Fall 2008 (Part 14) - An Indie Boost For Apple
Apple's successful first party library had helped elevate its market share to its highest level since purchasing Sega's gaming division back in 2003, but the company likely wouldn't have succeeded to the degree that it did without developing and supporting a reliable stable of independent game studios who inked a number of key exclusivity deals with Apple throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s. Apple began laying the groundwork for its indie revolution since even before the release of the iTwin and iPhone, and once those revolutionary devices were released, the seeds that Apple planted began to take root.
The first really successful studio that Apple supported in this era was PopCap Games. PopCap Games was a small company that primarily made puzzle titles for PC and Macintosh, and it was while creating games for the Macintosh that their studio caught the eye of Steve Jobs. In 2006, Jobs inked a deal with the company to make Peggle a timed exclusive for the iPod Play, preventing it from appearing on Nintendo's popular Game Boy Supernova, and establishing Apple's handhelds as the go-to place for addictive puzzlers. But it wouldn't be until 2008 that Apple's efforts to back PopCap would really pay off. Plants vs. Zombies was one of the most popular new indie titles of 2008. A "tower defense" game, in which players construct an army of plants to battle increasingly numerous waves of zombies, the game was instantly addictive and incredibly fun, with its marketable mascot characters and easy to learn gameplay. It first debuted on PC and Macintosh in the summer of 2008, but its console port was highly anticipated, and many players looked forward to playing it on the Supernova or the Xbox 2. However, it was Apple that swooped in and secured the game's exclusive console rights for the Apple brand. It would appear on the iPod Play and iPhone first, in late 2008, and would later show up in HD form on the Apple iTwin, but wouldn't appear on rival companies' machines until 2012. Plants vs. Zombies proved to be amongst the most popular iPod Play titles of the year, and even outsold the iPhone version for a time, though the convenience of being able to play the game on one's phone eventually propelled it toward becoming one of the most popular iPhone digital downloads ever. The game would even see a platforming sequel released on the iTwin in 2011, while PopCap would continue to create fun and addictive games for the iTwin and the iPhone, becoming a key second party to Apple during the iTwin years.
Then there was World Of Goo, another addictive indie game created by 2D Boy. A physics-based game, it asked players to construct bridges between various landmarks in order to transport balls of goo to the goal. This was another game that was very simply to learn, but also extremely hard to master, and was perfect for the simplistic control scheme that the iTwin could allow. It went on sale for $14.99 in the iTunes Store as an iTwin exclusive digital title in December 2008, but a version was also made available for the iPhone in 2009. World Of Goo became one of Apple's most popular digital offerings, and raised the profile of Apple's online store. The game featured a critically acclaimed soundtrack, and anyone who purchased the game for the iTwin also got a free iTunes album of the soundtrack that they could download and listen to on any deivce they so chose. These tie-ins between the iTunes game and music stores would continue, with Apple offering either free or discounted soundtracks for digital games with the purchase of said games. This drove composers in droves to Apple-affiliated game companies, knowing that their work would get plenty of exposure on the iTunes store. Not only did these composers create excellent game soundtracks, but a few of them would achieve fame as musical artists in their own right, creating techno and symphonic albums that would be promoted alongside the games that they worked on, with still others collaborating with established acts, such as the well-known collaborations between digital music creator Toby Fox and hip hop artist Pharrell Williams that became popular in 2015 and remain popular today.
