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senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2017
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I paid $325Cdn last year for a new Lenovo Ideapad with a ryzen 2500 and vega 8 with a 15 inch 1080p native display 16gig of ram an 512gig SSD. The Air cost nearly 4x that... As I said the Apple tax is real.
You're using a single extreme example.

$325cdn is $250.

The closest laptop I can find at Best Buy is this crappy AMD A6 with 4GB RAM and 64GB Flash memory for $307.

That's just pure crap. It's barely usable for 8-year-old kids, let alone AAA gaming.
 
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senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2017
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The population of PC users.
Do you have data?

Here's the data from a very reputable research firm that shows gaming laptops outsell gaming desktops by a fairly large margin and the margin is growing.

It makes a lot of sense to me. DIY, RTX 3080, PC Master Race crowd is actually quite niched. Most people I know are own a single computer, usually a laptop, and those who game sometimes buy a laptop with a decent mobile GPU.
 

Amenard

macrumors member
Jul 16, 2019
36
33
You're using a single extreme example.

$325cdn is $250.

The closest laptop I can find at Best Buy is this crappy AMD A6 with 4GB RAM and 64GB Flash memory for $307.

That's just pure crap. It's barely usable for 8-year-old kids, let alone AAA gaming.
As I said, I paid $325Cdn for it brand new in box. You have to shop around.
Also, the market for Apple computers isn't the gamers. Apple never really cared about games past the Pipin debacle.
 
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senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2017
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And 99% don't care about videogames...
We're going off topic, but I'll bite...

There are 2.5 billion gamers worldwide, which is 32% of the world's total human population. Take away babies and toddlers and very old people and most adults are considered as gamers.

Source:

Can people here do some basic fact-checking and run some basic math before posting? It's not hard. Just google stuff.
 

jeanlain

macrumors 68020
Mar 14, 2009
2,440
936
Also, the market for Apple computers isn't the gamers. Apple never really cared about games past the Pipin debacle.
Yep. And it's a chicken-egg problem. Those who are interested in AAA gaming just don't buy Macs. Hence, AAA games studios aren't compelled to release Mac versions. Hence those interested in AAA gaming don't buy Macs...
 

senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2017
2,571
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As I said, I paid $325Cdn for it brand new in box. You have to shop around.
Also, the market for Apple computers isn't the gamers. Apple never really cared about games past the Pipin debacle.
1. Most people go to Best Buy or Costco or Amazon and buy whatever looks like a decent deal there.

2. I could not find a laptop close to the specs of what you described for $250 USD. Not even close.

3. Your laptop is significantly worse than the M1 Air in just about every way.

4. Wait for Macbook SE.
 

senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2017
2,571
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Yep. And it's a chicken-egg problem. Those who are interested in AAA gaming just don't buy Macs. Hence, AAA games studios aren't compelled to release Mac versions. Hence those interested in AAA gaming don't buy Macs...
And in my original post, I laid out how Apple will create the chicken (or the egg).
 

Amenard

macrumors member
Jul 16, 2019
36
33
We're going off topic, but I'll bite...

There are 2.5 billion gamers worldwide, which is 32% of the world's total human population. Take away babies and toddlers and very old people and most adults are considered as gamers.

Source:

Can people here do some basic fact-checking and run some basic math before posting? It's not hard. Just google stuff.
Here's the thing, that 2.5billion gamers are 99.9999999% people opening up candy crush for 10 minutes on their phones. They're not gamers. They're people wasting time.

The majority of people on earth have trouble feeding themselves and their families. They don't have time, or money, for AAA videogames and much less for brand new Apple tech.
 
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bill-p

macrumors 68030
Jul 23, 2011
2,895
1,556
So... as a developer, what's the incentive for me to develop AAA game on a Mac versus, say... PS5 or Xbox Series?

Keep in mind... the cheapest Mac (Mac Mini) is still more expensive than the most expensive PS5 or Xbox Series consoles, and yet the latter 2 are far more powerful than M1. If we're just talking about raw power.

I don't see your point, to be honest. If you want to game, just stick with your gaming PC or buy a console.
 

Amenard

macrumors member
Jul 16, 2019
36
33
1. Most people go to Best Buy or Costco or Amazon and buy whatever looks like a decent deal there.

2. I could not find a laptop close to the specs of what you described for $250 USD. Not even close.

3. Your laptop isn't significantly worse than the M1 Air in just about every way.

4. Wait for Macbook SE.
1. Most people can't locate their own capital on a map. I don't do "most" people.

2. That's on you. Maybe if you practiced your searching skills you'd get a good deal too.

3. My laptop does exactly what I bought it for and an Air wouldn't be adequate for the task.

4. Wish upon a star!
 
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jeanlain

macrumors 68020
Mar 14, 2009
2,440
936
So... as a developer, what's the incentive for me to develop AAA game on a Mac versus, say... PS5 or Xbox Series?

