Malcolm Owen for AppleInsider: Why AAA Games Promoted by Apple Flop in the App Store

Assassin's Creed Mirage was downloaded approximately 123,000 times since June 6, Appfigures says. However, it has only managed gross revenue of $138,000.

The report believes that the revenue level indicates that fewer than 3,000 people were willing to unlock the full game at $49.99.

The article also cites some estimates on several of the big titles that have released on the iPad and iPhone in the past year, all of which seem to tell a very similar story. Intuitively, I suspect a few things are playing a role here.

First, the price points are simply way higher than people are used to spending on games for iPhones and iPads. Platforms train their users how much things should cost, and the App Store has definitely trained users that games are free and only a few dollars at most. Asking $40-70 for a game just hits different on the App Store than it does for the same people on Steam or any of the home console storefronts.

Second, these games run like ass compared to their console and PC counterparts. And I say this as someone who has the absolute best iPhone and iPad money can buy! These games don't even hit 30fps reliably and they play at shockingly low resolutions that make everything look pretty rough. Most of these games let you download for free and play the first few minutes, and I bet a lot of people saw how they performed and balked at playing a whole game like that.

And third, all of these games have been older titles that already released and had their initial rush of players on other platforms. Death Stranding just came out on iPads and iPhones, but it released 5 years ago on the PS4. Assassin's Creed Mirage was much closer, coming out on iOS devices just a few months after its console and PC release. The counterargument here is that games come out at later dates on consoles and PCs all the time and we hear about them being massively successful on those platforms. As a good example, Sony routinely waits years to put their big games on PC, but every time they do those titles chart highly on release and continue to stay relevant for months or years to come. In my opinion, the 2 above points contribute to this difference: people on iPhones and iPads don't want to pay as much, and they'd be paying for a worse version of the game, unlike the PC releases which are typically better versions.

In a few months, Assassin's Creed Shadows will release on on the iPad and Mac the same day as all other platforms, which should be a good test of the above points.

1. Will people be willing to spend AAA money for a AAA game on iPads?
2. How will the game run? Not nearly as good as on consoles and PC, but will it at least be competent?
3. With no delay, will people choose to play on iPads?

Apple's clearly putting effort into getting more big games on their platforms, and it remains amazing that big games can run at all on iPhones and iPads at all. As a gamer and Apple fan, I hope they find success here, I just don't think it's totally locked in yet.