Apple Bites Off a Big Chunk of the US Gaming Industry

Here’s one I don’t think we could have seen coming five years ago . . . Apple can now claim 5% of U.S. video game revenue. Even more surprising, when you zoom in on the portable game market, they’ve got 19% of that.

The diagrams published at AppleInsider are as clear as it gets. In the space of just one year, iPhone has exploded onto the gaming scene and taken its place among the likes of Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

The explanations are numerous. The recent economy hasn’t done anything for the more expensive console games, making 99 cent games in the app store extra appealing. Sony’s PSP was already hurting, and now the iPhone has given it another blow. On top of that, established developers are flocking to Apple in order to be on top of the expected iPad gaming boom.

Considering all this, the larger percentages Apple can claim make a lot of sense. But I expect it has even more to do with something more elusive. And that’s the iPhone’s effect on people like me . . . I’ve never owned a Nintendo DS or Sony PSP, but I got an iPhone because I needed a new phone and because the games looked accessible and fun. And yeah, now I spend a good amount of money in the app store. So there you have it, my contribution to video game revenue goes to Apple, and I don’t think I’m alone.

Looking ahead to the iPad, it’s hard to imagine that Apple’s numbers in the gaming industry won’t continue to rise. With developers like Electronic Arts and Gameloft on board, it looks like we might see the impossible happen: Apple and video games won’t be polar opposites. They may even become synonymous.

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Devin Wieland

 

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