Keep in mind... the cheapest Mac (Mac Mini) is still more expensive than the most expensive PS5 or Xbox Series consoles, and yet the latter 2 are far more powerful than M1. If we're just talking about raw power.

I don't see your point, to be honest. If you want to game, just stick with your gaming PC or buy a console.
You're thinking as a user, not as a developer. The developer evaluates the market. If the ROI justifies it, a game studio may consider developing and maintaining a Mac version.
But I'm not sure the number of AAA gamers among Mac users will be large enough.
 
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bill-p

macrumors 68030
Jul 23, 2011
2,895
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You're thinking as a user, not as a developer. The developer evaluates the market. If the ROI justifies it, a game studio may consider developing and maintaining a Mac version.
But I'm not sure the number of AAA gamers among Mac users will be large enough.

I am a developer, though. That's why I'm asking that question.

Granted, I'm not a developer working for a AAA studio, but the same logic applies: as a developer, what about M1 will convince me to write games for it over Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Xbox Series, or Sony PlayStation 5? Or iOS for that matter?

In fact, if the Mac can run iOS games, why do I even have to write Mac games? I can just write iOS games and then sell on all 3 platforms (read: iPhone, iPad and Mac).
 
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senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2017
2,571
5,325
Here's the thing, that 2.5billion gamers are 99.9999999% people opening up candy crush for 10 minutes on their phones. They're not gamers. They're people wasting time.

The majority of people on earth have trouble feeding themselves and their families. They don't have time, or money, for AAA videogames and much less for brand new Apple tech.
You keep making stuff up without any sources. Let me know when you can write something that is a fact, rather than baseless things.

Global gaming revenue grows a healthy 10% every year and mobile gaming grows 13%. Mobile gaming is literally bigger than PC gaming, Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo combined.

Your next post should start including links to data sources. Otherwise, it's pointless to have discussions like this.

I don't see it. You don't just need machines than can run AAA games, you also need people willing to purchase games.
The vast majority of Windows computer buyers are not gamers. Only a small percentage of Windows computers are actually capable of playing AAA games.

Listen, I don't doubt that the hardcore gamers will stick to Windows.

But as I have written many times, most gaming computers sold are laptops. This proves that most people are not hardcore about gaming and will just play popular games such as Fortnite, WoW, CS: Go on their laptops. These games were already ported to Macs when it was only ~2% AAA-capable gaming machines. Now imagine 50%. This is the whole point.

It's chicken and egg and Apple has made the chicken (or egg).

PS. Mac users are probably the wealthiest group of tech consumers. If 50% of AAA-capable computers sold yearly are Macs and Mac users are the wealthiest and spend the most on software, I'm going to port my AAA game over. Period.
 

jeanlain

macrumors 68020
Mar 14, 2009
2,440
936
Granted, I'm not a developer working for a AAA studio, but the same logic applies: as a developer, what about M1 will convince me to write games for it over Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Xbox Series, or Sony PlayStation 5? Or iOS for that matter?
This doesn't have to be an "OR". You balance the cost of developing and maintaining the Mac version vs. the revenues that it could generate. If you think you can make a profit, there's no reason not to do it.
 
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jeanlain

macrumors 68020
Mar 14, 2009
2,440
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The vast majority of Windows computer buyers are not gamers. Only a small percentage of Windows computers are actually capable of playing AAA games.
That doesn't change my argument. You may have 5% of PC users interested in AAA gaming vs 1% of Mac users. That means it would take 5 times more Macs than PCs to have an equivalent base of potential AAA gamers.
I don't know the numbers. My point is that the number of Macs capable or running demanding games is only part of the picture.
 

senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2017
2,571
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This doesn't have to be an "OR". You balance the cost of developing and maintaining the Mac version vs. the revenues that it could generate. If you think you can make a profit, there's no reason not to do it.
We finally agree on something.

AAA games can cost hundreds of millions to develop. Developers need to release the games on just about every platform they can.

Only Sony and Nintendo make games for one platform. Every other AAA developer makes games on multiple platforms.
 
Last edited:

senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2017
2,571
5,325
That doesn't change my argument. You may have 5% of PC users interested in AAA gaming vs 1% of Mac users. That means it would take 5 times more Macs than PCs to have an equivalent base of potential AAA gamers.
I don't know the numbers. My point is that the number of Macs capable or running demanding games is only part of the picture.
I understand what you're saying but you and I don't have those numbers.

