About the Apple Video Game Rumor

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on December 06, 2006

The weird Apple rumor of the day suggests that Apple is eyeing the video game console market. Here’s on version, courtesy of AppleInsider.

It’s weird because Apple has done this before. Remember the Pippin? Yeah, you’re the one. The idea, which if I remember correctly was hatched during Apple’s Gilbert Amelio era, and was about as successful as everything else Apple tried during that period.

The last thing the market needs right now is another video game console. There’s already three very good platforms on the market, and that is, to my mind about one too many. It’s also a good way for Apple to squander a lot of that hard-earned cash it’s built up over the years. Game consoles are sold at a loss, sometimes a big loss, as with Sony’s $306 per unit on the 20-gig PS3. The profit comes in selling games.

I sincerely doubt that Apple is building a video game console. But what I sincerely hope this rumor indicates is that Apple is taking a little advice I gave in June to heart.

The Mac needs more games. Only a few companies can profitably create decent games for the Mac or port the big-volume hits of the PC gaming world to the Mac. The one that does it best right now is Aspyr Media. Apple has the resources to strengthen what has been a glaring hole on the Mac platform forever: Cash, creativity, and an increasingly popular computer.

Running Windows on a Mac via Boot Camp or Parallels is one way for a Mac user with a gaming jones to meet their need. Building great games just for the Mac is a better way. I hope this rumor about a gaming console is wrong, but I hope there’s a kernel of truth in there somewhere.

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