Size of Mac Games Market?

zephyrsyndicatezephyrsyndicate
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Hello everyone!



I originally posted this on iDevGames, I hope you guys don't mind the cross-post... ;-)



Anyway, my company, Zephyr Syndicate, is currently working on a new game, and we have recently been seriously pondering the prospect of a Macintosh port, as well as future Macintosh-related game endeavors (we're fans of the platform). So I suppose my question is, is anyone here privvy to approximate number of units that companies can/have move(d) on the Mac? I'm interested in both like Aspyr with large-scale, popular PC ports, and also small independent developers with good 'shareware' titles...



I can't seem to find much marketing data about this really, so it would be good to hear from real people who have published games on the Mac.



Hope to hear from you guys.



Cheers,

-Wendell

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    majormattmajormatt Posts: 1,077member
    Dont quote me on this but my memory tells me



    Sims - Few Hundred Thousand

    Duke Nukem 3D - 50,000

    Other big Aspyr games - 30,000 to 45,000



    I think a flop is less than 10,000
  • Reply 2 of 8
    zephyrsyndicatezephyrsyndicate Posts: 4member
    Those are something like the numbers I was guessing, but maybe even a little low for that. It actually surprises me that there aren't more games moving on the Mac, especially with all of the retail presence these days.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by zephyrsyndicate

    Those are something like the numbers I was guessing, but maybe even a little low for that. It actually surprises me that there aren't more games moving on the Mac, especially with all of the retail presence these days.



    I blame DirectX...
  • Reply 4 of 8
    zephyrsyndicatezephyrsyndicate Posts: 4member
    For what, exactly?
  • Reply 5 of 8
    concordconcord Posts: 312member
    I do fear for the future of the Mac games market. OpenGL is slowly, but surely, getting phased out the arena. It's increasingly becoming about writing for DirectX-specific features now and that means it will become even more costly to port games over to the Mac. when Longhorn hits the market, it will rely on DirectX for it's 3D interface and I feel that will only further marginalize OpenGL in the consumer marketplace.



    Just my 2 bits.



    C.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    zephyrsyndicatezephyrsyndicate Posts: 4member
    Interesting. I wonder if Apple is not specifically pursuing games because of an understanding/assumption that gaming consoles are the future?
  • Reply 7 of 8
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by zephyrsyndicate

    For what, exactly?



    Concord explained it more eloquently than I would have
  • Reply 8 of 8
    concordconcord Posts: 312member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by zephyrsyndicate:Interesting. I wonder if Apple is not specifically pursuing games because of an understanding/assumption that gaming consoles are the future?



    I'm sure that's playing a role in it, but PC games aren't going anywhere either. With all the high profile games being bandied about lately, I predict a resurgence in PC game sales for at least the next couple of years. Consoles have been around longer than PCs and if they haven't supplanted them yet, I doubt they ever will (but they still have room to grow in popularity). There has been some talk of MS allowing the next X-box to play PC games in addition to X-box only titles so convergence is still a possibility.





    C.
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