Apple TV delivers for casual gamers

The Apple TV has the potential to become this generation’s Nintendo Wii.

The new Apple TV sports a host of necessary upgrades. The interface has received a makeover, there’s Siri-enabled universal search and an App store. Given how static Apple has been in the TV game, the tech giant was bound to deliver at some point, but the overhaul doesn’t make Apple TV a sure-fire winner. However, Apple TV isn’t just about TV.

As a dedicated media streaming box, it’s a comparatively expensive proposition, but what sways things in Apple TV’s favour is its ability to bring casual gaming to the living room.

With the included motion-­sensitive remote control, a Wii Sports-esque title in Beat Sports and the potential for iOS developers to transfer popular family-friendly titles from the largest games store on the planet, Apple TV has the potential to become this generation’s Nintendo Wii.

Apple has created a multi-­billion-dollar industry for mobile games after it stumbled into the games business almost by accident with the original iPhone. Games are the Apple App store’s cash cow. They dominate the top-grossing list on the App store week after week and account for the lion’s share of the $US10 billion in revenue generated by the App store last year.

With the mobile games market expected to hit $US30.1bn ($42.5bn) this year, surpassing the traditional console market for the first time and effectively making it the largest game segment by revenue, everyone wants a piece of the action.

Amazon and Google have attempted to bring the success of ­mobile gaming to the living room with the Fire TV and Android TV respectively, but with limited ­success. The Apple TV has the potential to change all that. Players will be able to use the included remote like a Wii controller, waving it around to hit tennis balls, drive a car, play rhythm games such as Guitar Hero or wander the varied landscapes of the latest Disney Infinity.

The pick-up and play control method is perfectly suited for the touchscreen generation of casual gamers who grew up with a smartphone in their hands. You can start a game on an iPhone or iPad and pick-up exactly where you left off on the big screen with the Apple TV.

As a set-top entertainment platform with apps and gaming capabilities, the Apple TV isn’t ­designed to deliver lengthy big-budget immersive experiences. And that’s fine because it’s geared towards those who enjoy the bite-sized mobile experiences of Clash of Clans or Candy Crush rather than the gamers glued to their gaming consoles.

The Nintendo Wii’s biggest selling titles wasn’t Mario, Zelda or Donkey Kong, it was casual gaming titles such as Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit and Wii Play. It’s what put the device into millions of homes, retirement communities and medical centres. The iOS App store is filled with those similar types of experiences and with the floodgates open for television programming, the Apple TV now holds immense mainstream appeal.

It also has deep ties with a well-established iOS development community, a strong history of easy-to-use products, and marketing muscle that will draw immediate interest on the consumer side.

But there are some missteps as well. For one, Apple has imposed file size limits on Apple TV apps to a paltry 200MB with no persistent local storage option. In other words, any apps outside of the 200MB limit must be streamed from the cloud. When you consider that games such as Disney Infinity 3.0 clock upwards of 3GB, this could pose a problem for developers and for those with a less than ideal internet connection.

Software sells hardware and nowhere is this more true than in the gaming business which is why it was surprising to see Apple’s reluctance to partner up with established game studios to bring exclusive content to the platform. Outside of Harmonix’s commitment to bring Rock Band Live and Beat Sports, the promise of the hugely popular Disney Infinity 3.0 and Crossy Roads, there were no real gaming announcements.

While some developers are likely to take the wait and see approach, the fact Apple has all the developers on a familiar platform means that should at the very least see successful mobile games appear on the platform, a point echoed by the chief executive of Australian Securities Exchange-listed Animoca Brands, Robby Yung.

“As a developer and publisher who is active on iOS, naturally we welcome any new developments by Apple to extend the reach of their platform, and therefore the reach of our games. Given Apple’s large market share in Australia, the US, the UK and Japan, it seems likely their efforts have strong potential,” Yung says.

With rivals Amazon and Google making a push for the living room and Microsoft incentivising game development on their platform with the promise of cross-compatibility across Windows 10 devices including the XBOX One, Apple needed to step up and offer a big screen gaming option for its developers.

With the rejuvenated Apple TV, the company has put itself in a position to bring mobile gaming to the living room and attract a whole new generation of casual gamers.