Apple’s flip-flop on game controllers for Apple TV might be bad news for developers, but it’s great news for gamers.
It’s a virtual guarantee that all games will work better out of the box when running on the refreshed Apple TV, which will have its own App Store for the first time.
While the company originally said it would let devs require third-party “made for iPhone” controllers for their games, Cupertino now says all games for the refreshed set-top box must work with the new Apple TV remote.
“This is a very smart move from Apple,” says Brianna Wu, game boss and harassed feminist critic. “These kinds of policies help build consumer faith in their ecosystem, meaning more sales for developers overall.”
If you’ve ever played a PC game on Windows, you know it’s a pain in the butt to figure out what controllers will work, first of all, and what drivers you’ll need. Even Nintendo’s incredibly popular Wii had way too many controller devices to be an easy choice for gamers, and don’t even start with the Kinect.
One of the biggest early criticisms of iOS touch-screen gaming was the lack of console-style controllers. However, when Apple created a whole set of code to support them, consumers still didn’t buy them in droves. And seriously, touch-enabled (or casual) gaming is making a lot of people a ton of money without any controllers in sight.
“I don’t expect these controllers to become popular until Apple ships one,” says Wu.
The thing is, Apple is constraining game developers in order to provide a better experience for the type of consumer that will want an Apple TV who isn’t a hardcore gamer. If someone like me purchases an Apple TV for games, then Apple is fine with developers providing support for the more complex Xbox or PlayStation-style game pads, but they don’t want to ruin non-gamers’ entry to this fragile new ecosystem.
“That has never been the Apple way of treating consumers, nor should it be,” says Wu. “Normal people aren’t going to want to buy a $20 controller just to play an iOS game.”
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
21 responses to “Why Apple TV’s strict new gaming mandate is a good thing”
I could not disagree with you on this. While I could see myself buying a controller in the future, I want it to just work out of the box. I would be really interested to see how the iPhone works as one.
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This article is somewhat misinformed. The original Apple documentation said that games requiring a game controller would only be visible for purchase to people who had a controller connected. So it would have been impossible for a casual gamer to have a bad experience by not being able to play a game “out of the box”.
And, while someone who makes games with very simple mechanics may see this as good for their audience, there is a large audience of players who will be disappointed and left with bad experiences because many many games won’t work with, or will work only poorly with a controller that is essentially just a d-pad with a single button.
So saying this is “a good thing” based on the narrow perspective of a single developer, while ignoring the perspective of dozens of game developers who have already expressed the pain this decision will cause is pretty poor journalism, in my opinion.
I’d tend to agree. AppleTV is not designed explicitly for gamers, as Apple wants to reach a broad demographic and be accessible to as many customers as possible, which I consider a sensible business decision. If one wants something geared for gaming, that what actual gaming consoles are made for, since their entire raison d’etre is to support gaming in all forms.
If Apple wants to support gamers as fully as this article implies they should, they would have to ship a product fully dedicated to gaming, which would be great for gamers but discouraging for the greater majority of people who just want a more general TV experience, which means they need to make a gamer centric product, not hastily rework an already existing one to cater to a more specific niche when doing so would be less cost efficient.
True that it’s not “explicitly” for “gamers” (whatever that means). But it promotes games as literally a top-level, headline feature — see Apple’s TV mini-site, the section on “Game and More”.
The fact is, that the Apple TV remote is actually _less_ capable than an iPhone touch screen as an input device. So for developers and users who get excited about the “this is going to be huge for games” promise that Apple makes right on its web site, there will be much disappointment around how limited those games can be.
But more to the technical point, what is the purpose of supporting an “extended game controller” with 2 analog sticks and eight input buttons if any game made for it also has to work well with just a single button and a d-pad? If you design a game to use the game controller – which Apple again features EXTREMELY prominently on the Apple TV site — you have to also make it able to work with a single button at the same time. For those who want to make games that make real use of a game controller, that’s a pretty ludicrous proposition.
Bets on how many comments will focus on discrediting Brianna Wu and not on the issue of 3rd party controllers?
I just don’t see why she is quoted for the article. She is not a pundit on marketing or consumer buying habits she’s not even a journo.
Brianna runs a game development company, employs staff, and sells a highly enjoyable game on iOS with innovative game mechanics and strong storyline.
Maybe that’s why she’s in the article? Makes far more sense than input from say, Marco Arment, seasoned iOS developer of magazine and podcast apps.
Oh yeah i know she does but my point still stands she has one game. Maybe a game company with a more rounded stable of games should have been interviewed. By more well rounded i mean they make casual and hardcore games. Just because she developed A game does not mean her opinion matters about apple’s stance on controller requirements. I would rather hear from someone who has a little more insider information on the subject. IE what are games sales like for their hardcore vs casual games. What percentage of those hardcore games are played with a third party controller. Those questions would at least give us some insight on apples decision.
She does none of those things, just whining on twitter about how much of a victim she is (while making thousands of Patreon dollars to whine on twitter). Better luck next time.
Brianna Wu is an iOS game developer. That might be relevant to questions about iOS game development.
I don’t consider myself an Apple TV power-user by any means, but when I think of gaming on my tv (through any device I have to hook up to it), I think first and only of using a game controller, not the remote control. Especially when MiFi controllers are available for iOS games. Getting the impression Apple is holding back until *they* design the world’s best game controller before they unleash the full potential of Apple TV – I was gonna buy the new one the day it’s released but now I will probably hold off until I see what types of games make it over and how people feel about using the remote as a controller (for Galaxy on Fire 3, for example).
Well I certainly disagree. And it makes me wonder how guitar hero will work now. Wonder if we’ll now see games that technically work with the remote but are mostly unplayable without a proper controller.
Here’s an idea, how about listening to what fans had asked for over many years now. ie include a gamepad
MFI means that you can buy a gamepad and it will work. It needs the Made for iOS sticker though.
Here’s the problem though: If a game developer designs a game to work with the d-pad, 2 analog sticks, and 8 physical buttons of a MFi game controller, they also MUST somehow make the same game work with the remote which has only a clickable d-pad and a single button. Otherwise it will be rejected. Are you able to imagine any great games that take advantage of dual analog sticks and 8 buttons that would also be great games that work with just a d-pad and a single button? I can’t.
The biggest problem with MFi game controllers is that Apple cuts the legs out from them by not allowing any games to be made that really make great use of them. Both iPhone and Apple TV games MUST work without the controllers, which means that you’ll never have games that really take meaningful advantage of them. You’ll only have games that re-map a virtual d-pad and one or two virtual buttons to a physical d-pad and one or two physical buttons.
Have you had a look at some of the MFI controllers?
I own one. Does that matter in terms of my points above though?
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I am making a game, in RPG Maker VX Ace, and given it uses about the same number of buttons and arrows as the original NES (except on a keyboard) by default (though this can be modded with scripting), been there, done that.
If they really are advertising gaming as a headline feature, then they overshot things, as they have handed developers an incredibly crippled piece of hardware to design around. A dedicated gaming console would allow for all sorts of peripheral configurations (the default version would work for most games, like the original PS1 controller did excepting games explicitly designed for the later produced Dualshock) and the internal programming would support ways to bind that input for games that support it, but the way they designed the AppleTV, they basically designed it to work by default with an incredibly limited control schema and threw in a more complicated alternative as an afterthought, which strikes me as really bad design, hence I concur with your point.
iPazzPort Air Mouse Bluetooth Mini Wireless Keyboard for Apple TV with Gyroscopic Mouse and Built In Sleeve for Apple TV Remote Control KP-810-16BAR. We call it “Apple TV Keyboard”.