Apple and gaming - the new growth story...

Jonny Evans
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August 03, 2009
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They’re saying games matter more to Apple than ever before, and this new spark’s confirmed today by former senior iPods and iPhone Apple staffer, Jonathan Kromrey.

"While working at Apple, I was amazed by the renewed passion for gaming that seemed to grow by the day," he said. "The gaming community has never been broader, both in terms of the types of games being played and the audience. This is a great time to be developing games for Apple's devices."

Until now, Kromrey has been an iPods and iPhone games producer and designer at Apple, responsible for the research, design and development of products/applications on iPod, iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV platforms.

He was also involved in identifying and planing strategies to support continued growth and showcase new hardware of these products on their release. Now he’s taken a new job at games developer, Namco, where he holds the new post of general manager of Apple Games.

This key hire clearly underlines the renewed depth of interest games publishers now hold in developing for Apple’s platforms.

He’ll be working at Namco to create new franchise opportunities, oversee research, manage design and production and developing new and original content that make best use of what can be done with Apple devices, including the iPhone and iPod touch. Naturally, this suggests Namco’s ready to invest significantly in seizing a slice of Apple’s growing market.

"It's an exciting time at Namco. We are preparing to usher in a new generation of games that capitalize on changing consumer preferences, like anywhere' gaming and social games," said Kromrey.

"With the iPhone and iPod touch, Apple has provided truly innovative platforms and is challenging developers to push these devices to their limits. I'm going to ensure that Namco answers that challenge and exceeds consumers' expectations."

There’s new breeds of socially-connected, web-savvy, internet-friendly games in preparation, or so it appears. Namco’s going to be exploring ways to implement voice recognition, peer-to-peer game play and accelerometer controls in future games. It’s also looking to upgrade existing titles to exploit new features in iPhone 3.0, such as access to iTunes and Facebook Connect.

Kromrey’s not merely an Apple ex-staffer. He has a serious background in the games industry, before Apple he managed production at iPlay, creating games for sundry mobile platforms. Before this, of course, he held various management and production roles at Eidos Interactive, Namco Bandai Games, Mattel Interactive and Strategic Simulations.

With the mention of the Apple TV, it really is enough to make one wonder if games developers know something about that product we don’t - yet - know for sure....

Comments (5)

iStevo (not verified) | August 03, 2009 - 10:52am

Yes, it all points to a new Apple TV, sharing the same platform as the iTablet, Mac OSX on ARM, supporting multi-core and GPU processing, compatible with all the the App Store applications but also supporting premium apps, including much more powerful games.

It just makes sense. Apple´s mobile platform will be bigger than Windows.

Baka Dubbs (not verified) | August 03, 2009 - 11:47am

I would not be suprised to see a unified platform ala the PS3/360 coming to the apple TV near you(or sitting on top of my tv). Bring the digital distribution, make it a true set top box with 1080p playback(more codec support please), make it a little more capable than the PS3 and xbox(really not that expensive nowadays) and hook up a nice controller with a couple of analog sticks(or even add some motion sensitive abilities) and you got a blockbuster device. Sneak it in as a highly capable set top box then unleash the Madden pain looking better than the other consoles and you will have me sold.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 03, 2009 - 4:17pm

Apple knows that any success is about content. It needs the game publishers. It has a good start with the iPhone/Touch but until it has big titles on board we will not see a new device.

Paul H (not verified) | August 03, 2009 - 11:18pm

If you really think about it the APPLE TV is some what a good start for a gaming console .. They have a good system but need a big upgrade ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................PS3 clams to be more of a COMPUTER then a toy ( LOL ) , Specs of the PS3 does prove they have the power of a computer , but lacks the games ( Bigger titles that should have been out with in the first year of there own launch ) .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
XBOX360 also has great power behind it , but it over heats all the time ( Like the iPhones and iPods LOL ) . Over all they have a great Online system setup .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
If Apple took notes on both systems they could beat them both on this end .. taking away from both PS3 and XBOX ( Microsoft ) in this whos better at gaming ..

Apple TV renamed to APPLE ENTERTAINMENT would make it an all around system . Adding in even a great CPU and a even better GPU your talking about a good start , Bluetooth for controllers and headsets ( iPhone style LOL ) and with there iTunes already intergraded with the Apple TV they would only have to add a new section to it for the APPLE ENTERTAINMENT for games . Companies like SEGA , EA , NAMCO , CAPCOM and EPIC could port over there games to the APPLE Entertainment . With SPECS that beat the PS3 and 360 you talking about a console that would still go for a low price but could still today compete with them ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................PS3 and 360 would have to compete with apple on 4 great areas that APPLE is already beating them on with 3 of them ... Apple has , Music , Movies and TV series , they would have to beat them on the games . Witch with iTunes and there sync with all iTunes be it on your MAC or PC would make it more fun .. Play a game while you are on your console and playing games already .. Opening it up to all developers like the iPhone iPod Touch would just make it harder for SONY and MICROSOFT to really compete , in a small time you would have billions of smaller games like the iFart game on the APPLE Entertainment .. LOL Sorry i had to add that .

luis vuitton (not verified) | August 05, 2009 - 8:44pm

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