Apple's Role in Developing the Mobile Gaming Market

Throughout the last few decades, Apple has continued to be at the forefront concerning developments in the mobile market. As a result, they have played an integral role in forming the contemporary outlook of the mobile gaming industry. So, let's take a look at how Apple were able to revolutionize smartphone gaming.

Importance of Accessibility, Diversity and Convenience

While many of the American multinational technology company's latest smartphones ensure an immersive gaming experience, it's worth remembering that the organisation played a pivotal role in revolutionizing mobile gaming during the early years of the 21st century.

Fundamentally, diversity has been at the heart of Apple's long-term aims for much of the last two decades. Even though some pre-smartphone mobiles in the early 2000s did offer popular retro titles, such as Snake, the evolution on Apple's touch-screen devices, most significantly the iPhone, sparked a new era of gaming, allowing developers to be more creative with their gaming innovations. The acceptance of the technology company to release SDKs, software development kits, in 2008 would, in hindsight, be a catalyst in taking mobile gaming to new, unprecedented heights regarding diversity. In turn, this would allow for the development of some of the remote market's most popular games, including King's Candy Crush Saga.

Moreover, the hardware and software advancements that have been made within recent years have enabled Apple to enhance gaming accessibility to their mobile users. Much like their market competitors, Apple now conveniently offers a wide array of different genres within their App Store.

Along with providing an alternative platform on which to play popular open-world titles, such as Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Apple have continued to cater to user demands by exploring the potential of emerging markets, including online casinos. Following the sector's growth, the multinational corporation has worked on platform compatibility. As such, users are now able to immerse themselves in digital versions of traditional casino games at trusted operators, such as baccarat at LeoVegas, where prospective gamers can choose between numerous variants, like Dragon Tiger and Super 6.

Speed of Development and a Competitive Business Model

As touched upon above, the release of software development kits in 2008 proved to be a turning point for Apple regarding their position within the smartphone gaming market. Crucially, through allowing third-party developers to create content for their App Store, the company could take the reach of their distribution network to the next level.

It's a testament to the success of this decision that despite only being made available to developers in February 2008, by the time that the App Store opened in June of the same year, 500 third-party apps were already available to download, according to a report by Cult of Mac. Importantly, the pace at which Apple were then able to release new content to iPhone and iPod users during this period is what set them apart from their competitors.

"Apple iPhone 6S" (CC BY 2.0) by Janitors

When you compare the timeliness of creating mobile and console games, the release of SDKs saw developers save years regarding total production time compared to traditional gaming counterparts, in addition to millions of dollars. Moreover, the continued growth of the App Store and Apple's gaming reputation can be somewhat attributed to the company's business model. During this period, developers received 70 percent of any generated revenues, while they were also able to price their creations as they saw fit. Fundamentally, this developer-friendly financial structure was one of the main reasons why Apple were able to continuously bring new, innovative games to the mobile market.

A Successful Balance Laid the Foundations for Long-Term Success

Ultimately, Apple's ability to modernize mobile gaming comes as a result of their ability to successfully juggle the interests of consumers with the desired freedom of third-party developers. Crucially, there can be no doubt that the release of SDKs in 2008 enabled Apple to, for a period, assert themselves as the leading figure in smartphone gaming.