It’s no secret that gaming on the iPhone has been one of the main keys to the App Store’s success. You know it, I know it, and so you have to believe that all the competitors know it too. And yet, their actions would seem to suggest that they don’t know it. Because they keep building devices, operating systems and app stores to compete with the iPhone, that simply can’t hold a candle to the iPhone when it comes to gaming.
At the Casual Connect conference in Seattle today, some numbers were thrown out there, talking about just how big gaming is now on the iPhone. Of the nearly 70,000 apps in the App Store, some 20% are games. Yes, that means there are between 10,000 and 15,000 apps that are games, just for the iPhone alone. To put that in perspective, that is more than the total number of apps that all of the App Store’s big competitors (Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store, Palm’s App Catalog, BlackBerry’s App World) have — combined.
Sure, all of those stores are younger than the App Store, but it’s already clear that none are taking hold as true gaming platforms like the iPhone is. At least Palm has already come to that realization early in its lifespan, and has started trying to hire gaming engineers to try and change that. But there are no shortage of questions as to just how well webOS, an OS built on web technologies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, will be able to handle graphic-intense gaming, like the iPhone can.
And the competitors have another problem: The games on the iPhone are getting even better.
If there’s one trend I’ve noticed in the App Store over the past few months, it’s that every week without fail now there are at least a handful of really, really good games hitting the store. I’m someone who, as I’ve grown older, has found that I don’t have much time or patience for gaming. But there I am on the iPhone at least once a week now checking for the hot new games and downloading them. They’re fantastic, and they’re not $50 or $60 like current console games are.
Some, like FlightControl are simple and addictive. Others like Rolando 2, make perfect use of all the iPhone’s capabilities like multi-touch and the accelerometer. Some rival fun I have with console versions, like Tiger Woods an Peggle. Some bring a feeling of nostalgia for the old NES days (with better graphics), like Castle of Magic. I could go on — StoneLoops of Jurrasica, GloBall, Tap Tap Revenge 2, Moonlights — these are all great games. And these are just games I’ve gotten in the past few weeks.
And now, with the launch of the iPhone 3GS, there is hardware that will be able to handle even more impressive gaming. While Apple’s competitors are busy trying to build phones to dethrone the iPhone, Apple has built a device that not only is still running laps around them, it’s also taking on devices like the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS.
And naturally, with success, a lot of developers making games for the iPhone are making a lot of money off of the platform. SGN’s Shervin Pishevar says his top games are seeing 25,000 to 40,000 daily installs. If those games are $9.99, that’s $250,000 to $400,000 a day (before Apple’s 30% cut), just for one game, as VC Jeff Clavier points out.
Now, not all developers are having such success. But that’s partially due to the fact that there are so many of them now making games. And the fact that the iPhone has turned into a gaming platform has attracted the big boys, like EA.
“Every day, the gap with Apple gets wider and wider,” Sling Media co-founder Blake Krikorian told Bloomberg today refering to the iPhone’s competitors. He had bought a Palm Pre when it came out, but switched back to the iPhone three days later because he couldn’t live without Tiger Woods. I completely understand. I just don’t understand why the iPhone’s competitors don’t seem to.
Gaming is definitely big business on the iPhone, MG, but Apple really needs to step up to the plate to make it realistic for big name developers. There have been rumors of the “premium” game section for a long time now and we still haven’t seen it. The bulk of the top selling games on the platform cost only $.99 and despite having huge volumes, this simply won’t cut it for long for large developers. To create titles that rival the DS or PSP isn’t cheap. Before starting AppVee, I was in the gaming industry and I know what it took to make some stellar titles.
If we are fine playing more Flight Controls and Doodle Jumps, then great – the iPhone is perfect. But if we want to start really getting the depth and quality of other handhelds, we need to be willing to shell out the dollars for it. For this to happen, Apple needs to starting helping skew the price sensitivity and give better exposure to $5-20 games. I’ve seen how much potential this platform has for gaming, but I don’t think we’ve given developers the opportunity yet to really push it to the limits. Its going to take a higher priced game, with similar volumes, to really allow us to say some truly amazing games come out.
