Is Apple getting ready to launch a PlayStation and Xbox competitor?

Yahoo

7 days ago

The Apple TV is probably my favorite device that Apple makes. While the Apple TV app is in dire need of some basic improvements, the hardware box itself is a standout—especially compared to competitors like Amazon's Fire TV and Roku's streaming devices. This is largely thanks to the stellar Siri Remote, which makes navigating the device with your fingers or voice a cinch, and the powerful Apple silicon chip inside that makes the Apple TV's operating system, tvOS, run buttery smooth.
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However, when it comes to being a device meant to sit at the center of your living room as an all-encompassing entertainment hub, the Apple TV is lacking in one big department: gaming. The Apple TV is technically a gaming console, since it can play rudimentary games and supports third-party console controllers. But no one is likely to replace their PlayStation or Xbox with one any time soon, because the current Apple TV lacks the processing power to run console-quality games.
Yet perhaps that could be changing. Recently, I've noticed that Apple has been making moves that suggest the company may be on the cusp of turning the Apple TV into a full-blown PlayStation and Xbox competitor. Doing so would open up another potential billion-dollar revenue stream for the company.
The new Apple Games app is currently MIA from tvOS 26
At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year, the company unveiled a new cross-device app called Apple Games. The app acts as a central hub and launcher for all the games you've ever bought on Apple's App Store or have access to via the company's Apple Arcade subscription service.
The Apple Games app also gives you quick access to game events and challenges, and helps you discover new games to play and see what games your friends are playing. In other words, the new Apple Games app is similar to the PlayStation 5 Game Hub and the Xbox Dashboard—the interfaces on the consoles that significantly differentiate the living room gaming experience from PCs.
Apple announced that Apple Games is coming to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 this fall. But the new app is conspicuously absent from the Apple TV's next operating system, tvOS 26, which also ships this fall. This is a notable omission, especially considering that Apple markets its Apple Arcade gaming service as a core feature of the Apple TV experience. It also offers thousands of mobile-level games through the tvOS App Store.
The more I think about the Apple Games omission from tvOS 26, the more it makes sense—if Apple is set to turn the Apple TV into a true gaming console but doesn't want anyone to know it yet.
The next Apple TV is rumored to have two key hardware improvements essential to top-line gaming consoles
Apple doesn't update the Apple TV as often as it does iPhones or even its iPads. Typically, years pass between Apple TV updates. The most recent Apple TV, the Apple TV 4K, was last updated in November 2022, nearly three years ago. That means it's ripe for an update this year.
Rumors suggest that a new Apple TV is indeed coming later this year and that it will feature two significant hardware upgrades—ones that would enable it to become a true gaming console.
The first is an updated chipset. The current Apple TV 4K features the Apple A15 Bionic chip, the same one found in the iPhone 13 from 2021. Most people expect the next Apple TV to get a significant upgrade—perhaps to the A18 or A18 Pro, found in the current iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro series, or perhaps even the unreleased A19 chip, which will go into this year's iPhone 17 series. It's also possible Apple could put the M1 or M2 chip, previously found in Macs and iPads, into the new Apple TV.
This jump from the A15 to the A18, A19, M1, or M2 would give the Apple TV the performance boost it needs to run AAA console games, such as the Resident Evil series from Capcom, which are currently capable of running (with controller support, no less) on the iPhone 15 Pro, thanks to its A17 Pro chip.
Another upgrade the next Apple TV is expected to get is a new Apple-designed Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chipset that will support the Wi-Fi 7 standard (via MacRumors). This standard offers lower latency and faster Wi-Fi speeds than the current Wi-Fi 6 standard—something critical for gaming consoles and the bandwidth-hungry games that stream to them. The leading games console, the PlayStation 5 Pro, currently offers Wi-Fi 7 support.
In other words, the hardware components Apple needs to turn the next Apple TV into a PlayStation and Xbox competitor are all in the pipeline. And, increasingly, so is something else the Apple TV would need to become a true gaming console: increasing commitment to Apple's platforms from major games studios.
More AAA games are hitting the Mac—and iPhone—than ever before
