Apple might be poaching Xbox engineers, possibly to build a console

The latest and greatest in Apple rumours with a capital ‘R’ is that the company is gearing up to make a play in the video game console space.

The reports come from a conversation on the moderately popular Xbox Two podcast where Windows Central writer Jez Corden shared that he’s heard rumours of Apple poaching Xbox engineers to help make an Apple console.

He clarifies that there isn’t much sourcing on the rumour so take it with a grain of salt. The engineers, if being poached, could also be used to work on a VR or AR device or any other kind of project Apple has hidden away on its campus.

I’d also be skeptical of this rumour since Apple historically hasn’t been big into gaming, regardless of what you want to call Apple Arcade. However, with the computing power the company is packing into its new laptops and phones, perhaps stealing some Xbox team members to help Apple get a foot in the PC gaming space would be a smarter use of Apple’s time.

We’ve all seen that with Stadia, it’s incredibly difficult to entice both developers and players to a new gaming platform. I imagine that Apple has also learned this with Apple Arcade. The company could skip half of this line by building better Windows/Xbox game translation code for the Mac, thus only needing to entice developers to move their games to Mac since millions of Mac users have gaming-capable machines.

We also know that console makers like Sony and Xbox sell consoles at a loss and make up the money on the back end with game and accessory sales, plus monthly subscription costs. Suppose Apple could still make this back-end money by selling more games on Mac and selling Apple gaming accessories. In that case, it makes less sense to me that the company would invest millions into console development.

Apple would be wise to move into gaming but I think making it a value-add to the tech giant’s computers rather than trying to sell a console would make more sense with the company’s existing public products and strategies. All of that being said, the company has surprised us in the past, and we’re expecting it to move into new markets like AR, VR, and automotive, so gaming wouldn’t be the biggest stretch.

Source: The Xbox Two Podcast Via: Games Radar