Apple's take of gaming market suffers due to COVID-19
Apple has dropped to last place in a ranking of gaming software and services companies due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Fornite on iPad mini 5
Research firm GlobalData announced Apple's plunge in its gaming software thematic scorecard on Monday, with analyst Rupantar Guha saying that the drop "can be attributed to changes the company has made in its gaming revenue channels," as well as the App Store and Apple Arcade during COVID-19.
One example, as pointed out by Guha, is Apple's coronavirus-spurred removal of the "Plague, Inc" game from the Chinese App Store in February. The analyst said that move slowed Apple's growth in China, which is the world's largest gaming market.
Similarly, Guha said it's "unclear" if Apple's 30-day free Apple Arcade trial will be enough to "attract a significant number of new subscribers."
GlobalData's thematic gaming scorecard.
Lastly, the GlobalData analyst says that, unlike rivals like Google and Amazon, Apple hasn't made any inroads in the esports industry, which the firm says caters to a "niche audience" of about 10% of the global online population.
"Despite having the tech capabilities and potential esports titles on the Apple Arcade, Apple has failed to benefit from the thriving esports market during the global lockdown," Guha wrote.
As of June 2019, Apple was the fourth-largest gaming company globally by Newzoo due to the iPhone and the rise of mobile gaming.
The company also launched its $4.99-a-month Apple Arcade gaming service in September 2019, which features more than 100 titles developed exclusively for its various platforms.
Fornite on iPad mini 5
Research firm GlobalData announced Apple's plunge in its gaming software thematic scorecard on Monday, with analyst Rupantar Guha saying that the drop "can be attributed to changes the company has made in its gaming revenue channels," as well as the App Store and Apple Arcade during COVID-19.
One example, as pointed out by Guha, is Apple's coronavirus-spurred removal of the "Plague, Inc" game from the Chinese App Store in February. The analyst said that move slowed Apple's growth in China, which is the world's largest gaming market.
Similarly, Guha said it's "unclear" if Apple's 30-day free Apple Arcade trial will be enough to "attract a significant number of new subscribers."
GlobalData's thematic gaming scorecard.
Lastly, the GlobalData analyst says that, unlike rivals like Google and Amazon, Apple hasn't made any inroads in the esports industry, which the firm says caters to a "niche audience" of about 10% of the global online population.
"Despite having the tech capabilities and potential esports titles on the Apple Arcade, Apple has failed to benefit from the thriving esports market during the global lockdown," Guha wrote.
As of June 2019, Apple was the fourth-largest gaming company globally by Newzoo due to the iPhone and the rise of mobile gaming.
The company also launched its $4.99-a-month Apple Arcade gaming service in September 2019, which features more than 100 titles developed exclusively for its various platforms.
Comments
Not sure this is an apples to apples, or even oranges, comparison.
This is even less surprising when one takes into account the platforms and marketshare.
Apple Arcade only runs on Apple devices running the latest version of the operating system. My iPhone XS is on iOS 12.4.1; no Apple Arcade for me. My two Macs are both running Mojave 10.14; no Arcade games there. And I have a third generation Apple TV. So no Apple Arcade in my home.
Game publishers like Activision Blizzard have titles that run on multiple platforms, almost all of them with more marketshare and penetration than Apple products. iPhones don't dominate the smartphone market, Macs comprise less than 10% of the PC market, and Apple TV is not the dominant force for set-top TV streamers. Plus Activision Blizzard has titles that run on consoles and likely handheld units. There is no Apple console hardware. Only the most recent iPod touch is supported by Apple Arcade. The previous generation iPod touches (like mine) is stuck at iOS 12.4.6, no Arcade there either.
You add all of this together and there's no plausible argument for Apple to have a dominant stance.
I don't even play videogames but this analysis is pretty short-sighted.
On macOS Apple has virtually no credibility or reach in gaming at all. With removal of OpenGL support expect it will be dead completely.
To be fair it does have Metal which should theoretically offer better performance. I don’t know what’s involved porting a game built for OpenGL. That’s what Apple should focus on. No developer is going to target iOS for a big new release because currently no one looks to Apple for serious gaming.
Exactly, Maybe I haven’t had enough coffee this morning. I’m having a hard time of seeing how “ Apple's take of gaming market suffers due to COVID-19” from what appears to be nothing more than someone’s score card.
This has all the hallmarks of an analyst with an axe to grind shovelling as fast as they can.
What DOES coronavirus have to do with gaming?
That said, do I think Apple is leading the world in Gaming? No, that isn't their primary business, they make no bones about that. What's more, as excited as I was about Apple Arcade a year ago, so far I haven't even tried the free month; I just haven't seen anything on there that interested me enough to start another monthly service. Rather than $5/mo, I'll buy a $5-$10 game on the AppStore every two or three. At the very least I will break even, and the selection is better.
But I would not rely on this pile of dung report for anything, Unless your local store is sold out of TP.
The single biggest factor in the overall weighted score is "Coronavirus" [sic] at 25%. Really? And Apple scored a 1 because...? People aren't playing games on their iphones? Because they pulled one game from the Chinese market (Plague, Inc.)?
Also in terms of the weighting "China" (10%) is twice as important as "Mobile" (5%). Seriously? No other region is called out, just China? And what is "Exports"? Also 10%. Funny that the categories that don't make much sense or our clearly overweighted are the ones where Apple scores a 1 or 2. My theory is that someone had an ax to grind or otherwise knew that "Apple sucks at gaming" would be a good click bait headline. Note, I'm referring to the original analysis, not AI's story. AI would have published the story (and we would have clicked on it) so matter where Apple placed in the rankings.