After recent article opinion on the part of my colleague Juan Colilla (which I recommend you read in advance) in which he praised the benefits and possibilities of Apple TV as a console, it is time to refute, or debate, that will be up to the reader. I come to show why the Apple TV not only has no future as a console, but also will never essentially become a console. We start from the basis that Apple TV is nothing more than a multimedia center with interactive capabilities, let us bear in mind that according to this criterion even a simple DVD player could be considered a console if you press the appropriate key. That is why a lover of video games and consoles, who looks longingly at his old Super Nintendo Entertainment System and with hope at his PlayStation 4, I want to tell you why Apple TV is not and will never be a console. The consoles have to have their own personality, a console design, console accessories, something that calls the player, a console has to be a console, and not an Apple TV.
What is a console for you?
A console is the epicenter of entertainment, a gadget destined for and for playing games. Those times were left behind with modernity, especially Sony always insisted on turning their consoles into small multimedia centers, the DVD capacity of the PlayStation 2 and the definitive application system of PlayStation 4 have been a coup. However, a console must have a community behind it, just as a mobile operating system must have a community of developers who nurture the system with applications to make it profitable and powerful. That does not happen with the Apple TV, this small multimedia center has many possibilities, it is true, but it has no console soul, You will hardly get titles beyond a casual system with the sole intention of bleeding us through fascicles in in-app purchases. Today's video games also have DLCs, we know that.
The ecosystem
In a community of players, the simple act of “playing Plays” is more than entertainment, it often becomes a feeling. Something that the Apple TV will hardly ever capture. Games like FIFA 16 for iOS don't have the quality to become more than just a hobby of limited addiction, and JRPG games are either outrageously priced or a slot machine in app form.
Of course we will find many casuals and indie games, but that is more common on generalist platforms every day, titles such as LIMBO for example have become popular on PlayStation 4 quickly, and above all and more importantly, for free as a monthly gift, for what to use the Apple TV if it can make you miss titles of this caliber, on the other hand, a console guarantees them.
Emulation, there's light at the end of the tunnel
Not everything was going to be negative, the Apple TV has a very attractive point, it is the emulation. With the right controller and the right system, recalling old titles like Street Rage or Metal Slug add value to the system. But one more time that does not make it a substitute for the console, but a simple hobby more, entertaining, nostalgic, but a hobby. All this counting on the fact that we find a compatible Bluetooth remote that offers us a sufficient sense of precision and comfort, which will not be easy at a price that does not oscillate half or more of the final price of the device. The question is if you are really willing to pay the price of Apple TV if your intention is to emulate old consoles, of course, it is not the most profitable.
The multiplayer era will never be a reality on Apple TV
The local multiplayer mode is good to hang out with friends at home, even the smallest ones at home can have a good time "chupi" with the typical casual challenge to their friends if we have two or more controls (which would already exceed the price of Apple TV in spades), however, that is not what he is wearing now. Rotating the sweaty knob while we try not to die so that it does not touch the next one no longer takes, "The King of the Track" is a myth reserved for the Pleistocene.
Now what it takes is to get home, connect a group chat with your lifelong friends with the headset on duty and spend a Sunday afternoon playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 while you talk about the Classic two weeks ago, common but intimate, in the warmth of your home, but with the closeness of the conversation. That is and will be impossible on Apple TV, firstly because it does not have the capacity, and secondly because Apple will doubtfully allow such a multitasking system.
Share and socialize
Game Center doesn't work, it never worked, and it never will. However, people still like to share their scores, their successes and their trophies, and that Microsoft and Sony know well, in an environment where socializing and sharing these achievements with your best friends is vital, the Apple TV does not even reach to come forward.
And this is why Apple TV will never replace consoles
In fact, I dare to go further, not only will it not replace consoles, but it is possible that consoles will replace Apple TV. We remember that application systems such as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One allow us to use Spotify, Netflix, Yomvi, YouTube ... Our new generation consoles are increasingly a multimedia center that allows us to do without a limited system that costs practically half, such as This is the case of Apple TV. This does not mean that the Apple TV is a gentleman multimedia center, ideal if you are not passionate about video games of course, however Apple does not want and will never want to compete with consoles, it has already failed once in the attempt.
I could not disagree more with the author, give him time, there are good 4-player games, network games where you can choose your opponents and partners, and a good catalog of games and in less than two years more Apple TV will be sold at Christmas than XBOX and PlayStation… time to time!
Well, I don't think that Apple TV has such a future as a console. I am not saying that you cannot have good games or an interesting catalog, but those who play on their smartphones or tablets are mostly the casual game public, there are exceptions of course, but there are not so many. If one looks at the market for home and portable consoles based on mobile operating systems this becomes more evident (Ouya, Shield, clone consoles of 3ds with Android, etc). It is not that they are bad, but they point to a different audience, most of the people I know who have them use them to run emulators and not to play the smartphone catalog itself (and it is not that Android lacks a catalog, although Apple's I think it is better). Likewise, all this is speculation, personally I would like it to succeed as a console because it would generate more competition, but I do not see it as likely.
rather the AppleTV I think it is a 'survey' to see if they could in the future take out a console based on IOS, they do not lose anything and despite everything there are countless families who use the ipad to play, especially the little ones, with time will see the direction that the subject takes.
I have entered the article just to read the title and come to express my disagreement. After reading it I still think the same. Apple TV has a lot of potential as a console. But like any console, you must know how to find your type of game. The Wii would never have been successful without its Wii Sports, as it was technically far inferior to the competition and many of them later caught dust. But those games that took advantage of and understood their potential, triumphed. That is why the Wii U has not worked, because it has been in no man's land.
What kind of games should the Apple TV have? Digitized family games and board games. It is the family console. The only one likely to be able to comfortably gather everyone around the television to play together (thanks to being able to be integrated with the mobiles we already have and its simple control). It will be very capable of being used for hardcore games with a bluetooth controller ... but that will not be its main asset. A console is a place to play, and that it does not have PS4-like games does not mean that it is not a console. As soon as Monopoly, Catan, Trivial or things like Mario Party start to come out, we'll see if it really can't work as a console.
PS: I do not agree either with the fact that the days when consoles were multimedia centers are gone. It says so right at a time when we have netflix, spotify, and similar services built into ps4.