Should Resident Evil 4 for iPhone cost $60?
The same game on console or PC. It’s worth the price for the same experience?
This week started with Resident Evil 4 being listed on the Apple’s App Store for $60. It’s a standard price for AAA (high production) games in the industry, some wanting to push it for $70. It leaves for titles of lesser scope, like indie games or old remastered titles, to lower prices.
It’s difficult to sell AAA games in a store that is known for two types of titles: free to play games with aggressive or predatory in-app purchases, and Apple Arcade. There may be some outliers but there are few a far between.
I would consider it a huge leap if it's on par with the graphical quality of the PlayStation 4 version.
That is where Resident Evil 4 comes in. It’s a high production title, from a renowned franchise, and fairly recent. The quality it’s not the point of discussion, the game sits over 90% in OpenCritic, so the experience is guaranteed. What’s is not is both the price and experience on mobile.
It can be worth $60
This title from Capcom is going to be do-or-break for the whole industry that wants to port or make traditional high-production games in the mobile space, because it’s asking full price on a place not accustomed to seeing that markup except for professional-grade software.
For that price to work, there are three key features that this version should have:
- Graphical and Auditive parity with console versions.
- Single purchase for all devices.
- Game save synchronization across devices.
It’s a given that, on top of these features, performance must be consistent across the board, and all the content should be available. It’s very suspicious that the game is listed with 20GB of space required, almost a third of what the PC version requires. It may be due to the absence of high quality “4K” textures, or other lower quality content, but these are just presumptions that will be only confirmed once the game launches at the end of the year.
Resident Evil 4 will probably be more useful as a technical benchmark than a game pioneering a new untapped market, at least for the first year.
Note that both Resident Evil: Village and Resident Evil 4 require an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone Pro Max. It’s a disappointment in terms of availability since these are the only ones with the A17 Pro SoC, but the initial target audience won’t have a problem paying $60 for a game that it’s equivalent to 6% of the device price.
Also consider Capcom hasn’t detailed gameplay for this version. We only have what was shown at Apple’s Event from past September 12 plus some screenshots I share in this article. It’s worth noting that Apple put the spotlight on gaming for more than 30 seconds this time.
Given the device constraints, I don’t expect the graphical quality to rival an Xbox Series X or a PlayStation 5. I would consider it a huge leap if it’s on par with the graphical quality of the PlayStation 4 version, a console that can consume around 110W on average just to move any demanding game — don’t get me started with its take-off sound when the fans speed up.
It’s known that Apple has given a huge boost to its tools to make and port games to Apple Silicon. Given the A17 Pro has a new GPU architecture with new features, and Apple boasting over its graphical performance compared to its antecessor, I expect no less from a million-dollar company like Capcom to make a great port to a device with the most powerful mobile SoC in the market.
Nobody will pay $60 for a game outside consoles that deliver better experiences and expanded libraries.
All in all, while console-like games on the mobile market seems to be pioneered by the Apple, the market is the one to decide if $60 is fair for a similar experience. Acceptance will be slow given that only the “Pro” models can play the game, and Resident Evil 4 will probably be more useful as a technical benchmark than a game pioneering a new untapped market, at least for the first year.
The end of next year, when we receive the next generation of devices from Apple, will be more interesting that what we got today, in the mobile gaming space of course.
You bet you will be able to play this game on the iPhone 16. Capcom will be able to access to a broader audience, not people with disposable income, unless their goal is to sell a few thousands of copies, that is.
Apple will be happy to let publishers come over and steal that piece of the pie that the Nintendo Switch prove viable without the need to do phone calls.
If this game sells well over what Capcom realistically expects for having greenlit these Resident Evil ports, you can expect more ports closer to the initial release of the major platforms, like a couple of months. Also, expect other companies doing the same for ports or exclusive titles. Apple will be happy to let publishers come over and steal that piece of the pie that the Nintendo Switch prove viable without the need to do phone calls.
In all honesty, I don’t think the average gamer in 2024 will want to pay $60 for a game that is a year old plus a remake. I don’t think the average non-gamer Apple user will want to pay $60 for any game. Nobody will pay $60 for a game outside consoles that deliver better experiences and expanded libraries.
But $40 next year, on my blue iPhone, while waiting for the doctor appointment? Sure, why not.
