John Carmack: Steve Jobs hates games

Posted on Wednesday, August 06 2008 @ 0:24 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck

John Carmack spoke out about gaming on the Mac and said Steve Jobs hates games:

"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.

About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.

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Re: John Carmack: Steve Jobs hates games
by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 06 2008 @ 4:09 CEST

John may get grief over this one, but it's true. Steve doesn't understand gamers, has little to no idea how to support them and for the most part detests them as unproductive and a waste of resources.

This, right up there with restricted hardware, is probably one of the top reasons Apple remains a niche product, despite wild attempts (and even a pathetic Vista fight against) to improve market share.

It's a shame really. Because one of the strongest messages you send when you refuse to cater to such a large market driver (gaming), is that you have no technical or innovative ABILITY to address that market. That may not be fact, but that's the way the market views Apple, quaint, whimsical products that are more about glitz and fads than they are about serious games or even serious work.

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