Just been reading through news stories on here back from 2008 onwards. Such excitement around the iPhone / iPod touch as gaming devices back then, much of it led by Apple! Lots of big software houses we’re talking about developing, lots of big name titles mentioned! Where did it all go wrong? More Confirmation of a $19.99 Premium Games Section https://toucharcade.com/2009/01/29/more-confirmation-of-1999-premium-games-section/ Apple: “The iPhone is a Gaming Console” https://toucharcade.com/2008/12/15/apple-the-iphone-is-a-gaming-console/
I’d say so, if it had progressed as it look like they wanted it to, we’d have so many premium games, rather than very few dev’s releasing a trickle of premium games compared to the influx of utter pay to win shite!
Said it lots in the past but damn I miss the peak years of iOS gaming. So many great premium games. I was spending loads buying 5-10 games a week. Bloody loved it ! Still got a huge backlog of games to play. Still get the odd gem but it’s very rare. Been on and off Apple Arcade but not the same knowing I don’t own them. But you could say the same about premium games. Once there’s a huge iOS update then a fair few games won’t work or ever be updated But yeah for a few years iOS gaming ruled the roost. Specially before Xmas when we would get a blockbuster or two before the App Store shut for Xmas good times !
There are definitely things that I miss from the “old days.” But as someone who plays on multiple platform (including vintage ones), I appreciate the niche that iPhone gaming has carved for itself. I don’t need another source of full price games, but I love getting high-quality PC and indie games through AA, Netflix, or at lower prices (and better performance) than on Switch. For all their gatcha nonsense, I love playing crossplatform games like Genshin Impact, Tower of Fantasy, and Undecember, which have depth and production values that would have been unimaginable on iOS five years ago. Looking through my device, there’s an incredible variety of premium games available on iOS today, from some of the best of the best to amazing classics to smaller, more experimental titles. My backlog is immense. There are also a number of old games that we tend to look at with rose-colored glasses (the terrible Bioshock port is a case in point). Sadly, there are some really great titles of the like we will never see again, such as the Dead Space, DeuxEx, and Mass Effect mobile games — the big publishers have moved on from that strategy. But every week there’s at least one premium game that I want to check out, at a price that’s hard to beat. That’s more than I can say for my Xbox or Switch .
I’m still a huge fan of iOS gaming. Said it again before ! But if you told me years back I could have a. Device with tons of my favourite games on and is handheld so wouldn’t believe it I’ve got 80s classics. Double dragon. Pac-Man. Space invaders (okay think that was 1979 !). I’ve got 90s classics like sonic and others. Got lots of other modern games on one device. GTA ! Just loads love it ! Miss midway arcade I just admit. Sad when we lose great games though.
I haven't been to this site in a few years for the most part, seems like it's about 1/100th as active as it once was. I remember all of the gaming threads that people posted "NAME OF GAME" IS OUT!!!!!!!! Am I missing something, has things slowed down in a big way with iOS gaming? Looks that way, I wonder why? There are some great iPhone controllers out over these past few years, you'd think that would make more developers want to port games to this device.
If things have slowed down in iOS gaming, my backlog hasn’t noticed . My guess is that there are fewer people posting about recent releases. It used to be that we were all waiting with bated breath for that special title that had all the hype. These days, the most exciting premium games are either in AA or Netflix, or they’re Steam or Switch ports that tend to release with little fanfare.
It was a lot of fun back when games like Heroes and Castles 2, Trigger Fist and what not just released or was around at that time. Now I find myself playin’ old iOS games from around that time when I do use my iPad nowadays.
