John Carmack: Steve Jobs hates games

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 5th August 2008
Comments (18) Stumble
John Carmack: Steve Jobs hates games

John Carmack reckons that the reason Apple has traditionally stayed away from games is because of Steve Jobs.

John Carmack, lord of the geeks and Technical Director at id Software, has spoken out against Apple's policy when it comes to gaming over the years in a recent interview. Carmack reckons that the reason Apple hasn't strayed much into the games market is primarily because of company CEO, Steve Jobs.

"The truth is Steve Jobs doesn't care about games. This is going to be one of those things that I say something in an interview and it gets fed back to him and I'm on his s***head list for a while on that, until he needs me to do something else there. But I think that that's my general opinion. He's not a gamer," Carmack explained in an interview with Eurogamer.

"It's difficult to ask somebody to get behind something they don't really believe in. I mean obviously he believes in the music and the iTunes and that whole side of things, and the media side of things, and he gets it and he pushes it and they do wonderful things with that, but he's not a gamer. That's just the bottom line about it."

Carmack also openly questioned whether it was worth adding support for Mac OS X systems in games now that Mac users can just use Boot Camp to run a Windows OS - though they will be doing it with Rage anyway. Carmack then went on to discuss the iPhone.

"I think the iPhone is a potentially extremely important platform for a lot of reasons, and I think it could be the type of thing that really makes inroads into...does it kill the PSP. There are structural reasons why it's not going to kill the DS in there, but it certainly should be in there in the running there as a device that you can get modern, quality games for something, and I think it's a great platform for content and new talent on there," he explained.

Carmack reckons a two-man team could easily make a couple of million dollars if they had a bit of good luck. We'd be happy to team up with you if you want to give it a go - let us know in the forums.
Quote bowman 5th August 2008, 12:03
Well yeah, Macs have never really been marketed as gaming machines anyway! If you think about it the only Mac with an actual graphics solution worth talking about is the Mac Pro workstation. So why do you guys constantly add Mac support, then? Why don't you do Linux versions of your games instead?
Quote Jamie 5th August 2008, 12:06
Quote:
Originally Posted by bowman
Well yeah, Macs have never really been marketed as gaming machines anyway! If you think about it the only Mac with an actual graphics solution worth talking about is the Mac Pro workstation. So why do you guys constantly add Mac support, then? Why don't you do Linux versions of your games instead?

MacBook Pro's and iMacs are quite capable of playing games.
Quote Timmy_the_tortoise 5th August 2008, 12:11
... And games hate Steve Jobs. :D
Quote Veles 5th August 2008, 12:28
Only in Soviet Russia
Quote TomH 5th August 2008, 12:33
Quote:
Originally Posted by bowman
Why don't you do Linux versions of your games instead?
I think you'll find they do, it just doesn't make much business sense to package them up and sell them in the shops; I bet very few people would ever hand over money for it.

At the minute, you download the Linux installer, copy the .pak files across to /usr/games/id/whatever/textures etc. and away you go :)
Quote Gunsmith 5th August 2008, 13:03
PHOTOSHOP IS A GAME!
Quote Sathy 5th August 2008, 13:07
But is it entertaining?
Quote M4RTIN 5th August 2008, 13:22
i take it he has something to sell, he hasnt shut up about apple this last month.. he stopped being revolutionary after quake
Quote Timmy_the_tortoise 5th August 2008, 14:08
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunsmith
PHOTOSHOP IS A GAME!

You WISH!
Quote Redbeaver 5th August 2008, 14:46
zooming in and out on googlemaps on the iphone's multi-touch screen is gaming!
Quote Colt 45 J 5th August 2008, 17:05
Pfff, what are you guys talking about? I mean STARCRAFT runs on a mac.... Sooooo cutting edge, you couldn't get better anywhere if you tried.
Quote ParaHelix.org 5th August 2008, 18:20
For compatabuility and gaming Windows rules (Windows steal a lot of ideas but atleast they execute them well).
Quote HourBeforeDawn 5th August 2008, 20:30
lol I loved watching those parody mac commercials, you know the ones that use to be hi I use to be a pc user and now Im a mac user, well in the one I saw it was a person that went from pc to mac but he was a gamer and it was so funny he was like but mac does have games like umm chess ya and so on...

ahhh here it is
0byal1bDUtA
Quote CrixD 5th August 2008, 21:51
Quote:
Originally Posted by M4RTIN
i take it he has something to sell, he hasnt shut up about apple this last month.. he stopped being revolutionary after quake

I cannot agree there.
Carmack has done plenty of important stuff since Quake.
I mean. Doom 3 did set a whole new graphical standard for games [It were not the only game, I know. HL2 was also in it].
He invented the Mega Texture in Quake Wars, which I personally believe will be used a lot in the future.
And now. Just look at Rage, I think it speaks for itself currently.

And lastly. In all the interviews I read about and with Carmack, then he has always been completely honest, and never shy to share his thoughts. :/

Call me a Carmack fanboy now :p
Quote benjamyn 5th August 2008, 21:57
So John Carmack says Steve Jobs isn't a gamer and Bit-tech spins it and puts it in the headlines as "John carmack said Steve Jobs hates games!!!!"

Read this yesterday on Kotaku with a less misleading title :)

that aside John Carmack does seem to be quite popular at the moment, always seeing him mentioned in articles.
It's good that he voices his opinion and isn't afraid to speak his mind like the situation over Rage on Xbox 360/PS3
Quote Aankhen 6th August 2008, 09:42
Quote:
Originally Posted by benjamyn
So John Carmack says Steve Jobs isn't an interview and Bit-tech spins it and puts it in the headlines as "John carmack said Steve Jobs hates games!!!!"

Read this yesterday on Kotaku with a less misleading title :)
Assuming you meant "Steve Jobs isn't a gamer", this was the first thought that came to my mind too. I really like bit-tech; I just wish there was less of this misleading headlines business.
Quote wuyanxu 6th August 2008, 10:06
Steve Jobs....... if it wasn't for his marketing strategy, the way Apple operates will NEVER survive.

iPhone ringtone needs to be bought? everything iPhone related is through iTune, meaning you can't sync between 2 computers? Mac's spec is always lower than other computers?

but you got to admit, their marketing works, and if Steve Jobs had entered the gaming market, people (who have enough money) would probably all switch to Macs within 5 MacWorld keynotes
Quote kempez 6th August 2008, 10:06
I hate games....but then I have been playing MGS4 for the last few days so it's understandable :)

I think perhaps the title is a little misleading but I do love the way Carmack just says what he thinks :D

@wuyanxu: You can make iPhone ringtones (Google it) and you can synch two PC's if they both have iTunes and your iTunes account
Log in

You are not logged in, please login with your forum account below. If you don't already have an account please register to start contributing.