Alex
And based on the comments Tim Cook made during yesterday’s earnings call, I’d bet we’ll see something like you’re asking for relatively soon.
Right – meant to mention that. I’m very curious to see what Apple’s plan for the upcoming revamp will be. Will it be dramatic? Not so sure…but hopefully it will be at least a step in the right direction.
Looks like they have this already. Chech this Tiger Woods game, cost $6.99.
http://itunes.a...re?id=313621355
Exactly. I think by better, the author actuallly means, “getting much worse as programmers realize the futility of competing in such a crowded marketplace full of crappy clones and ports.”
The games that came out in the first few months were good. The games that have come out since…fully justify the low price point of the App Store.
granted. but are people willing to play more in-depth games on the iphone? games drain the phone’s battery too soon. I can see why simple RPGs are successful – because you can play every once in a while. just like facebook games: people abstain from the most complicated ones.
Plus what about the future of the iphone? android sounds like a more promising platform, with many more potential users worldwide than the iphone.
Interesting question. I’m willing to play certain somewhat in-depth games for longer periods of time than I would have anticipated. I must have spent 20-30 minutes the other night playing through 18 holes of “Let’s Golf”, to my own surprise.
When I look at the games I’ve played the most (Peggle, Let’s Golf and Blue Attack are biggies), I see a major commonality – they’re simple enough to have a satisfying 1-3 minute play experience, yet have enough content and gameplay depth to encourage longer sessions when more time is available.
there is a growing number of games with higher prices: Just today, Monkey Island was released with a 5 EUR (around 8 $) price tag. Doom Resurrection costs around 8 EUR, last time I checked. Most of EAs titles sell for similar prices.
Personally, I am not so sure, iPhone games will reach prices between 15-25 EUR. For the foreseeable future, the buck will stop at 10 EUR – and thats still a stretch, going from todays prices.
This assumes I want to play games on my phone. Sometimes a phone is just a phone.
I’m not assuming anything on a per person basis. I’m simply saying that as a whole the iPhone competitors are going to have a hard time catching the App Store without good games.
has anyone conducted a survey as to what are iphone users willing to pay for? techcrunch viewers may be willing to play 3d games, but the average user seems to go for the farty apps (even when there are other equally-priced games)
There is a new game coming to the iPhone a Mafia type game called Angeles City based on one of the wildest towns in the world, just saw some screen shots it looks good
As wonderful as some of the games on the iPhone are, there is still a big problem with the app store: it’s flooded with games that aren’t quite awesome. In fact, of those ~10,000 games probably 80% are either ‘lite’ versions of paid games or just not worth installing at all (fart noises, etc).
I really wish I could find the awesome games on my own but the app store has no way to help awesome content rise to the top; just popular content. The only way I find awesome games is through word of mouth or mentioned on podcasts such as Co-op or The Totally Rad Show.
No amount of browsing the app store has yielded anything interesting. The few websites that currently exist to rate or help you discover iPhone apps can’t keep up and haven’t even gotten close to a critical mass of users.
Apple needs to make a better app discovery system, but someone else could have a good time doing it first.
Sure, as I’ve written before:
http://www.tech...s-feature-asap/
I started browsing the whole AppStore as soon as it opened, then I have browsed all new additions on a weekly basis until now. So I have scanned all 60,000+ apps, some in more detail than others. Only 467 apps have I found worthy of purchase so far (of which about 10% were free).
Of course, YMMV and people will be interested in different apps. My guess is that anyone would probably find 1% of all apps “interesting” for their own purpose, but that the overall percentage of “interesting” apps (to at least some users) is way higher than 50%. The average quality on the AppStore is incredible for a mobile platform.
Obviously, it would be insane to start browsing the entire store only now. For nuts like me, I hope that Apple can come up with several improvements to the browsing experience, such as:
1) Show the friggin’ rating in the list, so that one does not have to click an app to be able to see it (and show how many users rated the app);
2) Show a short description in the list as well;
3) Allow a user to track his browsing pattern so that any app already seen is never shown again or dimmed, if desired (especially since the same app can exist in two categories).
