Highlights
- iPhone ports of major AAA titles are struggling to meet sales expectations.
- Death Stranding has only sold around 10,000 copies on iPhone, with Assassin's Creed: Mirage only seeing around 3,000 copies sold.
- Indie and free-to-play games continue to perform well on mobile platforms.
According to recent reports, the iPhone ports for Death Stranding, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Resident Evil Village, and Assassin's Creed: Mirage have "bombed," with strikingly low sales failing to meet expectations. While the iPhone has seen a number of impressive sales via indie games and microtransactions in free-to-play games, it seems the AAA market currently remains unprofitable on mobile.
Despite iPhone video game controllers expanding gaming capabilities on mobile devices, fans still seem unlikely to invest in AAA titles outside the console and PC markets. With major competitors like Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony at the forefront of video game platforms, it may still be some time before a fellow juggernaut like Apple is able to fully break into the industry with a viable platform.
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First reported by Mobilegamer, data from Appfigures shows that a number of recent AAA iPhone ports have failed to draw sales from consumers, indicating a significant challenge for Apple in its gaming endeavors. According to estimates in the report, only 3,000 people have purchased Assassin's Creed: Mirage, 7,000 people have bought Resident Evil 4 Remake, 5,750 have snagged Resident Evil Village, and Death Stranding, despite faring the best, has only seen around 10,000 downloads. Compared to the console and PC sales of the same titles, the Apple figures are a drop in the bucket, suggesting many consumers aren't interested in playing the games on a mobile device. Likely, fans able and willing to spend $15-50 on a mobile release would prefer to play on console or PC, giving them a better all-around gaming experience for top-selling AAA video games.
Which Games Perform Well On Mobile?
While AAA launches may fare better on console and PC, data indicates that indie titles and free-to-play games remain highly popular and profitable on mobile. In fact, Assassin's Creed: Rebellion, a mobile exclusive free-to-play strategy RPG, has seen massive sales compared to the recent Mirage port. Rebellion managed to gross over $900,000 in the same time frame that Mirage struggled to achieve 3,000 purchases, indicating that free-to-play video games may be the key to success for mobile game launches from AAA studios. While free-to-play structures remain a topic of debate among gaming audiences, the sales figures alone for AAA and indie releases alike indicate a clear pattern for mobile gaming.
The mobile market remains a crucial sector for the video game industry, with top mobile video games continuing to perform well against AAA ports. From AAA titles like Pokemon GO and Marvel Snap to indie releases like Among Us and Stardew Valley, gaming on iPhone and other mobile platforms remains a major source of interest for big-name and up and coming studios alike.
iPhone 15 Pro
The iPhone 15 Pro is the latest generation offering from Apple, and it features the powerful A17 Pro SoC. The phone comes with a USB Type-C port, which is a first for Apple. It packs a triple camera setup on the back, a 48 MP primary, a 12 MP ultrawide, and a 12 MP telescope camera. The 6.1-inch dispaly supports ProMotion technology, which means it can go up to 120Hz refresh rate.
- Brand
- Apple
- SoC
- A17 Pro
- Storage
- 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
- Ports
- USB Type-C
- Operating System
- iOS 17
