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As with the rest of the known world, Valve boss Gabe Newell is waiting for Apple to make its move into the home gaming realm, and he sees this as more of a threat to his forthcoming Steam Box dream than Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo’s home hardware.
Speaking to US gaming site Polygon, Newell said: “The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform. I think that there’s a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging — I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily.”
Newell’s obviously expecting something like a £99 Apple TV bundled with a Bluetooth game controller to be the next-gen home console champ. A simple Apple take on the Android Ouya console could feed Angry Birds to the masses for the next decade. [Polygon via Kotaku]
I think the only games you’ll get for an Apple console (the iConsole?) will be loads of casual ones. I can’t see game developers moving away from the xbox/playstation/nintendo to create many big blockbusters for them. They might get the odd port or gameloft game.
Maybe not many but several of the GTA’s have already been ported to the Ipad so it’s obviously possible. Doubt the prices will remain the same though if they’re on a level par with £40+ console games.
I would imagine that its strength would lie in an XBLA style set-up, something which has proved very successful for Microsoft.
IMO an apple console wouldnt even be as good as current gen, let alone next gen.
the steam box also appears to be a weak console that wont compete with next gen consoles.
sure, it will attract casuals but gamers are going to be current and next gen.
Well if Gabe finds Apple a greater threat than any of the established console makers then I’d start to worry that the Steam Box won’t be all it’s hyped up to be. Angry Birds: Half Life edition as a launch title?
Apple has put a gaming device into the hands of millions of people who previously wouldn’t have bought a gaming device, they’re much more likely to get a device into living rooms of the masses than Microsoft or Sony, which as great as their consoles are, are seen firstly as games consoles and therefore toys to the vast majority of the public
So did nokia, if you count the inclusion of snake on its phones as making it a gaming device. No one buys an iDevice purely for gaming, it’s just and added feature which comes in handy if you have a few minutes to waste. I’d be looking at the combined sales of the X360, PS3, Wii and Wii U if I was focusing on getting a device into the living room, not at what Apple may or may not do.
Not really. Apple has put a device into the hands of millions of people which happens to be able to play games from time to time. There’s a big difference. Nintendo had huge mass market penetration with the Wii, and found, to their dismay, that in fact, selling a games console to people who don’t really care overly much about games, is not a wonderful business proposition. Why? Such people don’t tend to spend that much money on games.
But your point about some sort of mass market media device is well made. On those terms, apple has a good chance of out competing sony and MS. Although it’s not a shoe-in. If your kids want an xbox, and the xbox does everything apple TV does, why buy apple TV? And the point is, we’ve shifted the terms of the debate from games console, to media box. There are enough people out there who want a proper gaming experience to make games consoles a viable business proposition. That is microsoft and Sony’s advantage. If they can make their consoles broad ranging enough in appeal, they can do two things: keep their existing installed base, and expand it to mainstream customers. The latter has the chance of converting some of them to gamers, which is going to bring in that much needed licence revenue from games.
If I was Gabe, I’d be hugely more worried about basing the Steam console on Linux. Steam’s currently library has <50 Linux titles compared with a couple of thousand for Windows.
THERE. ARE. NO. GAMES. FOR. LINUX.
It has only just been released……
The are some, and it reduces the cost by not having to license windows for each console.
5 years ago, there were no apps for iOS.
you mean bar ps3? any ps3 game could be ported to linux in theory. doesnt the ps3 use a modified linux kernel?
It doesn’t matter; the point is twofold :
(i) If porting of any kind is required (the last I checked, PS3 titles won’t run on Linux PCs, and the Steam Box is very much a Linux PC), then it’s either extra work for devs, or comprises a whole new market segment which needs to be worthwhile writing for. Since it’s starting from scratch, Valve will need to bleed money in the short term to convince people to write for it. No-one’s going to buy this to play Plants vs. Zombies.
