Apple made a significant push to highlight the gaming potential of the A17 Pro chip during the iPhone 15 launch event. They promised that next-gen games, previously exclusive to consoles/PCs, would soon be available on Apple devices.
The company showcased this by running AAA games like Resident Evil 4 Remake, Resident Evil Village, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage on the iPhone 15 Pro.
However, Apple’s dream of positioning high-end iPhones and iPads as viable AAA gaming devices might be fading fast. A report from Appfigures paints a grim picture of AAA game sales on iOS.
According to the report, AAA games such as Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Resident Evil 4/Village are struggling to find an audience on iOS. For example, Assassin’s Creed Mirage reportedly sold fewer than 3,000 copies at its full price of $49.99 despite having 123,000 downloads.
The significant gap between downloads and full-price sales is partly because users can play a free demo before purchasing. Consequently, many users play the demo, but very few go on to buy the game.
Appfigures states that Assassin’s Creed Mirage has failed so badly that it struggles to generate $4,000 per day in revenue. To illustrate this, the firm compared Assassin’s Creed Mirage to Assassin’s Creed Rebellion, a mobile-specific title by Ubisoft, which generated about $981,000 in the same period where Mirage only made $123,000.
Similarly, Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 Remake and Resident Evil Village are also reported to have failed to captivate a large iOS audience. Appfigures reports that Resident Evil 4 Remake and Resident Evil Village received around 357,000 and 370,000 downloads, respectively, with revenues of $208,000 and $92,000.
Given the prices of Resident Evil 4 Remake ($29.99) and Resident Evil Village ($15.99), the number of paying customers is approximately 7,000 for RE 4 Remake and 5,750 for RE Village.
Additionally, Death Stranding on iOS appears to have failed to gain significant traction with around 10,600 downloads. Without a free demo, its $20 price generated $212,000 in revenue. This doesn’t bode well for highly popular console/PC titles.
There are several potential reasons why AAA games are struggling to attract an audience on iOS, but price might be the biggest factor. Mobile platforms like iOS and Android are flooded with free-to-play titles that have achieved massive success.
Even top premium games on iOS, such as Five Nights at Freddy’s and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, cost only a fraction of Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Resident Evil 4.
Moreover, there’s the issue of these console-quality games being available only on high-end iPads and the iPhone 15 Pro/Max. Naturally, people who can invest in iOS devices costing $1,000 or more are also likely to buy a gaming console like the Xbox Series S or a PC to play these games with much higher quality and better controls.