The indie influences at Apple didn't stop with indie games. Apple themselves began asking indie developers to collaborate with their own established game studios. One of the most notorious and beloved such collaborations would be that of Edmund McMillen, best known for blisteringly difficult platformers such as Super Leek Boy, and Sonic Team, to create the renowned digital title Sonic's Ultimate Challenge. Combining the gameplay of classic Sonic with the amazingly tricky platforming that McMillen is known for, Sonic's Ultimate Challenge consisted of 150 levels ranging from extremely hard to groin-grabbingly impossible, packaged together at a budget price of $19.99. The game went on sale in 2011, and while it's not an official entry to Sonic canon, it remains one of the most critically acclaimed titles in the series, though it's somewhat polarizing to long-time series fans. There would be other collaborations, such as the aforementioned Toby Fox composing the score for a retro-styled Phantasy Star gaiden game. Apple was the first of the three major gaming companies of the time to truly embrace the importance of indie developers in the modern era of gaming. Just as they were the first to really push a digital storefront for games, Apple became an innovator in the industry, rolling with the tide rather than being swept away by it. Apple would be the first, but, as we all know, they wouldn't be the last, and the strength of independent game studios would help another hardware developer rise to prominence in the face of enormous competition.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, published on October 26, 2018
The first really successful studio that Apple supported in this era was PopCap Games. PopCap Games was a small company that primarily made puzzle titles for PC and Macintosh, and it was while creating games for the Macintosh that their studio caught the eye of Steve Jobs. In 2006, Jobs inked a deal with the company to make Peggle a timed exclusive for the iPod Play, preventing it from appearing on Nintendo's popular Game Boy Supernova, and establishing Apple's handhelds as the go-to place for addictive puzzlers. But it wouldn't be until 2008 that Apple's efforts to back PopCap would really pay off. Plants vs. Zombies was one of the most popular new indie titles of 2008. A "tower defense" game, in which players construct an army of plants to battle increasingly numerous waves of zombies, the game was instantly addictive and incredibly fun, with its marketable mascot characters and easy to learn gameplay. It first debuted on PC and Macintosh in the summer of 2008, but its console port was highly anticipated, and many players looked forward to playing it on the Supernova or the Xbox 2. However, it was Apple that swooped in and secured the game's exclusive console rights for the Apple brand. It would appear on the iPod Play and iPhone first, in late 2008, and would later show up in HD form on the Apple iTwin, but wouldn't appear on rival companies' machines until 2012. Plants vs. Zombies proved to be amongst the most popular iPod Play titles of the year, and even outsold the iPhone version for a time, though the convenience of being able to play the game on one's phone eventually propelled it toward becoming one of the most popular iPhone digital downloads ever. The game would even see a platforming sequel released on the iTwin in 2011, while PopCap would continue to create fun and addictive games for the iTwin and the iPhone, becoming a key second party to Apple during the iTwin years.
Then there was World Of Goo, another addictive indie game created by 2D Boy. A physics-based game, it asked players to construct bridges between various landmarks in order to transport balls of goo to the goal. This was another game that was very simply to learn, but also extremely hard to master, and was perfect for the simplistic control scheme that the iTwin could allow. It went on sale for $14.99 in the iTunes Store as an iTwin exclusive digital title in December 2008, but a version was also made available for the iPhone in 2009. World Of Goo became one of Apple's most popular digital offerings, and raised the profile of Apple's online store. The game featured a critically acclaimed soundtrack, and anyone who purchased the game for the iTwin also got a free iTunes album of the soundtrack that they could download and listen to on any deivce they so chose. These tie-ins between the iTunes game and music stores would continue, with Apple offering either free or discounted soundtracks for digital games with the purchase of said games. This drove composers in droves to Apple-affiliated game companies, knowing that their work would get plenty of exposure on the iTunes store. Not only did these composers create excellent game soundtracks, but a few of them would achieve fame as musical artists in their own right, creating techno and symphonic albums that would be promoted alongside the games that they worked on, with still others collaborating with established acts, such as the well-known collaborations between digital music creator Toby Fox and hip hop artist Pharrell Williams that became popular in 2015 and remain popular today.
The indie influences at Apple didn't stop with indie games. Apple themselves began asking indie developers to collaborate with their own established game studios. One of the most notorious and beloved such collaborations would be that of Edmund McMillen, best known for blisteringly difficult platformers such as Super Leek Boy, and Sonic Team, to create the renowned digital title Sonic's Ultimate Challenge. Combining the gameplay of classic Sonic with the amazingly tricky platforming that McMillen is known for, Sonic's Ultimate Challenge consisted of 150 levels ranging from extremely hard to groin-grabbingly impossible, packaged together at a budget price of $19.99. The game went on sale in 2011, and while it's not an official entry to Sonic canon, it remains one of the most critically acclaimed titles in the series, though it's somewhat polarizing to long-time series fans. There would be other collaborations, such as the aforementioned Toby Fox composing the score for a retro-styled Phantasy Star gaiden game. Apple was the first of the three major gaming companies of the time to truly embrace the importance of indie developers in the modern era of gaming. Just as they were the first to really push a digital storefront for games, Apple became an innovator in the industry, rolling with the tide rather than being swept away by it. Apple would be the first, but, as we all know, they wouldn't be the last, and the strength of independent game studios would help another hardware developer rise to prominence in the face of enormous competition.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, published on October 26, 2018
