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Recently, there has been a feeling in the gaming industry that something is afoot at Apple HQ. The success of games on the iPhone and iPod Touch has led to growing speculation that a home console is next on the firm's agenda. Back in May, Ubisoft chief executive Yves Guillemot stated his belief that Apple is unlikely to limit its push into gaming to just handhelds. Indeed, it certainly seems strange that one of the world's greatest technology firms is not more heavily involved with the most exciting and fastest-growing creative industry on the planet. So DS caught up with Chris Ulm, co-founder of iPhone games developer Appy Entertainment, to discuss the potentially mouth-watering prospect of an Apple console.
As an industry veteran previously of High Moon Studios, Ulm now focuses on bringing new games to Apple's handheld devices. Despite stressing that his opinions are merely based on observations rather than insider knowledge, Ulm is pretty convinced that the company has its eyes firmly trained on the home entertainment space.
"I think that Apple has always prided itself on being an innovator and the one that changed the world; 'make a dent in the universe', that's their slogan," he says. "They believe in making the future happen rather than just following others. I think that with the Mac, there were a lot of reasons why the company felt it had missed the boat. They made mistakes and allowed somebody else to come in and take that market from them. So maybe they're thinking that this is a chance to reclaim top spot and make another giant dent in the universe."
There is certainly evidence to back up his case. According to Forbes, Apple has recently been investing heavily in semiconductor technology, including taking a stake in UK-based chip designer ImagInation and also purchasing processor firm PA Semi for $378 million (£229 million). Equally, it has made a number of notable hires such as 15-year Microsoft veteran Richard Teversham (who oversaw European strategy for Xbox), former Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) chief technology officer Bob Dreblin (who created the CPU for Nintendo's Game Cube while at start-up ArtX) and also former IBM chip design manager Mark Papermaster. Despite this, Ulm accepts that it is still a "leap" to suggest that the company is considering a console.
Ulm points out that Apple's strategy has always been to take an industry that is already popular, but in which the existing providers are "doing a very poor job of meeting consumer expectations". Apple then produces a product to outstrip the market, just like it did to the MP3 industry with the iPod. So where will the company go next with its "digital lifestyle"? For Ulm, this means looking at home entertainment systems.
"People often have eight or nine boxes under their TVs to control home entertainment - gaming machines, DVD players, cable boxes - it's a big mess," he explains. "So Apple might look at this and say that people only need one box that does all those things. But it's not sold primarily as a gaming console, it's sold as a box for your living room that has other things coming from the App Store and iTunes that can be download directly into your home. It's just a natural progression from what they've already got."
"I call it the un-console because you would not call the iPhone a gaming device," he remarks. "The current idea of the games console was popularised by Nintendo and Sony. It was a piece of hardware used for games with few other functions, which is controlled by one company with games being sold on disc through big packaged goods retailers. The un-console would mean that there would be no packages and no outside suppliers, it would all come over the web and from the App Store."
In Ulm's view, games for the un-console would come in small chunks aimed at "causal gamers", meaning the device would "not blow a hardcore games machine out of the market". In terms of attracting developers to the system, he believes that an App Store-style distribution system would appeal to studios and publishers as a more direct and cost effective route to market. This is especially as the industry's profits are currently being "eaten up" by the pre-owned market.
"For publishers, this allows them to do updates and episodic content," he adds. "Instead of taking 18 months to do a game, it would take six months to get it out there to test the market and then react to what consumers are saying. At Appy, that is what is so great about the App Store. It's just that idea that we can put something out, see how it does and then change it or market it differently."
"Say you want to sit on the couch and spend five minutes playing [iPhone game] Flight Control on your 50-inch plasma, the un-console will automatically know that the iPhone was in the room and then just let you start playing the game. That would be dazzling to most people and its pretty much in Apple's grasp. Apple TV is really good as a preliminary product. They also have a good media interface and an online store; so a lot of the pieces of the puzzle are already in place."
However, it should be remembered that Apple's last venture into gaming did not exactly go swimmingly. Created in collaboration with toy maker Bandai, Apple's Pippin console crashed after being released in 1995 due to its high price and lack of software in a market dominated by Sega, Sony and Nintendo. While Ulm accepts that Apple "does not have the greatest history with games", he doesn't believe that the firm will be scarred by previous failures.
"Certainly from the development side, there has always been an automatic prejudice against Mac or Apple as not being machines run by hardcore gamers," says Ulm. "I think there is probably some hesitancy [from Apple] but I think that this group of executives is not the same as was involved with the Pippin. I think this group are more concerned with how they are going to branch out on the success that they have already built. If they were afraid, then they would never have bothered with Apple TV, but they clearly aren't."
"I think that they have been carefully building all the pieces to do it from scratch. They have the box, the patents for the controllers, probably a prototype in their labs and a way to deliver the apps; so the pieces are already there," he adds. "I don't think that this will make the console obsolete; rather that Apple will grab a small yet profitable percentage of the home entertainment market. My hope for a machine like this would be that it would open up new markets and also offer the chance to do new and more innovative games that reach thousands and eventually millions of people."
When DS contacted Apple about this issue, the company declined to comment.
