King Marketing

Discussions of what approach Apple should take to bring games back to the Mac take several forms:

• Apple should develop a console / handheld using a stripped-down version of OS X.
• Apple should create a stronger competitor to DirectX.
• They should license DirectX from Microsoft.
• Buy their way into the market by acquiring a company like Nintendo.

Buying their way into the field: Doable, but no immediate upside for the company. Most of Apple’s software hits have come from acquiring other companies - OS X itself from the acquisition of NeXT, Final Cut from Macromedia, Motion via Prismo Graphics, Cinema Tools from FilmLogic, Logic Pro and GarageBand via Emagic, Shake from Nothing Real, etc.

Apple’s strategy is either to acquire best-in-class tools to integrate into the OS or its suites, or to shut down the PC version and get its userbase to migrate to the Mac.

I don’t know that buying a game development company (or even a tools company) really fits this pattern, but hey, Halo sold a lot of XBoxes, didn’t it?

If they were to go this route, I can think of a few candidates: Nintendo, who are becoming more Apple-like day by day; EA, for its kajillions of name-brand franchises and licenses, and/or SquareEnix — after all, Final Fantasy would be a great crown jewel, and the Apple-Disney connection would be solidifed via Kingdom Hearts.

An Apple console or handheld is almost assured, as long as it provides a niche advantage that plays to current strengths. Sony’s having a tough time hyping PS3, XBox 360 is selling only middle-ish (esp. in Japan), but Nintendo’s Wii is succeeding with a leaf from Apple’s old playbook: eschewing technical superiority for better gameplay and a new interface paradigm.

How would Apple fit into this space?

Consider that the economics of the console space is a razor-and-blades model; Apple would have to do the opposite. They never incur a loss on hardware; in fact they charge a slight premium, but give away lots of software for free.

Current rumors project set-top boxes for movie rentals and video iPods with 3D-capable chipsets; it’s not a stretch of the imagination to see games as another sales channel in the iTMS - either for play on the desktop, TV set-top or a handheld. Of this, more later.

Improved OS X APIs: Probable anyway with Leopard, but not in the coherent way Molyneux suggests. I don’t see this as their focus right now. It would require them to be much more open about OS changes and to engage in dialogue with the game development community; that’s a lot of leak potential and culture change for le grand pomme.

Licensing DirectX: Nuh-uh. It’s completely un-Apple-like to hand over a key piece of the OS to another company. Look at the gap between Windows Media Player on the Mac vs. its Windows counterpart, or how MS is subverting its own PlaysForSure OEM partners with its vertically-integrated “iPod killer”, Zune.

So how does Apple make money with gaming? How do they differentiate themselves in the market from the behemoth PC gaming horde, and the fragmented but still billion-selling console scene?

The answer lies in what Apple has always done: by solving problems end-users, not developers, face; and going after niches competitors ignore.

The problems Mac gamers have relate to availability, price, and compatibility.

• It’s really hard to find a decent selection of Mac games at retail, which is part of the vicious circle that drives most major Mac developers to sell online. I can’t help but think that piracy eats into this as well.
• I’ve seen Mac games sell for as high as $70 in stores, even when they’re ports of year-old PC titles.
• Changes to OS components (like QuickTime or OpenGL) can break some games.
• There’s always going to be some great title out there that’s only available for the PC, or for one particular console.

So how do they solve these problems? One word: Emulation.

I believe Apple should get involved in the open-source MAME project - the Multi Arcade Machine Emulator which runs on several platforms - and base a new iGames service on the core code. They can give it critical funding, hire some of the developers, pay them full-time to work on this while ploughing fixes and new developments back into the open-source versions. From this, iGames emerges: a polished gaming / purchase / downloading / management app along the lines of iTunes.

Apple’s experience in negotiating and licensing content for the iTunes Music Store would serve them well. Just as iTunes proved there was a market for legal MP3 downloads — and reactivated lots of dormant back catalogue and “long tail” micro-sellers for record labels — iGames could bring the current underground market for illegally traded arcade and console ROMs into the daylight, improving quality, availability and playability all-around.

What’s more, iGames could be a sales conduit for iPod games. In theory, future iPods could run a subset of MAME or even cellphone game software; in Japan, Namco had versions of 3D-intensive Ridge Racer and Starblade running on Sharp cellphones years ago, so a new iPod should be at least as capable.

The long-mooted Apple set-top box is another conduit; presuming the deal with Hollywood to offer online movie rentals goes through, it’s a natural complement to an all-in-one media box.

For game studios, it’s a great way to get revenue from previously moribund product lines, and a way to reach untapped audiences (like the Wii) or niches (long tail, again).

For end-users, it means hundreds, if not thousands, of classic games available on the Mac overnight - possibly for as little as $0.99 each, purchased safely online, with guaranteed compatibility. No more hunting on scary spam sites for obscure ROM files that possibly don’t work correctly, or are missing a segment, etc.

What’s interesting is that with a “known” target platform on the Mac - any number of emulated arcade or home consoles - experienced programmers can even write new games for them, and maybe offer them up for sale or free trial download through iGames…spurring a new game industry much as MySpace made garage bands millionaires.