Apple Lie About AAA iPhone Games?

Apple keeps announcing every year that now they are serious about bringing AAA gaming to the Mac. And every year we get 1 or 2, usually old games released and that's it. Apple refuses to spend any of the 100+ billion dollars in cash they have to really bring AAA gaming to the Mac. They do it on the cheap and release a few tools, software updates and then tell game developers it's all up to them now. Unlike MS and Sony that pour 100s of millions and even billions into developing games every single year. Until Apple does something similar things will never change.

First AAA gaming on ios I experienced was gta vice city back in 2012.

There are some gems in Apple Arcade. Stardew Valley, Sneaky Sasquatch, Fantasian, and Ocean Horn 2 are all really fun and worth the cost of an annual subscription IMO. The big problem with AAA games on mobile is the controls. No one wants to lug around an external controller, and the hassle of setting that up eliminates the convenience factor. You might as well buy a compact handheld PC for the cost and convenience, and get the power with it.

I like how as I was typing we reached the same conclusion. If mobile gamers are disinterested to pay triple A prices for triple A games, then maybe offering a premium tier of Apple Arcade with access to these high budget titles might be the way to incentivize growing in this sector.

Great video, Quinn!!! I always loved the writing for your scripts!

Couldn't agree more, as another Steam deck owner (also an LE!) I was amazed at running GTA4 at 90 FPS, the handheld gaming is just so much better than what any phone could offer for now. Though with that said, for more game developers to harness the GPT it would be interesting to see if any shift happens.

I really think that Apple needs to develop a switch like first party dock and controller mount. The power of the iPhone is insane but no one is going to take advantage of it while the gaming experience is pure jank. It needs the apple touch of integrating hardware with software. Otherwise we are only going to get shinier idle clickers on iphone.

Another unbridled banger of a video just in time for christmas day. Please do not stop making videos. Please make more videos more often.

Great analysis on the port and market 👏🏻

Remember when Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed Mirage for iOS? Yea that never happened yet

One thing both ios and android have issues with is apps no longer maintaining support for the os, as brought up with the Bioshock situation. Granted that was an extreme case, but there are plenty of apps that are just inaccessible and unable to run on any modern device. Where as with PC, (not sure what the situation is on mac) I can go back 20-30 years or older and play games or run those applications outside of a VERY small handful that are usually due to some sort of DRM setup or something weird. Where as on android or ios, there are a lot of apps that are not even 10 years old, that just wont run due to incompatibility. That would be my concern with any type of big purchase mobile gaming. Guarantee backwards compatibility, and I might be sold.

Great video! It’s such an interesting topic…Apple and gaming. You have a great take and as things continue I would love to hear more. Until the next one!

Let it evolve and develop further. It’s just the first step by Apple, I’m sure by the time we have iPhone 17-18 these games will run absolutely perfectly

It wasn't a console port but man I miss Infinity Blade 2

The big trouble I see with gaming with apple is the lack of maintaining older catalog. Square enix ported "the world ends with you" to the iPad. When I bought my ipad with apple pencil I was excited to play but couldn't find it on the app store. Just outright depressing.

Obligatory Infinity Blade 1/2/3 mention (and if you try the 60fps version...) I don't think you should need a controller, many good games were made 10 years ago with touch controls

Maybe it isn’t amazing, but dead space on iOS was the first time I felt like I was playing a console game on mobile , sadly got discontinued on iOS 9

I think the biggest problem with the concept of iPhone AAA gaming (iOS/iPadOS in reality) is that you are investing into a platform, not a gaming device. With Steam Deck, or any other handheld consoles, or a Mac - you just log into your existing libraries and play the games you own. With an iPhone, in addition to a full price tag for a sub-par gaming experience, you invest into a platform and get locked into it. I cant wrap my head around the fact that you'll pay 70$ for a game to never be able to play it outside of the latest A/M CPUs scope. Granted, you are probably never going to be blocked from the content you paid because you won't ever live without an iPhone at your disposal, you'll usually upgrade it and you can't live without a smartphone in a modern world.

It's sad that the good mobile games from the late 00s until 2012 are gone. Were they complex? No, most of them not. But at least they played around with touch control, accelerometer etc. Even Gameloft made good games. Asphalt 4 is still my favorite racing game with a large variety of tuning and car options. A5 was already a significant step back in tuning, but had some nice tracks with shortcuts and motorcycles are no longer separated. Galaxy On Fire 2 is still today one of my most played game with over 200h. I remember that GoF 2 was with 11 CHF crazy expensive for an iPad app. Then it received two dlcs for 7 CHF each.

Maybe Vision Pro will have the hardware needed to let you play the AAA on the “Big Screen” and pick up where you left off on your phone, and also have decent frame rates