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  • Sony’s new controller works with the iPhone, despite the lack of Sony iOS games.
  • It’s not hardware that holds back iOS gaming. It’s Apple.
  • Relationships with game developers are essential.

Apple



iPhone hardware is super powerful, has a great screen and is packed with sensors. And yet in terms of games it is out in the cold.


Despite its phenomenal computing power, iPhone gaming is all about fast-paced games and gambling apps that entice kids to spend their parents’ money through in-app purchases. That’s partly because of Apple’s relationships with game companies and partly because the touchscreen is a pretty bad way to control high-end games. But Sony seems to think otherwise. It just released a hardware controller for iPhone.


“Apple has actually shown no interest in games, despite its focus on entertainment and games being one of the entertainment industry’s few growth areas,” iOS app developer and Apple-watching journalist Graham Bower told Lifewire via email.



The backbone of Sony

The new controller is a rebranded Backbone One, which is probably the best mobile game controller out there. For Sony, it’s a bit of a weird hybrid. While the A, B, X and Y buttons have been changed to branded cross, circle, square and triangle buttons, the device retains its more Xbox-esque asymmetric analog joysticks. The rebadging of the buttons means it won’t match most in-game instructions for existing controller-aware games, but since the layout is exactly the same, it doesn’t really matter.


The iPhone supports such hardware controllers, or Bluetooth controllers, as a way to play games. The problem is that most people don’t use them, so games are largely built around the touch screen. But the difference is huge for those games that work with controllers. And not just for new games. Many classic console games like Grand Theft Autothose made with no touchscreens in mind take huge advantage of buttons and sticks.


Sony/Backbone




What’s the point, Sony?

At the moment, Sony’s gaming presence in the App Store is non-existent, so the need for a branded iPhone controller is a bit confusing. But the plan is certainly to use this with Sony’s Remote Play feature, which lets you stream games from your PS4 or PS5 console to your iOS device over your home network or cellular connection. That is, the game runs on your Playstation and you control it remotely via a (hopefully) low-latency video connection to your iPhone.


Ultimately, Sony plans to bring many more games to mobile. In May, Jim Ryan, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, said that by 2025, half of Sony’s game releases would be for mobile and PC. But that doesn’t mean the iPhone will get many triple-A titles.



Apple attitude

Sony and Microsoft are at the top of high-end console gaming. The Xbox and PlayStation are powerful machines and the best developers release incredible games on them. But aren’t Mac, iPads, and iPhones also incredibly powerful? Don’t they have Metal, a great graphics engine that’s perfect for games?


The problem is not the hardware. The problem is Apple. While Microsoft and Sony court developers and sometimes invest in third-party games for their platforms, Apple does nothing. The attitude seems to be take it or leave it. As with mainstream apps, Apple seems to believe that the App Store is an ambitious destination for software developers. App and game makers are lucky to have it and should be thankful.


Suppose you are a top-class game studio and want to make a game for the iPhone and iPad. Is it tempting. That’s a huge market and the machines, as we said, are very powerful. So you spend several years and millions of dollars creating the game. Then if you send it to the App Store, Apple doesn’t like it, maybe because it’s breaking a rule or for some political or market advantage. Whatever, you’re screwed.


Sony/Backbone



Take Epic for example. It lured Apple and clearly prompted a fight over in-app purchases, but the result is that it can’t put Fortnight back on the App Store.


If a game developer moves in the direction of Apple, or the supportive, longstanding relationship between Sony and Microsoft, which way will it go? And even if Apple changes its mind and game developers go to court, it will take a long time to build trust


Games usually don’t have very big platform links. Games have their own user interface, they have their own back end. In most cases, there’s nothing about them that reveals anything about the platform they’re on. Apple wants you to check the games center or sign in with your Apple ID. If your goal is to sell a game on more than just Apple’s platforms, it takes a lot of money and time to do things the Apple way,” gamer and Apple Watching Tech Podcaster John Siracusa said on his ATP podcast.


Don’t expect to see a triple-A launch on iOS or Mac anytime soon. But if you want to play old games the way they were meant to be, a controller like the Backbone is a great idea.