Why Apple cares about mobile game developers

Posted byby Dean Takahashi
March 24, 2018
Updated June 19, 2025
8 min

If you build it, they will come. For years, it seemed didn’t really embrace the game developers who flocked to the iPhone and filled the App Store with games that consumers downloaded by the billions. After all, Apple’s aim was to get all consumers, not just gamers.

But during this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Apple wanted to make it clear that it cares. Games are a lifeblood on any platform.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.