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April 24, 2007

Reader Followup to Yesterday's Open Letter to Apple

Wario's not the only one who's got smooth moves.

Yesterday I posted An Open Letter to Apple from a Lifelong Gamer, one of my most popular blogs to date. I managed to tap into a huge community of Mac users out there that hunger for hardcore games native on their preferred platform.

Feedback was surprisingly positive -- there's very little debate that great gaming on a Mac would drive a lot of people to finally make the switch. But most readers were skeptical that Apple can capture the gaming market without some major changes.

For instance, PC gamers also have a lot on their mind on top of just software. Many of you pointed out that 1. Macs are not upgradeable, or difficult to upgrade, whereas gamers like to chase the hardware curve with periodic upgrades and 2. on a related note, cost-wise, Macs give you less bang for the buck when it comes to hardware. Apple needs to take this into account if the company wants to get serious about games.

Then there's a business issue. To date, Mac games just don't sell. There's a serious chicken-and-egg problem here, one that might be alleviated by the fact that more and more of you have recently purchased a Mac that you dual-boot as a PC for playing games. As that slice of the market grows, maybe Mac gaming will as well.

Big Bucks

No mistake, as many of you pointed out, if Apple wanted to make Mac gaming a serious market force, it is not going to come easy. There's developer support and evangelism, acquisition of exclusive content, technology development, not to mention a re-jiggering of the Mac lineup to allow for periodic hardware upgrades for hardcore users. That's a LOT of money and a LOT of risk for Apple.

On the other hand, Nintendo offers a valuable lesson. Facing Sony and Microsoft in a ludicrously competitive market, Nintendo opted to "Think Different" and created a specialized system that focused not on high-end hardware but on fun and simplicity. The Nintendo Wii already has a huge installed base and growing legions of fans among both gamers and game developers. If anyone can do the same for PC gaming, it's Apple.

On to your feedback!

Your Letters:

Mark, a former Apple employee, dropped me a note that was interesting because he wrote as though he were on a first-name basis with Apple figurehead Steve Jobs: "Steve needs to draw more PC users to Mac first before there will be a market base big enough to support a switching of game platforms. Steve has been very strategic about his moves. He has never taken a step before he was sure that he was absolutely on sure footing." -Mark

"I also believe that the reason Macs haven't penetrated the consumer market is their lack of gaming support, which IMHO is how Microsoft became so successful. No-one can argue that despite their faults Microsoft have been anything but proactive in this, and DirectX is a prime example that helped get Win boxes into homes. Apple use OpenGL but have never put the effort into it that Microsoft gave to DirectX." -Kerrie from MacRaider

"If apple can create the same experience for gaming that is has created for everything else in os x windows wouldn't even be an option for most people, especially with microsoft trying to force everyone to upgrade to vista." -Chris Macken

"...it also comes down to hardware. Currently, there is really no easy way to either build your own Mac or upgrade an existing one without going direct to Apple. So, what happens when a gamer needs to get some more power from their machine? With a PC you upgrade the memory, video card, etc; with a Mac, you pretty much have to get a completely new system because they don't upgrade well... To really get more switchers, Apple needs to get a good game division, like you said, and release individual hardware components." -Gabe

"If I had a dollar for every time someone that I was preaching the Mac gospel to said 'I would switch to a Mac if I could play all the games I play on my PC on the Mac,' I'd have quite a few dollars." -Rob

"Most true gamer's are using Xbox or PlayStation. Younger kids are using Nintendo or Wii. Game developer's are investing money in games for platforms that will allow them to make money. Apple with it's 2 to 3 percent of the computer market simply cannot attract any interest from the gaming industry." -John [For the record, Macs are about 5% of the market share right now.]

"I've lost hope, I've given up... Apple's management simply doesn't like games. They don't want to do games. It's not going to happen." -Tony

"Consoles are where the future of gaming is going for anything other than casual games. Why pay over $2000 for a computer that can play games well when you can pay $400 for an Xbox 360?" -Dave

"I don't think "hard-core gamers" are the right place for Apple to focus. The Nintendo Wii showed us that mom-friendly systems can make a killing." -Kevin

"If Spore, and the Battlefield games (BF2, BF2142, and any future versions) would work on Mac, I'd switch in a heartbeat. And perhaps simply keep my PC here and upgrade its graphics card every couple years, to keep up with any games that dont make the switch." -Vrixis

"The real push should be to the developers. It lies in their hands. If they make their games in OpenGL then they will be able to have cross-platform games. Check out ID, Epic, and Blizzard. They all currently write their games in Open GL. If more developers where to adopt Open GL, it would grow." -Bryan AKA 'The Dork Rocker'

"[World of Warcraft] probably sells more Macs second only to the iPod, and I imagine that's no exaggeration either. WoW is also the chief argument against the idea of PC gaming being dead, and it's not the most forgiving or technically flawless piece of software, either. I like my PC, but I also like my little iBook, and if Apple decides to be the one to carry the torch of computer gaming forward, I'd be behind them 100%." -Kevin C.

"You nailed it sir. games, THE reason apple hasn't kicked the pants off of microsoft by now. -Matt W.

"I've been wanting a Mac since 1995, but a lack of games has always stopped me from getting one. This year I bought every next-gen gaming platform. Next year I might get a Mac. Might!" -Patrick D.

"I don't know why you bothered with a Mac. They are way over priced, not THAT sexy, and not capable of doing as much of what I want, anyway." -rhY

"I'm with you and it's simple:
Give me gaming on the mac. And windows is no more.
... just the thought of getting RID of windows gets me high." -Nobby

Thanks to everyone who wrote in!

-Fargo

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