In the video game industry, the top games are known as AAA (triple-A) titles. These are the games with the most advanced graphics and the biggest budgets, and are frequently the highlights of the console gaming experience.
Historically, AAA game developers have shied away from releasing their major titles on the Mac (the Apple device with the hardware power most comparable to professional gaming consoles). But in the past year, that's changed a lot, thanks to Apple's move to make game development on the Mac easier and more cost-effective than ever, thanks to tools like the company's Game Porting Toolkit 3 and the hardware-accelerated graphics API, Metal 4, which makes graphics-intensive games look better on Mac and iPhone. Considering Apple devices are more popular than ever, game studios stand to financially benefit by bringing their biggest titles to Apple's platforms and their millions of users.
In July alone, two major AAA titles made their debut on the Mac: CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate and Deep Silver's Dead Island 2. Other major AAA titles have also been released on the Mac over the past few years, including Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Shadows and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Remedy's Control Ultimate Edition, Kojima Productions' Death Stranding Director's Cut, Round 8 Studio's Lies of P, 11 Bit Studios' Frostpunk 2, and Capcom's Resident Evil series remastered editions. Additionally, more AAA titles are coming to the Mac this year, including IO Interactive's Hitman World of Assassination, InZOI Studio's InZOI, and Pearl Abyss' Crimson Desert.
Most of these games require an M1 series chip or later, found in the company's Apple Silicon Macs released since 2020. Some, like the Resident Evil series, can even run on the A17 Pro and later, first introduced in 2023. Apple's current A18 Pro is roughly equivalent to the M1 in terms of performance, and if Apple puts it, the M1 or M2, or the upcoming A19 Pro, inside the next Apple TV, as expected, there is no reason these AAA games that currently run on the Mac couldn't run on the new Apple TV. And if that happens, the Apple TV becomes a professional-level gaming console.
Turning the Apple TV into a gaming console makes sense for Apple's ecosystem and the company's bottom line
When Apple announced the upcoming Apple Games app for all its devices except the Apple TV, it stood out as a glaring hole in the company's lineup, especially since Apple Games is a natural fit for the Apple TV. But when you take in the odd omission, along with recent rumors that the next Apple TV is set to get powerful new CPU and wireless chipsets, and the flood of new AAA titles hitting the Mac and iPhone this year, things start to look a lot clearer.
Yet something else leads me to believe that Apple could be turning the Apple TV into a gaming console this year: the company's history of being unwilling to let software announcements spoil new hardware features.
In the past, Apple has withheld software announcements at WWDC to avoid revealing upcoming hardware improvements to its devices. The AAA titles available on the Mac appear in Apple Games on the macOS 26 beta. If Apple had previewed Apple Games on the tvOS 26 beta, Mac games that run on the new unreleased Apple TV, including these AAA titles, might have also shown there. That would spoil a major, as-yet-unannounced feature for the as-yet-unannounced Apple TV.
Of course, all this is just conjecture on my part. Still, all the signs seem to be pointing to Apple TV becoming a true gaming console. This would make a lot of business sense for Apple. At price points of $129 or $149, depending on whether you want more storage and an ethernet connection, the current Apple TV 4K is much more expensive than such competitors as the Roku Streaming Stick 4K ($49), the Roku Ultra ($99), and the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K ($49).
However, if Apple gives the new Apple TV gaming console capabilities, the current $129/$149 price suddenly looks like a bargain. A triple-A gaming experience on the Apple TV would be a unique selling point that Roku or Amazon couldn't compete with.
It could also give Apple a major new revenue stream in the form of 30% App Store commissions on AAA titles sold through the tvOS App Store. As of 2024, the global AAA gaming market is valued at approximately $75 billion annually, according to a July 2025 Business Research Insights report. It's expected to grow to nearly $108 billion by 2033.
But most of all, a new Apple TV with console gaming capabilities would further solidify the device as the digital heart of the living room and smart home, giving users another reason to stay within Apple's ecosystem, both inside and outside the house—an ancillary benefit Apple likely finds invaluable.
This post originally appeared at fastcompany.comSubscribe to get the Fast Company newsletter: http://fastcompany.com/newsletters