Apple Voted Biggest Influence on Video Games Industry
At the London Games Conference, 1,000 game industry insiders were surveyed and asked who they thought had the biggest impact on shaping video games and the video gaming industry.
You might imagine that someone like Shigeru Miyamoto, developer of gaming classics Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong, would come in first, but the survey had surprising results. Steve Jobs is the man who had the biggest influence on the industry. He earned 26 percent of the overall vote and 46 percent of the top five winners’ vote.
The aforementioned Miyamoto came in third, with Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve coming in second. Tim Berners-Lee, world wide web inventor, came in fourth, and Mark Zuckerberg followed at a distant fifth.
Apple’s iPhone was voted as the top product that shaped video games, with 17 percent of the votes. The Nintendo Wii came in second, with seven percent of the votes, followed by Xbox Live with three percent, The original Playstation with three percent, and Steam with two percent.
According to Michael French, Editor in Chief of MCV, the leading trade magazine of the gaming industry:
“In just over three years the iPhone and the App Store have transformed what consumers expect of games, and how the industry makes and sells them – today, download games have come to the fore. Steve Jobs, the iPhone’s driving force, was the ultimate independent developer – uncompromising in his vision, with unquestionable influence, and hugely artistic and commercial results.”
With its Game Center update in iOS 5, Apple has made inroads towards creating a community system like that of Nintendo and Xbox Live. The company has also brought iOS gaming to the living room, potentially replacing consoles with iOS Mirroring, which allows iOS devices to be played on the television.
[via Apple Insider]