Apple in gaming? So where are the deals?

All the examples you mentioned were for software products. Unless you're implying that Apple may wander into the game software business, none of their new hardware products has ever been enhanced via the acquisition of any other company. The iPod touch and iPhone as a gaming platform has so far relied upon 3rd party software, and I see nothing to support that Apple is considering a purchase to enhance that. Do you?

Ricardo,

Thanks for the reply. Indeed, most of Apple's dealmaking has focused on software purchases. In fact, only four disclosed acquisitions, Power Computer, NeXT, Raycer and P.A. Systems are hardware deals and presumably they helped improve Apple's hardware offerings. The rest of its 20-year history of dealmaking is software and a few service businesses, and likewise probably added value for the company's software offerings.

Additionally, what sells Apple hardware is its software, and video games are simply software. In fact, Apple's current business model resembles the gaming model, which relies on first-party software as the draw to the console. For example, Nintendo relies on Mario Bros. and Zelda games to sell Wii's and Microsoft relies on Halo to sell Xbox's. Also, Microsoft snagged Halo via an acquisition. Would it be so hard to imagine Apple acquiring a game developer in order to capture a few exclusive games in order to bolster iTouch sales?

Matthew Wurtzel

DUH
PLEASE IF ya gonna write about apple with big headlines
get your facts all in a row . This a poor article in everyway .
No meat and even no fluff ,

Apple can't buy a EA like company because they risk shutting out all the other game suppliers .WE all want halo dude .
ALSO they have 65000 app and more coming soon . and many of these apps are games . Sp apple has over 20000 developers already doing the game writing for them . So why buy when they have cornered the market already
Visit the app store . dude and learn.

apple buys yrs in advance of a product release
not on the release date
duh

Hardware is only part of the jigsaw.

Apple has now got both cult/avant-garde AND mass market following at higher price tag. Given the success of app store (pseudo-micro pricing + developer community), it is some would argue that it has the perfect platform to be leveraged to launch some proper community gaming with or without competing with consoles (as we know it).

Despite not an apple user, I am looking forward to now (hopefully fully recovered) new Steve Jobs.

@GarethWong

Bruce,

Thanks for your response, but you fail to grasp that Apple is unlikely to acquire EA, Activision or even midsized publishers Take-Two, or Ubisoft. It is not Apple's business strategy to make large splashy acquisitions, but instead, they have a 20-year track record of buying small to build core initiatives and I support that assertion with examples of how it built iLife and other multimedia offerings via purchases. While it is true, iLife came after the eMagic purchase that led to Garageband, other entrants into the gaming market have often made key acquisitions after the fact. For example, Microsoft acquired Bunge and Rare shortly after announcing the Xbox. Now, I am not necessarily suggesting Apple will even purchase smaller developers making traditional games.

In fact, to Gareth's point, I would imagine Apple will seek out something unique to offer its audience something that might only work on a mobile platform akin to social-gaming company Foursquare, which my colleague Mary Flynn wrote about this week. For those unfamiliar, Foursquare offers a tool that is part game, and part social networking that encourages people to basically play a massive scavenger hunt of sorts. The tool is available not only in the App Store, but also for Android phones.

http://www.thedeal.com/dealscape/2009/09/foursquare_funding_provides_vc.php

Matthew Wurtzel