https://9to5mac.com/2024/06/28/aaa-games-iphone-ipad-arent-a-hit/
Since the launch of the iPhone 15 Pro with A17 Pro, Apple’s first chip with hardware-accelerated ray-tracing, Apple has been...
The few times I have tried a more impressive game on my phone, my overriding thought is 'why am I not playing this on my PC?'. Phone controls, screen size, and processing power suck, so all but the simplest games meant to hold your attention while you are waiting at a doctor's office don't optimally work there. And for a doctor's office lobby, I want something I can have fun within seconds of starting and feel satisfied with only minutes of play.
I used to love playing Infinity Blade back in the day, but it was another time and they were games built from the ground up for touch screens so it’s not really comparable
also the fights in that game only took a few minutes. definitely something you could pick up and drop while in a waiting room as the person above said.
You can use a controller and it works great, but at this point I bet you’d rather use a larger device. It does make a lot more sense on iPads though
It’s certainly doable, but I think a smartphone makes too many compromises to be a great gaming system for much outside of casual games.
It’s cool that I might be able to play such a game on the phone, but if I care about the game I don’t think I want to.
I jumped over to the App Store the second Hades was announced, fully willing to pay full price, even though I could easily get the game for 30% cheaper on Steam.
Subscription required.
Fuck. That.
Who wants to play these monsters that suck out your battery in minutes on such a small screen? There are many great games on phones but they are not graphically impressive or huge in scale. They are 2D, control with one finger and get you in and out in seconds.
They didn't need a whole report on it. If anyone was even slightly curious about why good games suck ass on phones, all they need to do is try and play one.
You know what would get people to play them on their phones? If we could use our Phones as our desktop when docked, DEX like. I mean the processing power is there (maybe not cooling).
I think there’s a middle ground there, though it depends on the kind of game. Something like a first person shooter is a non-starter on iPhone to me due to the smaller display and touchscreen controls. Something like a turn based strategy I like better on mobile because being able to tap through commands and menus is nicer than a controller to me. Maybe also a stronger push for some of the games to have cross platform saves, like being able to play on my Apple TV at home, but also do some grinding a few minutes at a time while I’m out.
Really, I think Apple TV is where the real gaming potential is. It might not match consoles in power, but it’s also in a lot of households that might not have bought a console but will buy a couple good games on Apple TV.
Let's see:
Yeah, I get the sentiment: why. But Apple has to start with something, and if they want people to buy games they will need a bigger catalog, and for that they need to keep their porting tools easier to implement.
We have apple and the app store to thank for that. The normalization of sub $5 games did it. Mobile users won't pay AAA prices for their games.
Mobile users won't pay AAA prices for their games.
And we're all mobile users now. I know a lot of people who play mobile games on their couch within arm's reach of their console controller.
It scratches a different itch, but it does have real substitution effects in the real world, even at home.
Correct me if I'm wrong but don't you have to constantly update iOS Apps or Games for new iOS Releases for them to keep working properly?
It’s really not that different than a PC just with a slightly tighter cycle. When you upgraded from Windows 7 to 10, some games lost support too. It’s just that PCs have a much longer compatibility window than phones do.
Eh, that’s not really true. Games from decades ago still have a good chance to play fine on modern Windows because Microsoft cares about backwards compatibility. That’s like one of the main appeals of Win32.
I don’t think there’s a problem with deprecating and removing APIs like Apple does in principle but if you combine non-free/proprietary focused ecosystem with that, like they also do, it’s a software preservation disaster.
Mario run did it great, Pokémon go did it good. Normal Pokémon games and old final fantasy games work too, since it’s not time sensitive. Tilting games work on phones, maybe driving games. But that’s about it. While it may be possible to display all 13 buttons of a controller on a phone screen, it’s just… you can only press 1 direction and 1 button at the same time, no shoulder buttons AND face button.
They should make Kirby and the magic brush or something like that on phones.
Didn’t apple add support for controllers a couple years ago? Maybe I’m misremembering, but why isnt that a bigger deal for people who want to play serious games?
If I need the controller to play in the first place, why not play on the TV?
When I’m on the go I rarely take a controller + clip or a clippable controller with me.
When I was a cab driver, I would have had a controller with me in my bag and position the phone on the wheel in a comfy position while gaming.
I use my iPhone with a Bluetooth controller all the time for Moonlight game streaming when my wife or son are using the TV or we’re out of the house. That works just fine. Playing games on a phone isn’t that terrible at all - with the right input method. I’m admittedly considering going for a Pro on my next upgrade, just for the additional screen size for text legibility in some games. And it’s also not my first choice.
However, I’m not about to buy AAA titles on the App Store where I’ll only be able to play the game on my phone…
Some of the traits of gaming phones are universally appealing like top notch performance or great battery life.
Ok, let me rephrase then. Is gaming on high performance android phones equally unappealing?