Apple TV App Store gains over 400 apps each week, nearly half of all apps are games, data shows
Apple's new app store for the Apple TV platform now features over 2600 apps, with an average of 447 new apps coming each week, according to recently-published third-party data.
The study, published in a post to the AppFigures blog on Thursday, showed steady growth in apps available on the new tvOS platform with a total of 2624 apps now available for download. Much like iOS, the largest category for Apple TV apps is the Games category, accounting for nearly 38 percent of all apps on the platform. Entertainment and Education rounded out the top three.
Despite the proliferation of games on the platform, the numbers are slightly different when it comes to what people are actually downloading. Entertainment apps actually lead the way in terms of downloads, with Games coming in second and the News category third. Moreover, of the top 50 apps, 28 of them are in the Entertainment category while only 8 of them are games.
As for monetization, more developers appear to be charging users for apps, as opposed to the freemium model that currently dominates iOS. While a majority of developers are opting to stick with free-to-download apps, a full 39 percent of apps on the Apple TV App Store are paid, with developers charging mostly small amounts of $2.99 or less to download, although some are as high as $59.99.
The newest version of tvOS, 9.1, was released on Tuesday.
The study, published in a post to the AppFigures blog on Thursday, showed steady growth in apps available on the new tvOS platform with a total of 2624 apps now available for download. Much like iOS, the largest category for Apple TV apps is the Games category, accounting for nearly 38 percent of all apps on the platform. Entertainment and Education rounded out the top three.
Despite the proliferation of games on the platform, the numbers are slightly different when it comes to what people are actually downloading. Entertainment apps actually lead the way in terms of downloads, with Games coming in second and the News category third. Moreover, of the top 50 apps, 28 of them are in the Entertainment category while only 8 of them are games.
As for monetization, more developers appear to be charging users for apps, as opposed to the freemium model that currently dominates iOS. While a majority of developers are opting to stick with free-to-download apps, a full 39 percent of apps on the Apple TV App Store are paid, with developers charging mostly small amounts of $2.99 or less to download, although some are as high as $59.99.
The newest version of tvOS, 9.1, was released on Tuesday.
Comments
Personally, I don't think you can really compare the Apple TV to gaming systems like the PS4. The Apple TV isn't powerful enough to run console titles. I love my Apple TV and some of the games on the App Store, but it will never have in depth games with great graphics like the WItcher 3, Uncharted, Last of Us, etc.
As long as Apple forces developers to develop their games with the Siri Remote it's not going to be taken as a serious platform for gaming. It's like a Wii, no one took that console as a serious gaming machine.
I didn't quite understand the second sentence - I'd be interested in hearing more about this (I thought the Wii was VERY successful and that those who didn't take it seriously were quite surprised when it did so well). In fact, my hope was that Apple TV would be very similar to the Wii and show that gameplay didn't require power (it can't really compete on power, I think).
There is a great stable of existing iOS games that can be ported to tvOS with (I suspect) relatively little effort. I think Apple will really need to tackle the issue of multiple players & controllers before the aTV can really break out as a casual family game machine.
The crap you read on IGN against Nintendo is akin to the crap you read against Apple in tech blogs. You chose to believe it.
the only thing that "hurt" the Wii was graphics and crapppy developers. For example, they had 100's of cheap games hoping to cash in on the craze but Mario Galaxy 2 on Wii is the 2nd most critically acclaimed game in history.
Admittedly Apple is allowing too much crap through their ecosystem too. The Siri remote is still less functional than Wii remote+nunchuck and the A8 chip might discourage a few developers.
They really should have went all in and don't give me that "but Apple wanted to make it affordable!" crap. Because, when has Apple been a cheap budget company?
A9x, Taptic Engine and TouchID with instant settings and gaming profile would have blown developers away.
My theory is they're saving the best hardware for when their TV service is finalized.
Apple Please !???
I didn't quite understand the second sentence - I'd be interested in hearing more about this (I thought the Wii was VERY successful and that those who didn't take it seriously were quite surprised when it did so well). In fact, my hope was that Apple TV would be very similar to the Wii and show that gameplay didn't require power (it can't really compete on power, I think).
Actually, there are plenty of Bluetooth controller options. The best of which being the SteelSeries Nimbus, so IMHO both of derrickdoingit's points didn't really make sense to me.
But you are absolutely correct about the reasons for the Wii's amazing success. Gameplay, above all else, is what makes a game great. Graphics is of secondary, however still very much appreciated, importance to the fun of games. If a game looks great, but is boring, it will still fail. iOS games equal this point, as smartphone games do not have the graphical capabilities that a PS4 would have. But iOS games are still IMMENSELY successful, and Apple TV games can also be very successful as well if the developers do them right. I am looking very forward to seeing what they can come up with.
If the App Store becomes a full blown chaos of apps as the one for the iPhone, full of thousands of useless crapware apps, while making the Apple TV "complicated" to handle in the process, also in consideration of the limitations of its remote (and the last thing I want is to use a keyboard in front of a TV - I am trying to get away from the office when chilling in front of my TV in the evening!), I don't think I will download many apps at all.
I was actually a bit disappointed when I bought my 4th gen, 3 days ago, as I had to add apps to see Netflix and YouTube which are standard on the 3rd Gen. It took me like 10 plus mins, if not more, to see something.
With the 3rd gen I was watching something in like 2 mins. The user experience with the passwords written one char at a time, app downloads required to see common content, etc made the whole experience worse that with the older device.
I hope tvOS will really bring some innovative UI experience features, because so far I don't see much of a benefit.
Ah, and BTW, Siri is not active on my Apple TV, the option to activate it is greyed out, and yes I do live in a country supported by Siri... Maybe because I have english UI and live in Germany it doesn'T want to work? why? my iPhone is configured the same way I can have Siri active in multiple different languages... ????