Apple needs to make Apple TV that can run AAA games, challenge Xbox and Playstation

admin January 17, 2025

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Apple needs a gaming boost for its devices. Until now, its devices might not have been powerful enough for AAA games. Now they are, and Apple might do well to create a new Apple TV that can challenge Xbox and PlayStation in gaming.

Technology journalists who closely monitor Apple know one thing with certainty every time they cover the company’s call analysts after its quarterly results. They know that Gene Munster, an analyst, would ask Apple when the company is releasing its television. Munster has done that for years, quarter after quarter. But so far no television from Apple has appeared. Now, there are reports again that an Apple TV—the actual big-screen television and not the streaming box that Apple already sells—is in work again. We may see an Apple television come out of the company’s labs and factories in a few months or, more likely, in a few years. However, it should create a different Apple TV than a television.

A different Apple TV that is more than a streaming box is now such low-hanging fruit that it would be almost sacrilege for Apple not to develop it. Apple has all the ingredients to create an Apple TV that is both a streaming box and a gaming console, similar to the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation.

Look at it from this angle: A device like the Xbox Series X or the PlayStation 5 Pro has three essential components: the chipset that allows these consoles to run games, the gaming ecosystem and the availability of desired games, and the willingness of people to buy them. I believe Apple already has two of these components.

In terms of hardware, Apple is already at the latest Xbox and Playstation levels. The Xbox Series X has a chip made by AMD. It has a performance of around 12 Tflops. The PlayStation 5 Pro, a slightly beefed-up variant of PS5, also has a chip made by AMD, which performs at around 16 Tflops. These numbers align with what the M4 Pro and the M4 Max, the latest Apple chips, can offer through their graphics units. The numbers for Apple chips range from 8 Tflops to 17 Tflops depending on the variant, but it is safe to say that if Apple wants to have a chip that is equivalent to the chips in the PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X, it can do so tomorrow just by tuning and binning one of the M4s.

Apple has significantly faster chips. The Ultra variant of the M3 has a graphics core that is already over 20 Tflops. Some variants of the M4 Ultra, released in 2025, will likely be close to 30 Tflops, offering almost double the horsepower that PlayStation or Xbox can manage.

By putting these chips in the MacBook Pro and Mac Mini, Apple has also demonstrated that they can fit into small boxes without requiring elaborate cooling. In other words, except for the economics that I am not privy to, nothing stops Apple from putting one of these ultra-fast M series chips in Apple TV and turning that into a gaming console.

The third part of the equation—consumers—is, I believe, are there. According to some research firms, around 34 million Apple TVs will be in the US in 2024. Even if we are a little more conservative in estimates, it is safe to say that there would easily be around 55-60 million active Apple TVs worldwide, which is not a small number for a device that is not “essential” like an iPhone or Mac. Apple rarely promotes Apple TV and has been happy keeping it almost like a side project, updating it every two or three years. If this small box, apart from performing its streaming and entertainment duties, can also help people play AAA games, I am sure it would find more consumer favour.

However, the tricky part for Apple is the second component: the availability of AAA games. But this too, I believe, can be solved by a more robust Apple TV. In recent years, it has become essential for Apple to crack the AAA games puzzle. The company is trying—hence Hideo Kojima at last year’s WWDC in Cupertino—but the games haven’t appeared. Nowadays, whenever I review something with the M series chipset, I find that it is missing AAA games that hold it back. Something like a MacBook Pro M4 is a potent laptop, but for many regular consumers, it is an overkill. Less than stellar availability of top games keeps many consumers away from the MacBook Pro. A lot of people want to work and play. And not just work on their Rs 2 lakh laptop. Unless they edit videos, do programming, or run simulations, they don’t need the power that chips like M4 Pro or the M4 Max offer.

An incredible list of AAA games—think the latest Call of Duty—will make Apple computers even more attractive than they are. And an Apple TV with a robust graphics chip might entice more game developers to come to Apple camp and create games for it.

In a way—but not entirely because I think matters of business, Apple’s cut in purchase and the entire cost-benefit ratio are also there—the lack of AAA games on Apple platforms could be a chicken and egg problem for game developers. What comes first? Games or the devices that can play them? Previously, Apple didn’t have chipsets that could be used for serious gaming, and while it could always use a graphics chip by AMD or Nvidia to make its platform more gaming-friendly, probably the math never worked out. Now, however, Apple has an opportunity to do so.

In my drawing room, under the TV, I would love a device that can be a do-it-all box. Apple, I believe, has an opportunity to create one such box. The company can potentially call it Apple TV Pro. The price will increase because such a box would need a bigger chip and associated gaming hardware, such as more storage. But if it competes with the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 Pro, which are priced above Rs 50,000, I am not sure if consumers would mind a reasonable hike in price.

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