That's a pretty far cry from being a real client. Granted, I'm sure it's been hell trying to figure out how to play in Apple's garden - not to mention porting their engine to iOS/Android. But still, they've got a ways to go before I think we can call them a real player in the mobile gaming market.
EDIT:
> For another, Steam was released a decade ago in 2002 - and if that's "1 decade too late," […]
Good point. Steam was a huge game changer and still continues to impress me. But I think the parent was referring to being a decade too late in the sense that the industry is shifting to mobile (though I'm not sure I completely agree - not for the AAA titles on Steam, anyway).
These are fair points. To address the parent I was commenting on a bit better, I agree with your last point about the industry not necessarily shifting to mobile. There's not actually a lot of data here; the stuff I've seen (and the stuff parent cites) suggests that the shift started in 2008, at the beginning of a recession we're just now seeing the end of. Will the end of the recession mean that people start buying consoles and console games again? It might. I'm interested to see the 2012 numbers. My general sense, though, is that the 'hardcore gamer' industry is a different beast; it may be that the recession trimmed off a lot of casual gamers who bought a Wii a few years ago because it was the thing to do or something like that, but I have a very hard time imagining my own gamer friends wholly abandoning dedicated gaming hardware and immersive games that last forty and fifty hours at the least for even the most advanced iOS games - which as an iPhone and iPad owner I can say are better than I could have imagined, yet still not really the equal of console and computer games.
Are you referring to the Steam Mobile app? (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/steam-mobile/id495369748?mt=8)
That's a pretty far cry from being a real client. Granted, I'm sure it's been hell trying to figure out how to play in Apple's garden - not to mention porting their engine to iOS/Android. But still, they've got a ways to go before I think we can call them a real player in the mobile gaming market.
EDIT:
> For another, Steam was released a decade ago in 2002 - and if that's "1 decade too late," […]
Good point. Steam was a huge game changer and still continues to impress me. But I think the parent was referring to being a decade too late in the sense that the industry is shifting to mobile (though I'm not sure I completely agree - not for the AAA titles on Steam, anyway).