When I say game company, you think of Nintendo①, Sony, Microsoft those who shall not be named. Unless you have really good memory or really love chess, you don’t think of Apple. And for a pretty good reason, you can drop $13,000 on a brand new iMac Pro and only have a decent② gaming machine. And because it’s not upgradable not for very long, but, hey it is Space Grey! ① Nintendo: [nɪnˈtɛndoʊ] 任天堂，全球知名的日本娱乐厂商，电子游戏业三巨头之一，现代电子游戏产业的开创者。游戏史上最热销游戏系列——超级马里奥和精灵宝可梦均出自该公司。
② decent: [ˈdiːsnt] adj. of good enough standard or quality. 体面的；像样的。
Macs can play games the same way a smart car can drive cross-country. Sure, it’s possible, but kind of by accident. Apple may have far more resources than Microsoft or Sony, but to make a gaming platform they’d really have to want one and right now they just don’t, at least that’s how it looks. For many people computers are just Facebook or YouTube or email machines. For them, a phone or tablet is increasingly good enough. The trend is portability③ over performance which isn’t so good for the PC market. But there is one big exception – PC gaming. ③ portability: [ˌpɔrtəˈbɪlɪti] n. the ability to be carried or moved easily. 轻便性；易携性。It has all the characteristics of a tiny niche④ market, but it isn’t. it’s actually growing. Many games buy parts to build their own computers and regularly upgrade them to keep up with new games. This saves a lot of money and for companies, margins are pretty low. ④ niche: [niːʃ] adj. relating to selling goods to particular small of people who have similar needs, interests etc. 小众的。So as much as Jony Ive would love to fix this and this, seriously these look ridiculous. It just doesn’t fit Apple strategy. Vague upgradable machines sold for low margins are pretty much their nightmare. Apple will pass on billion dollar industries without blinking⑤ an eye, if they don’t have something significant to add. So a chart like this one looks terrible for Apple. Android phones dominate the globe, but they don’t really care. Because of this, they are happy selling fewer phones. Because it fits their strategy. They are just so good at making profit.⑤ blink: [blɪŋk] v. to shut and open your eyes quickly. 眨眼。But that is actually precisely why they already are in the business of gaming, they just have a very different approach. For you, gaming may look like this or this, but the truth is for even more people, it looks like this. Mobile gaming is a 46-billion-dollar market, more profitable⑥ than PC games, console⑦ games even global box office⑧ sales. ⑥ profitable: [ˈprɑːfɪtəbl] adj. producing a profit or a useful result. 有利可图的。⑦ console: [ˈkɑːnsoʊl] n. a flat board that contains the controls for a machine, piece of electrical equipment, computer etc. 主机；主板。⑧ box office: n. used to describe how successful a film, play, or actor is, by the number of people who pay to see them. 票房。On any given day Candy Crush alone makes two billion dollars. Fortnight is expected to make half a billion dollars this year, not bad at all. And Apple takes a 30% cut of all app store revenue. Obviously, they are not only or mostly a game company, but at this point, it is hard to deny they are not a game company. You might be thinking Apple just stumbled⑨ into this. There are no more a game company than your interest service provider is a YouTube company. But the app store isn’t just another App Store. It is really a game store – the game store. The App Store is 25% games, far more than any other category.⑨ stumble: [ˈstʌmbl] v. to walk in an unsteady way and often almost fall. 蹒跚；跌跌撞撞。Last year, they redesign the entire store to emphasize them. And game developers love the store just as much as the store loves them. Good games are expensive to make, even what seems like a simple game may require a team of programmers another for art and music and writing and marketing.Like movies, it’s a huge upfront investment with a ton of risk. But the promise of digital goods is that once they are made, no manufacturing or transportation or stocking costs. One game, one click of a button, now millions of people can download it. But because google says, here is some software now go make phones and manufactures are desperate to stand out. Android is a nightmare for game developers. There are two-inch android phones probably 2-meter Android phones and everything in between. Do you want a phone that can tell you how fat you are? How about one engraved with Colonel Sanders face? If you can think of it, Android has it and they are all sprinkled between a million different versions of Android. When you are making a game, this means accommodating⑩ tens of thousands of different phones, not so fun. Compare that to iOS and you can see its appeal, 76 percent run the latest iOS version, on Android its only 5. This is why Apple is so pesky about updating your phone.⑩ accommodate: [əˈkɑːmədeɪt] v. to get used to a new situation or to make yourself do this. 适用于；适配。It adds a ton of value to their company, and sorry, a Microsoft Store. It might be really easy to develop for you but nobody has a Windows Phone. Apple also has the advantage of designing its own processors⑪, which means developers can make better crispy or games on iPhone. They are kind of embarrassingly faster than some of Apple’s own laptops.⑪ processor: [ˈprɑːsesər] n. the central part of a computer that deals with the commands and information it is given. 处理器。But the biggest reason companies choose the App Store is simple, iOS users pay twice as much as apps, games like Super Mario run and Fortnight came to iOS first because that is where the money is. And Apple is very aware they have partnered with Nintendo Epic Games EA that game company even scarf guy⑫. ⑫ scarf guy: the CTO of Super Evil Megacorp. 围巾男，知名游戏开发公司Super Evil Megacorp的首席技术官汤米·克鲁尔。The iPhone, iPad and still a product in our lineup iPod touch are maybe the most popular gaming devices. But there is still a lot more Apple could do. In 2015, Apple announced a new generation Apple TV. Not just an expensive way to watch Netflix more computer. It still plays Netflix and Hulu and eventually Amazon. But it’s a general-purpose entertainment device. It has its own app store with games even third-party game controllers. It’s no Xbox or Wii⑬, but it has the potential to become the console for casual gamers. But they made one major mistake, games had to be compatible⑭ with a built in remote. But the remote, well, it sucks for gaming and because of that rule games could only be as good as the remote. ⑬ Xbox or Wii: 微软游戏机和任天堂的电视游戏机。⑭ compatible: [kəmˈpætəbl] adj. able to exist or be used together without causing problems. 兼容的。Apple has now reversed that decision, but now they are having a chicken or egg problem. For many people, there aren’t enough good games to buy an Apple TV. But developers won’t make games until there are more people to buy them. So which comes first and a lot of games now require a controller. But nobody has one, so here is an idea.What if instead of selling two sizes of the Apple TV, they sold two versions. For gamers, a more expensive, higher performance, higher storage model that comes with a controller. And a slightly cheaper, lower performance, lower storage version for everyone else. More people would have controllers which would bring more and better games which brings even more people and so on. It might still be tough getting developers to make games or the Apple TV. But there is a good reason to think Apple is working on that.There is a rumor they will allow developers to make one app for several platforms. So instead of having to make one version of their app for Mac and one for iOS, or more likely just doing the latter. They could kill two birds with one stone. If this also worked for Apple TV, it could bring a ton of new games to the platform. Apple is in a great position to create a very profitable new gaming platform, especially with how ruthless⑮ game companies can be.⑮ ruthless: [ˈruːθləs] adj. determined and firm when making unpleasant decisions. 残忍的；冷酷绝情的。大连外国语大学高级翻译学院实习生
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