4) Etc.
The only serious competitor that I can see looming in the near future would be Microsoft, whose overall experience in gaming platforms is A+.
It will be very interesting to see what Microsoft does. Their problem is that WM has been a complete dog. Sure, they have gaming experience with Xbox, but I can’t imagine anyone making solid games on WM right now, but we’ll see.
XBox *and* the PC, whereas Mac OS X has always been way behind in terms of gaming…
The iPhone has a big problem; its email and messaging stinks.
Is that “World of Goo”?
it’s very similar. called moonlights.
Apple was brilliant too make 3d the core of their interface from the bottom up. The other guys treated 3d like a afterthought or ignored it all together. Now the results are showing. Give the developers the hardware and they’ll take advantage of it. Apple does this with its macs too(that is why their interface is so damn slick and non clunky, opengl is at the core of the OS).
The PC fell behind consoles with gaming for the same reason( Intel treated 3d cards like the plague and now the world is stuck with millions of computeers with crappy 3d cards), so console gaming forged right ahead and PC gaming stagnated( stagnating pc sales as well).
The number of different markets the iPhone has been able to step into and soak up market share is possibly what impresses me most. As MG points out, in addition to competing in the cell and smart phone market (against long-established behemoths) the iPhone is competeing with handheld gaming/media platforms (like the PSP and DS), as well as the low to mid range camera market. Not to mention owning something that’s ONLY a GPS device seems a bit ridiculous at this point.
I’d like to call B.S. on Shervin Peshivar of SGN doing $200,000 – $400,000 a day with his top selling titles. Well respected people in the gaming industry all admit that doing $300K per YEAR on the iPhone is considered a success. I highly doubt that Shervin’s # are accurate.
Anyway, I agree with the author that the iPhone is the ultimate mobile gaming platform. Before the iPhone all mobile games simply sucked.
Lastly, I’ve heard rumors that due to Apples lack of a quality recommendation engine that gaming companies are actually buying mass quantities of their titles just to get in the top 10 lists. That top 10 exposure gives them the ability to get eyeballs and thus more downloads. Who knows if its true, but certainly a smooth marketing move if it works.
The article states 25,000 to 40,000 daily downloads – not specifying if this is free or paid. Of course Clavier’s tweet was an overstatement. Nearly all of SGN’s current iPhone offerings are Free or $.99.
Wow, that is one marketing trick (massive purchases to enter the top 10) of which I had naively never thought. Too funny.
Thinking about it again, I am a bit skeptical about the trick. First, I believe that you cannot have the same credit card number attached to two different AppStore accounts. Second, I believe that purchasing the same item again tells you that you already purchased it and invites you to download it again instead. Still, if the trick was possible, an even cheaper alternative would be to massively download a free lite version of the app at no cost, for almost similar exposure (although not as strong a message that upgrading to the premium version is worth it).
Agreed. Also, only very very few 9.99$ apps reach those spots where you get 20-40k downloads a day. Actually i can only think of Sims3 right now that might have done such daily numbers.
But 10-15k $ per day for a good game in the top spots is realistic i think.
This is one of the most unsubstantiated stories I’ve ever read. The only shred of fact that this article offers is that there are more games in the App Store than there are in the stores of competing mobile platforms. I think most people are well aware of that. The Apple mobile ecosystem is older and has a bigger market share than its competitors, it doesn’t come as a surprise that it has more developer support and thus more apps. But from this one obvious fact you try to spin outrageous claims, that games on competing platforms all stink, that other phones “simply can’t hold a candle to the iPhone when it comes to gaming”, that “it’s already clear that none are taking hold as true gaming platforms like the iPhone is.” Where’s your evidence for any of these claims you are making? Have you been testing games on other platforms and comparing their quality to games on the iPhone? Have you been comparing the hardware and graphics capabilities of the iPhone versus other devices? No, all you have to rely on is the fact that the iPhone has more games than other platforms. Your article would’ve been at least factual if you stopped your claim with the fact that Apple’s platform has been out longer, has a bigger marketshare, and has more developers developping for it. But when you attempt to use this to justify complete non sequiturs, your article becomes a complete joke.
