Opinion: Apple announced a lot of gaming-related features this week. But is it too late?
As WWDC week ends, we’ve been shown the features for 2021 that Apple has been working on for its many platforms. From redesigned notifications in iOS 15 to a redesigned multitasking interface in iPadOS 15, there’s been plenty of refinements for every user to benefit from. However, one aspect that wasn’t talked about face first, was gaming. Even though there wasn’t a section of the keynote discussing this in great detail, there was plenty showcased around the topic, and you may not have even realized. This is where I think Apple is setting the stage for an even bigger focus on gaming and perhaps even Apple Arcade, maybe even as soon as E3. Apple and gaming have had a tenuous relationship in recent years. While Steam on the Mac arrived in 2011, the games were few and far between, with the Half Life series and the Steam application being abandoned on Intel Macs, with seemingly no plans for Valve to create a Steam version for Apple Silicon and the M1 Macs. Since the explosion of the App Store in 2008, games have paradoxically been a huge part of iOS, with the iPod Touch being angled for gaming first, and music second. It’s most likely why you can use iOS apps on M1 Macs, to bring the wide amount of games to macOS as well. As each iOS release was announced, more features for games were added, with a significant one being support for gaming controllers, such as the Xbox Controller, and Sony’s DualShock 4, and as recent as iOS 14.6, the PlayStation 5 Dual Sense controller. Instead of using your hands to play games on the touchscreen, you could finally use a controller as it was meant to be played, with Sonic, DOOM, and even Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, all on your iPhone or iPad.