(ii) The Steam Box has no market. Anyone who wants to be playing games is already doing so on a 360, PS3, or PC. Why would you buy yet another new console (and one in the start-up phase at that) when or if you already have a PC which could do it anyway if you wanted ? Dual-boot to the Steam Linux distro and off you go.
i agree with this. i think valve can release all their ‘source’ games on linux from what i read, but as you say, who is the demographic for this? do they think people will buy it just to play android games on and old valve games like team fortress?
people have consoles or PCs anyway so its not going to stop them, and if they did it would be going backwards
i initially thought steambox would be a powerful PC branded with valve. not some $100 little box with no power
Without Windows, it can’t win – there’s no games. And with Windows, it can’t be cheap enough. It takes everything good about PC gaming (complete modularity – you can swap components on a whim and the PC itself is compatible with everything) and throws it away by making it a tiny HTPC box running a niche operating system (yes, yes, I know Linux powers tens of thousands of servers, but it’s by far not common at all for a home desktop OS).
i agree that a PC platform needs ‘games for windows’
maybe moving forward more devs will make games linux compatible but that doesnt help getting quality titles available at launch.
i just cant see how this will succeed
This man speaks truth
Ohhh Gaben, you and your opinions
A £99 apple console is no real threat to the core xbox and ps3 ownership because those people are to some degree in the “hardcore” gamer camp. A 360 isn’t an incidental, throwaway purchase. People buying it know what they’re getting and they know what they want: the big budget gaming experience.
That said, microsoft and sony are clearly making a push to turn their next gen consoles into all in one entertainment boxes, for streaming music, video, recording tv etc. It is in this segment of the market apple stands a good chance of beating them, because apple has significant mind share amongst normal consumer drones.
So, I’d have thought the “serious” console’s core installed base numbers are relatively safe – judging by leaked specs, they’re both going to be gaming powerhouses. The question is, can they penetrate the mass market as more general media boxes.
The thing is, I don’t see how the Steambox fits in to all of this. You won’t sell it to “proper” console gamers, at least not to start with, because whilst there are in theory lots of games, none of them start with COD or Halo or Gears of War, and likely won’t for a long time. You won’t sell it to PC gamers, because they can already access it’s entire games library on their PC. And good luck selling it to the aforementioned mass market with a brand they’re completely unfamiliar with and a platform they only ever hear tech nerds and penguins talking about. I think what Gabe should have said was “if apple release Apple TV with a bluetooth controller, I’m screwed”.
pretty useless as a HTPC without a media drive too. especially since most dvd/br players now have lovefilm/netflix access too and can play your dvds & blu-rays.
Indeed. I’m sure this point will be made in the mainstream tech media when the steam box is released, but you’d be far better off just buying an HTPC for the same cash and sticking that under your TV. What’s the steambox’s USP? Why would I buy one instead? If i’m so inclined, I can always dual boot linux off the HTPC. But then, if i’m using it primarily for Steam, why the hell would i chop out 90% of the games library in one fell swoop like that?
Well yeah, he would say that wouldn’t he. Common sense to dismiss your closest competitors. Unless he thinks the next Half Life is up against “Try To Stop The Ball Falling Down The Hole #7863″.
“Steam Box Maker”.. I think it’s safe to say “Gabe Newell” on a tech blog without running the risk of people not knowing who you’re talking about
Apple.. really? The thing about the PS3 and Xbox is not only the Games, it has a massive game culture already in place and building around it all the time, (Major Nelsons blog)it has long built and hard earned profiles with gamer scores and trophies that people dont really want to loose, they have invested time and money in to this entertainment service. I really cant see Apple coming to this market with anything good. “arcade” style games are not enough to make you buy a console, they are fun on the ipad for when your taking a shit or on the train but not to actually sit there and play for an hour or two when you compare it to a PS3 or xbox. you need the titles like Fifa, COD, Halo, Killzone, GTA, Skyrim etc.. power hungry big titles that are huge worlds of escapism, story and entertainment. not a mini strategy game. Also i really dont think there is room for more than 2 hardcore consoles at a time, NES & Master system2, SNES and Megadrive, Playstation and SNES, PS2 and N64, ps2 and xbox, 360 and ps3.. all other consoles at the times these were out sat in their shadow or were picked up my casual gamers.. Amstrad, MegaCD, Dreamcast, Gamecube, Wii.. some great games and fun but never the hardcore line and even if the consoles sold (Wii) the games soon died off.. so my point is if Steam or Apple come to the market, they will have to knock either Xbox or PS3 out of the hardcore lime light.. which i dont think either have the ability to do or the fan base/following to be successful.. not unless there is a game about instergramming your food while in skinny jeans and frame-less glasses..;-)