I don’t get it. I don’t play games. Why should I care about games on my phone?
Smartphones have so many things wrong or incomplete about them that any effort expended on games while the rest of the phone functionality as a communication device sucks is ridiculous.
The iPhone is barely tolerable for PIM, phone calls and messaging, and we already talking about games.
It may well be that Apple found niche market just for itself, and that market has 0 relevance to how well it does as a phone.
As a side comment about journalism: its role is to examine successful products and organizations with skepticism and report on their failings, not reinforce the image of their success. This sort of reporting is perversion of journalism into pandering.
What are you talking about ? The basic phone capabilities of the iphone are better than any phone ive owned before…Ever used a windows mobile smartphone ? Think not, or you wouldnt post such statements.
Games are just a huge market for handhelds nowadays, there might be owners that dont care, but sales figures show that there are a whole lot of people that do care for games.
Except that unlike most other phones (include the pre) the iPhone doesnt fit into your pocket. Ask many women why they don’t get the iPhone — too big for their purses. In the end the phone has to fit the practical uses (like size). Not everyone lives in their car and an office cubicle.
What? It’s slimmer than the Pre… It fits in my pocket better than any phone I’ve ever had!
What are you talking about? iPhone as a phone is barely usable. Adequate for PIM management and is as noted a niche device for casual users.
There is a segement of the market that wants this functionality and a segement who could care less about apps and games. iPhone is not for everyone as much as Blackberry might be overkill if you want a DS gaming system.
The dream of converged devices is not quite there and you have to give up functionality and accept shortfalls.
Until iPhone has anything at the level of a Zelda it’s all casual gaming if limited appeal to the ganing market.
I’ll tell you what, this is absolutely correct. iPhone has a lot of games, and the rest just don’t.
The ones that the iPhone’s competitors do have stink.
Plus, it makes sense anyway. Which quality development shop wants to be the fool investing its precious resources into a much less popular platform. Maybe some get paid to do it, though.
The games are about to get real interesting also. Resident Evil 4, Madden Football, Gameloft’s GTA clone, and Dexter are going to be top notch 3D games. One developer is even trying to get Portal on the iPhone. The games that are arriving in the coming months are getting more complex.
The iPhone still has some issues with the PNS, multitasking, an API for communication between apps and file structure. Something tells me though that most or all those problems will be fixed with OS 4.0.
Before the iPhone, the most popular phone games were on the SE phones, with one of the first flight simulation games on the K750i.
Having used 3 generation of SE phones, I can honestly say that their games were the most addictive.
Let’s see if SE can do it again!
Why should apple change things to get more exposure for premium apps? That’s like a record company relying on apple to promote their new artist! Companies should promote their own games duh! That’s what advertising and marketing is all about! All apple provides is a simple method of purchase. Now the platform is mature and their isn’t any first mover advantage, developers need to promote the shit out of your games. Not just sit there and expect it just to “happen”. And if your games are too expensive for the Market then that’s exactly what’s happening. Don’t try to blame apple for not providing you with a Market to sell premium games. Force the issue and “promote” your game so well that people are compelled to pay £20 pounds for your damn game! The fact that the type of people who buy iPhone games are usually ultra casual gamers who will never pay over £5 for Anything on a phone is obviously lost o. You guys!
The problem is that the App Store’s prominently placed Top 25 has become the most powerful driver of App Store sales, resulting in $.99 impulse-buy apps overshadowing deeper, more capable software and games.
The solution isn’t necessarily to kill the Top 25 as it exists today (and with it, perhaps, the impulse buy market), but perhaps to have “Top 25″ price tiers so that deeper, more expensive to produce software also has a prominent promotional place.