I did address this point earlier with what we do know in a post:
1. The majority of gaming computers sold are actually laptops which mean most PC gamers are fine gaming on laptops. This bodes well for Mac gaming because most Macs sold are laptops.

2. Apple users are the wealthiest, and the most willing to spend money on software.

3. Even at roughly ~2% of total computers sold yearly capable of playing AAA-games, Activision Blizzard still ported WoW, Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, and HoTS to MacOS. Now imagine 50% instead of 2%.

Lastly, I own a Windows desktop PC to play some games. I would love to get rid of my Windows desktop PC if I can play AAA games on low to medium settings on a Macbook, which is very reasonable. Heck, I'm willing to bet that the Macbook Pro 16" with the M1X or M2X or M3X will be able to play most of the latest AAA games on high settings.
 

bill-p

macrumors 68030
Jul 23, 2011
2,895
1,556
This doesn't have to be an "OR". You balance the cost of developing and maintaining the Mac version vs. the revenues that it could generate. If you think you can make a profit, there's no reason not to do it.

You're giving me some very vague methodology to try but without actually giving me any concrete reasons or numbers other than Apple's revenues. Honestly, that doesn't interest me, because it doesn't say anything about how much I'll earn when I write a game.

But I can tell you this much: my games have earned me far more on iOS (and then Android) than the Mac versions did. Ultimately, that was why I dropped the Mac version. And now that Mac can run the same games I've written for iOS, I have even less of a reason to maintain a Mac-specific version.
 

jeanlain

macrumors 68020
Mar 14, 2009
2,440
936
@senttoschool
I don't dispute the argument that the AAA gaming landscape on the Mac may improve. I just don't think it will be remotely comparable to that on Windows if Apple doesn't do something radical.
You see, Microsoft could just rest on their laurels and be content with the Windows install base. Yet, they have done much more. They have built the best game development tools (which I believe are still far better than Apple's). They have purchases several games studios, they have released a gaming console,... That's what it takes to have that many AAA games on your platform.
 

Gnattu

macrumors 65816
Sep 18, 2020
1,027
1,401
But I can tell you this much: my games have earned me far more on iOS (and then Android) than the Mac versions did.
Exactly the situation that OP does not notice here, that why I said this:
the gaming revenue is not from Mac but from iOS
Looks like OP is unaware that:

  • Gamers plays different games, therefore not all "gaming device" is going to play an AAA title
  • Apple has multiple platforms and Mac has the weakest gaming revenue among all Apple platforms
  • Increasing sales of "capable hardware" does not automatically increase the player-base of a game, who is buying such hardware does.
  • And "who is buying" has to be changed by the one who promotes the hardware, not the one wants to sell software on that platform.
For the last point, it is a "chicken-or-egg first" problem. When someone want to buy a "gaming device", the most cared problem is "what game can that device play", "how good the performance of that device is" is only a second concern. Therefore own studio or co-op with a studio to bring some exclusive or even non-exclusive but "optimized" titles is important because players buy the hardware that can play the games they want. The Nintendo Switch is an excellent example for this. The Soc of the device is extremely old and outperformed by recent iPad even iPhone, but Nintendo Switch still got a great success. You could still argue that iOS also has a great gaming market, but it will goes back to my first point that iOS and Nintendo Switch has complete different gamer user-bases and that user-base will not change simply because iOS devices have "better performance", nor the developers will make iOS-port of Nintendo Switch games because "iOS devices performs better and sales a lot".
 

Quackington

macrumors 6502
Aug 12, 2010
497
290
England, UK
Different games have different audiences, the gaming revenue is not from Mac but from iOS, and mobile phone games have a very different player base from AAA titles, so as developers.
I think this is quiet pertinent. I feel like the AAA gaming audience just isn't there for Apple laptops and desktops. Most of those people own a Windows machine. And agreed, 'largest' gaming audience is via iOS, where the games and the gaming audience there is quite different from what's thought of as traditional AAA gaming.
 
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leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,308
19,299
I think this is quiet pertinent. I feel like the AAA gaming audience just isn't there for Apple laptops and desktops. Most of those people own a Windows machine. And agreed, 'largest' gaming audience is via iOS, where the games and the gaming audience there is quite different from what's thought of as traditional AAA gaming.

This is probably the most important point. Of course, the question is what one considers AAA games. Among Mac users, there are a lot who are interested in strategy, simulation or RPG games. But shooters for example are virtually absent from Mac.
 
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