Apple described the Apple TV 2015 edition during a press conference as “the future of television” and reports suggested the company was going to have a renewed focus on the gaming sector. Unfortunately, this never came to fruition and only a few games were demoed on the show floor. While Apple did increase their efforts to cater towards the gaming audience, it was much less than we anticipated. Part of the problem revolves around the remote control which offers a poor level of precision in various genres. According to TouchArcade editor-in-chief Eli Hodapp, who published an editorial, this is having a major impact on sales:
“I’ve been talking to many different developers who have released games or apps on the device, and the general vibe is that if things don’t turn around following Christmas, Apple is going to have a real problem on their hands,”
“‘Successful’ apps are making $100 a day on a good day, with revenue continuing to trail off since launch.”
It’s absolutely absurd to see apps making $100 per day being described as “successful” and Apple has to rethink their strategy. Perhaps a controller add-on, or revamped interface with the remote control will encourage more people to purchase games via the Apple TV. Up to this point, it seems most people are using the Apple TV 2015 for media streaming and not gaming purposes. This makes it a fairly useless platform for developers considering the huge amount of alternatives including Android devices, PC, and consoles.
