Ever since Apple became the undisputed king of the mobile market with its iPhone and iPad offerings, the company has steadily gained share in the gaming arena. That is because users are increasingly using mobile devices to play their games. So it is not surprising when Valve’s co-founder, Gabe Newell, says that the biggest threat to the console market itself is Apple.
Apple is in a perfect position to disrupt the entire gaming industry. Apple products have gone beyond office and formal use and have become household items. This uniquely positions the company to try and take over the living-room entertainment by offering the right content.
According to Newell, ‘I think that there’s a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging — I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily.’ Of course Apple hasn’t yet shown any intents of undertaking such a strategy but once it does, that may spell doom for the conventional console vendors.
The biggest threat to the console market, as of this moment, ‘is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform’, says Newell. He goes on to state that the only chance that Valve itself stands is to move fast into the PC arena and establish itself there.
The company is already on the way to do so, having released its own open-source console, namely the Steam Box. Given the huge content that Valve already offers through Steam, many have speculated that the console has a real chance of being a successful product. But as with other console vendors, Valve has to face the challenge of tackling the mobile platform.
Courtesy: CNET
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