Like others, he pointed out that the $179 price point would be far easier to stomach if the Apple TV offered more expansive gaming support. Last month, my colleague Bradley Chambers questioned whether Apple does enough to justify the Apple TV’s price point. Instead, here we are in 2018 with iOS gaming still popular, tvOS gaming still nearly nonexistent, and Nintendo back at the forefront of casual gaming thanks to the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo, the arguable king of casual gaming, had left a gaping hole in the market as it struggled to compete with the popularity of iOS gaming, seemingly paving the way for Apple TV to take over.

With the launch of the Apple TV and tvOS, Apple had the opportunity to fill the void left by Nintendo in the gaming industry. Further, the lack of interest in tvOS gaming comes amid a revitalization of the gaming market – especially on the casual end of things. One year later at WWDC 2016, Apple reversed its stance and said that Apple TV developers no longer had to support the Siri Remote, instead allowing them to “require the use of an MFi game controller.” This meant developers could build more advanced games by not having to cater to the simpler Siri Remote.ĭespite Apple’s change in heart, gaming on the Apple TV still isn’t where one would expect it to be three years after the introduction of the tvOS App Store. At the time, the company required that all games for the Apple TV be compatible with the included Siri Remote – a requirement that forced developers to overly simplify their game offerings for Apple TV. Since then, however, gaming has struggled to gain traction on tvOS and there have been no signs of improvement.Īt the onset, Apple itself could be blamed for the lack of developer enthusiasm surrounding tvOS games. When Apple unveiled the tvOS-powered Apple TV in 2015, it touted gaming support as one of the key upgrades over previous Apple TV models. While Fortnite might not be coming to tvOS anytime soon, today’s excitement only underscores the potential of gaming on tvOS… Subsequently, Epic Games shot down those hopes, saying the code mention of tvOS is the result of “general Unreal Engine support.” Earlier today, a spelunking developer discovered code within Fortnite that seemingly hinted the hit-game was soon making its way to Apple TV.

Fortnite for mac 2015