Vratislav Holub For several years now, the world of consoles has practically belonged to only three players. Namely, we are talking about Sony and their Playstation, Microsoft with the Xbox and Nintendo with the Switch console. However, opinions sometimes appear on the Internet about whether the standard Apple TV 4K could also be used as a game console. After all, we can already play a lot of games on it, and there is also the Apple Arcade platform, which makes a number of exclusive titles available. But can it ever compete with, for example, Playstation or Xbox?
Game availability
Some users could already describe the current Apple TV 4K as an undemanding gaming console. Hundreds of different games are available within the App Store, and the already mentioned Apple Arcade service plays a big role in this. It works quite simply. For a monthly fee, you get access to exclusive game titles that you can play on your devices with the bitten apple logo. Although there is definitely something to play on Apple TV, it is necessary to realize what titles are actually involved. In this case, the developers are severely limited by the performance of such devices, which subsequently affects, for example, graphics and agility.
Gallery
Performance limitations
As we mentioned above, Apple TV is limited mainly due to its performance, which simply does not reach the capabilities of the current Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles. The Apple A12 Bionic chip, which, among other things, was first used in the iPhone XS and XR phones, takes care of the best possible operation of the Apple TV. Although these are substantially powerful devices that were miles ahead of the competition at the time of their introduction, they understandably cannot cope with the capabilities of the aforementioned consoles. The shortcomings come mainly from the side of graphic performance, which is absolutely crucial for games.
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In any case, an interesting change could be brought about by the Apple Silicon project, which has proven to be absolutely phenomenal for Apple computers. Currently, only the M1 chip is available from this series, which already powers 4 Macs and an iPad Pro, but there have been talks about the arrival of a completely new chip for a long time. It should be used in the expected 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pro, whose performance will move forward at a rocket pace. Based on the available information, the graphics performance should see an improvement, which is, among other things, what the Apple TV needs.
Just such a current 16″ MacBook Pro is a device for professionals who need to work with demanding applications – for example editing photos, editing videos, programming, working with 3D and the like. For this reason, the device offers a so-called dedicated graphics card. The question therefore arises as to how the just-mentioned graphics performance will shift within the Apple Silicon solution. More information about the M1X chip, which will probably be used in the mentioned MacBook Pros, you can find here.
Render of the expected MacBook Pro, which will be presented as early as next week:
Gallery
But let's go back to the Apple TV itself. If Apple really succeeded in taking the Apple Silicon project to unprecedented proportions, it would undoubtedly open the door to the world of real gaming consoles. In any case, this is a long shot and there is no point in even discussing something like that for the time being. However, one thing is certain. The Cupertino giant theoretically has the potential for this and the player base as well. All you have to do is boost your performance, secure exclusive titles that would attract enough players, and you're done. Unfortunately, of course, it won't be that simple.
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I play games from xcloud via Apple TV, so yes it works now
It would be necessary to come out with a Pro model for gamers. Buying a game console just for the traditional Apple TV service would be an expensive waste.
They're clearly going to stuff the M1 in there... there's already a similar device here and it's called the Mac mini. It is sold at such a price that no one would buy it as a console. I think Apple TV is exactly where it should be and where Apple wants it to be. Apple TV with M1 will come maybe in 5 years.
Well, if Apple had not purposefully cut projects in the Appstore such as Xcloud, Geforce NOW and the like, the AppleTV would have long since become a game console :)