I have been seeing these lists everywhere, podcasts, websites, bathroom stalls… everywhere. So I figured I’d write my list of 2012 predictions, from a perspective that we, mostly indie developers, actually care about. And yea, I know this list is heavily Apple focused, but darn it, they are doing the most revolutionary things out there as far as indie gaming is concerned!
Feel free to post your own predictions!
iPad 3 with quad core CPU, perhaps 2x retina display.
This one is so obvious. The web is going crazy trying to guess what’s going to be there. The quad core chip is just a given, and the part we may care the most about. 2x Retina display may be cool but an issue. It may eat some of the new-found GPU power, and the market will require us to support it. Universal apps will get BIG as consequence. I’d advice to make sure you keep very high def copies of those raw art assets somewhere.
iPhone Next
5, 4Sx2, whatever it’s called, just like the iPad 3, will likely come with a quad core chip. I don’t expect this before summer. Once this land and both iOS current generation devices find themselves running quad core chips, we will have opened the door for true hardcore gaming. iOS will be attracting much more serious players. That brings me to:
Triple A-fication of the App Store
With the launch of the extremely powerful 4s, we have seen some extremely powerful games released. HD versions of PS2 games like GTA4 and The Bards Tales and iOS exclusives like Infinity Blade 2 are just the start. This can be good and bad. The market may get a new boom for these kinds of games, with players willing to pay much more than 99c per game. At the same time, this may make it harder for smaller casual games to get any visibility. Double edged sword there.
Windows 8 (Desktop)
Windows 8 should hit sometimes 2012, with its own App Store. This may be huge news for us, as we will finally have something equivalent to the Mac and iOS App Stores in the windows desktop. Steam is great, but extremely picky. You can’t just get anything in there. A windows native App Store may be a blessing and make it much easier for us to capitalize on our windows builds.
Android Tablets, Kindle Fire and Nook
The Android Tablet market is likely finally going to pick up, but not in Google’s back yard. Instead, the Android tablet will be dominated by the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet. This is important since we may be forced to support these devices to make any significant profit in that sector of the market.
Free iPhone 4 on every carrier
This should be significant. Once the next iPhone is released, it’s likely the 4S will go down in price to 99 bucks (with contract) and the iPhone 4 will go free with contract, on every client. The 3Gs may finally be phased out. This will drastically lower the barrier of entry for iPhone consumers, and at the same time we may finally be able to stop supporting the 3Gs by the end of 2012.
Apple TV
This is a very sketchy one. And no, I am not talking about an Apple brand TV, but the current Apple TV setup box. Since the $99 model was introduced, demand has been steadily increasing. It is very likely they may finally open up the device by giving it an App Store of its own and allow the p airing of Bluetooth gamepads. It’s more of a wish than a prediction, but should it happen, we would find the lowest level of entry for the TV gaming experience we, as indie devs, have ever seen.
Sure, the thing is not insanely powerful compared to other consoles, but one thing Nintendo has shown us is that casual gamers are not that judgmental about graphic capabilities.
Apple has the power to change the TV gaming market at the snap of their fingers. I am predicting/hoping they will snap those fingers this year.
And that’s my list of predictions. Do you have any?
a lesson learned a decade ago 
