Inside Apple's MFi game controller program: Why the current crop of controllers aren't up to snuff
Apple's new MFi game controller program offers a lot of promise for gaming on iOS— the top mobile gaming platform around could also soon be a serious platform for hardcore gamers.
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple has been assembling a controller story piece by piece since last fall: an image of a Logitech iPhone game pad leaked in October 2013, one of the first official controllers was reviewed in November and set what Polygon called a low bar for the competition, and SteelSeries announced the first MFi Bluetooth controller just under two weeks ago. The MFi program itself formalizes what had been ad-hoc third-party hardware into an Apple-certified category.
The verdict now circulating — picked up by Mark Gurman, @nchan, and iPhone Hacks alongside 9to5Mac — is that the early crop of certified pads falls short of what the program promised for hardcore gaming on what is already the top mobile gaming platform, a platform whose gaming ambitions date back at least to the 2008 wave of major titles on iPhone.
First-order effects
- Early buyers of MFi controllers — including SteelSeries' newly announced Stratus-class Bluetooth pad — are getting hardware that reviewers judge below the bar the program implies, putting reputational pressure on SteelSeries and Logitech before the category even establishes itself.
- iOS developers eyeing console-style titles now face uncertainty over whether controller support reaches a quality bar worth building against.
Second-order effects
- Accessory makers will need a second-generation push — better ergonomics, lower latency — because a weak first wave risks souring the same enthusiasts Apple is courting, and rivals like Logitech compete directly with SteelSeries for shelf space in a category defined by Apple's spec sheet.
- Apple faces pressure to tighten MFi controller requirements or guidance, since the certification mark is supposed to signal a baseline quality the current products visibly miss.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, MFi extends beyond cables and docks into defining whole device categories — meaning Apple's certification standards, not any single vendor's design, become the gatekeeper determining whether iPhone and iPad mature into credible platforms for traditional gamers.
The trend: Apple is using its MFi certification apparatus to pull iOS toward console-grade gaming, with the quality of the first licensed controllers testing how fast that transition can go.