What about it? Steam Deck didn't do any of that stuff, and half of YouTube is saying it's a better value than the Switch 2. Same goes for the Game Porting Toolkit derived from Proton's code, it's just about the only reason the Mac supports real games right now, not just Monument Valley and Laura Croft.
We've already seen the whole "corporate sponsor courts game publisher" thing with Eidos and Capcom at Apple. Let's just say that Apple's commitment to native experiences didn't put them in contention with Sony or Nintendo in the way Valve did.
Consumers really should pay more attention to those YouTube influencers, buying the wrong stuff. /s
Apple is doing just fine across iOS, iPadOS and TV OS, which apparently people like to ignore when discussing numbers and monetary figures in gaming profits.
Hmm... let's think. Why would iOS, iPadOS and TVOS all be ignored when discussing margins on gaming profits? Any guesses?
Oh! The Mac! Whenever you let publishers compete with software storefronts of their own, Apple is chronically incapable of making money for some reason. You know, like how League of Legends and Steam and World of Warcraft and all support the Mac but conspicuously don't show up on the macOS app store or get ported to the mobile platforms that could clearly support them. Or how Photoshop and Pro Tools and Premiere all support the Mac, but just refuse to put their professional software on the App Store or iPad! What's up with that?
The fact that those storefronts are entirely captive audiences might be it. When you add macOS to the lineup, it becomes the punchline to a tortuously protracted joke.
Yes. I'll say it however many times you need to hear it, nobody is looking at Apple's captive gatcha economy and saying it's a bonafide "gaming" market with a straight face. These "gamers" only ever get to play commercial failures that get ported to iOS as a contingency measure. RE8, Cyberpunk 2077, Death Stranding... if this was a console lineup it would be sadder than the Xbox. Oh, and the lootbox & microtransaction games that obviously account for the lion's share of Apple's game revenue. But we don't have to mention the ugly bits.
Instead, serious economists turn to markets that are representative of Apple's ability to compete, for example, the macOS App Store. When Apple has to compete, how much market cap are they actually earning from the App Store? We have the numbers, you just know they aren't flattering.
We've already seen the whole "corporate sponsor courts game publisher" thing with Eidos and Capcom at Apple. Let's just say that Apple's commitment to native experiences didn't put them in contention with Sony or Nintendo in the way Valve did.