Apple's AAA mobile gaming efforts seem to be failing

A clusterfuck of on screen controls

iOS ports of major console games like Resident Evil 4, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Death Stranding have seemingly faced lackluster sales as recent sales estimates reveal low figures.

If these figures are accurate, Assassin’s Creed Mirage garnered only around $138,000 from 123,000 downloads, with less than 3,000 users opting to purchase the full game after a free trial. Analysts note that while these are estimates, they reflect a broader trend where mobile gamers may prefer simpler, indie titles that offer unique art styles and gameplay suited to shorter play sessions. Also, keep in mind that the games require the latest iPhone and iPad models, limiting their potential audience.

Sales figure estimates said:
[TABLE=full]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]

[TD]Appfigures estimate[/TD]
[TD]Appmagic estimate[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Resident Evil 4[/TD]
[TD]7,000[/TD]
[TD]15,000[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Resident Evil Village[/TD]
[TD]5,750[/TD]
[TD]34,000[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Assassin's Creed Mirage[/TD]
[TD]3,000[/TD]
[TD]5,750[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Death Stranding[/TD]
[TD]10,600[/TD]
[TD]23,000[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

According to the experts, the market segmentation is likely the cause as consumers who can afford premium iOS devices likely also own consoles or high end PCs where these games are traditionally played. This overlap suggests that mobile ports of console games face an uphill battle in attracting gamers who may already be invested in other platforms. Of course, the relatively high prices of these ports, coupled with the different gaming habits on mobile platforms, further complicate their market.

Would you play these kind of AAA titles on mobile over a traditional PC or console experience?

:arrow: Source
 
I honestly want them to fail. A little off topic, but I don't understand why Sega had to make two great games (Sonic Dream Team and Puyo Puzzle Pop) exclusive to their service and it sucks to see me as an android user missing out all of the fun.
 
gee could it have something to do with shitty touch controls on a phone?!

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Perhaps, though I think it really stems from the fact that people don't really go out of their way to buy apps from a mobile store. Look at any indie or AAA game that is also sold on mobile without a subscription service, and compare the sales figures between mobile and another platform.
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I honestly want them to fail. A little off topic, but I don't understand why Sega had to make two great games (Sonic Dream Team and Puyo Puzzle Pop) exclusive to their service and it sucks to see me as an android user missing out all of the fun.
Simple: they want money. These games don't bombard you with microtransactions or ads compared to anything free to play on Apple or Android. If Sonic Dream Team and Puyo Puzzle Pop were to be released for free in its current state, it wouldn't make any revenue.
 
Perhaps, though I think it really stems from the fact that people don't really go out of their way to buy apps from a mobile store. Look at any indie or AAA game that is also sold on mobile without a subscription service, and compare the sales figures between mobile and another platform.

I concur. Mobile users have proven to be highly adverse to purchasing apps/games outright. The model they've come to embrace is purchasing things piecemeal, one microtransaction at a time. Even Apple Arcade, which is a ridiculously good deal, has only gained traction with a tiny fraction of iPhone owners (and iPhone owners are the rich ones!).
 
Personally, I have no desire to play such titles on a phone. Those titles are usually for long play sessions (>=1hr) and not the bite size types of game that mobile gamers tend to prefer. As someone getting on in the years, playing those games for an extended period of time on a phone is a strain on my eyes and I think it is a waste to play it on a phone where the graphics aren't able to be appreciated in its fullest capacity. In order words, they chose the wrong titles to port over. They should do roguelikes instead.
 
> Release a port of 20 year old game everyone has already played 100 times on 10 different platforms on mobile
> Clutter the screen with the worst possible touchscreen controls
> Charge £60 for it and some DLC
> Scratch head in utter confusion as to why nobody bothers buying it

1719749178253.png


lmfao fuck off Apple
 
I mean, I'm not fully surprised
Mobile users have proven that in general they're just like short session games and/or gachas + these on-screen controls are trash af because it looks like and emulator. IF THATS A PORT, WHY THEY HAVEN'T MAKE PROPER CONTROLS??
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gee could it have something to do with shitty touch controls on a phone?!
Thats literally it
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Holy sh🦆t
 
I would blame it on the people, just as Steve Job famously blamed them for the antenna problem iPhone had.
 
Last edited by TomSwitch,
Well, considering that one needs to own a piece of apple hardware, have to port all their source and dependencies to Xcode, and hope and pray things compile correctly or deal with the worst case of effectively buying a new licence just to reprovision their issued activation key, it makes complete sense why so many are unwilling to port their existing works to MacOS and iOS in particular.

Where did I get that detail from? There's this one developer YouTuber, his channel is (I think) called PirateSoftware unironically. At the time, he was working at blizzard and was close enough or one of those assigned to do the macintosh port of StarCraft 2. The extra hoops demanded by apple ensured they never even made enough back to pay for the hardware required to even make the code port, let alone continue supporting that edition with updates.

It was literally easier to port to Linux, because st least Linux didnt fuss about running in a virtual machine for compilation and testing.
 
Gaming on Mac doesn't seem to be going well either.
I honestly want them to fail. A little off topic, but I don't understand why Sega had to make two great games (Sonic Dream Team and Puyo Puzzle Pop) exclusive to their service and it sucks to see me as an android user missing out all of the fun.
Other Apple Arcade games have been ported, so hopefully they will be timed exclusives.
 
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I'm all for mobile ports of console games. Squeenix have been doing it for a long time and most of the mainline Final Fantasy series is available on mobile, along with some other series. Turn based games work quite well on a touchscreen, but it's not good for heavy action based games.
But I think these companies don't understand the mobile app market. People don't want to pay more than $10 for an app/game. It's just not the norm. You might be able to charge $30-40 for the same game on console but don't expect it to sell on mobile if you ask for more than $10-15.
 
ppl play mobile games if they are free or just plain cheap like under 10$, i dont see anyone ever purchasing an AAA game full price to play on mobile imo.
 
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It’s a shame but not a surprise. I hope they stick with it personally. If phones get good games, companies will offer better peripherals to meet new demand. It’s just challenging to make those first few steps.

I definitely would upgrade to a newer iPhone if Capcom took a break from Resident Evil and ported a modern Monster Hunter instead.
 

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