Totally agree with albsure, why should apple promote them? (apart from the fact apple would get more money). If they did it would become an app store dominated by expensive games. I like the fact I can find a game for a couple of quid and it is can still be excellent. Flight control was 59p and look how much success that was. Ok they could have charged £10 but most would not have ended up buying it. I like my hardcore gaming.. On a console or dedicated handheld, I don’t want it on my phone. The app store is working perfectly.. Why fix what isn’t broken? Leave it as it is and let developers worry about promotion. If one day I the future most games are £10 up because the premium area has wiped out new developer games priced at a couple of quid… I will know who to blame.. You lot!
Totally agree with albsure, why should apple promote them? (apart from the fact apple would get more money). If they did it would become an app store dominated by expensive games. I like the fact I can find a game for a couple of quid and it is can still be excellent. Flight control was 59p and look how much success that was. Ok they could have charged £10 but most would not have ended up buying it. I like my hardcore gaming.. On a console or dedicated handheld, I don’t want it on my phone. The app store is working perfectly.. Why fix what isn’t broken? Leave it as it is and let developers worry about promotion. If one day I the future most games are £10 up because the premium area has wiped out new developer games priced at a couple of quid… I will know who to blame.. You lot!
I see it myself on the website I operate, gaming on the iPhone is huge my website users cant get enough of it
Apple has a big problem:
Nokia and Samsung control the retail distribution.
Power over the retail distribution channels is meaningless if consumers don’t want your product. Over time, it just becomes a cost burden on your enterprise.
Apple is outpacing its phone manufacturer competitors because they just don’t get what the consumer now wants. There will always be some business user who wants the marginally better enterprise app capability of a Blackberry, but the mass market consumer is gravitating to the iphone. Games is just one aspects of where Apple is getting it right.
I pity Nokia particularly, because it doesn’t seem to be able to get away with this fixation for a very large product range aimed at niche markets. It’s the GM of phone companies and its going to suffer a similar fate unless it makes radical change.
What do you expect competitors to do? Give up? Stop trying? Try harder?
Really, as much as I love my iPhone, I am all for strong competition. What are you for?
Exactly my thought when reading this article. seems like MG think iphone rules, everyone else just should give up.
iPhone games stink just as bad.
iPhone has got a edge over every other same segment devices. Gaming is just one part of it.
Other features are also as good. You can read more about iPhone features at 10 cool things about iPhone 3gs
iPhone games that utilize facebook connect are my favorites, I’m hooked on the scrabble game right now.
If only they could agree on a protocol to let people from the US/Canada play with the rest of the world using different versions of the app (i.e. Hasbro/EA Scrabble vs. Mattel Scrabble)… :::sigh:::
The largest issue is also the reason gaming will always be a niche.
iphone users want free to little cost so its near impossible to invest in a major title and recoup your development cost. No small developer has that kind of dollars behind them. So you have ports of exsisiting games that frankly I’d rather play on Wii/Xbox etc.
Casual gaming on the go with limited controls is what iPhone excels at. Pretending its anything more or can be in its current form is just fanboy drivel with no statistic proving any trend out.
And as I noted – a large segement have no desire to even play games on their mobile device. If anything you have a couple loaded to keep you busy on flights or your kids quiet when dining out.
Arguable. I have a G1 and while there are few really good games in the market (maybe half a dozen), there are emulators for genesis, SNES, and NES. In other words, I really have access to thousands of high quality games.
One clarification. On GetJar we have about 45,000 mobile apps, many of which are games.
Ports of old games is good to an extent and emulators on the G1 is good but it’s an even smaller niche Market. The iPhone is successful not just for the games whatsoever but the games are successful because they are new and innovative compared to traditional mobile games. It’s just one of the big attractions to gaming in the iPhone so if it becomes all about the big name brands then that individuality will be lost forever especially if it’s just a store full of ports. It will still be popular but apple I think will lose their pulling power as you may as well just get a dedicated handheld…
I know a bulk of games cost just $0.99 but they are addictive too. Like BomberDove (www.bomberdove.com), is just original as fun!
And is a great idea to give small developers the opportunity to grow up and enter to the game industry.