IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Apple Has No Plans to Acquire a Game Company

Posted March 9, 2011 by James Brightman

We've all heard the rumors and speculation time and time again about Apple getting more heavily involved in the games industry through an acquisition of a major publisher or possibly a technology enabler, like OnLive's cloud service. After all, OnLive already can run its viewer feature on iPhone/iPad, and gameplay may not be far behind. 

Panoptic Management Consultants analyst Asif Khan, who writes exclusively for IndustryGamers in his financial focused Game Trader column, said Apple simply has no plans to snatch up gaming firms. And Khan got this information directly from Apple boss Steve Jobs himself.

"From my firsthand conversation with Steve Jobs last year at the shareholder meeting, I can tell you with confidence that Apple will not acquire a game company," Khan told IndustryGamers. "They would rather rake in the 30% of App Store sales that they currently have set up with developers."

Khan did express his own personal wish that Apple would do more in gaming, but it's not looking likely. The company does have an incredible $60 billion in cash, it's worth noting. So if the war chest is ever opened up, it certainly could be put to good use with some huge acquisitions.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.