Apple TV App Store gains over 400 apps each week, nearly half of all apps are games, data shows

Apple's new app store for the Apple TV platform now features over 2600 apps, with an average of 447 new apps coming each week, according to recently-published third-party data.

The study, published in a post to the AppFigures blog on Thursday, showed steady growth in apps available on the new tvOS platform with a total of 2624 apps now available for download. Much like iOS, the largest category for Apple TV apps is the Games category, accounting for nearly 38 percent of all apps on the platform. Entertainment and Education rounded out the top three.

Despite the proliferation of games on the platform, the numbers are slightly different when it comes to what people are actually downloading. Entertainment apps actually lead the way in terms of downloads, with Games coming in second and the News category third. Moreover, of the top 50 apps, 28 of them are in the Entertainment category while only 8 of them are games.

As for monetization, more developers appear to be charging users for apps, as opposed to the freemium model that currently dominates iOS. While a majority of developers are opting to stick with free-to-download apps, a full 39 percent of apps on the Apple TV App Store are paid, with developers charging mostly small amounts of $2.99 or less to download, although some are as high as $59.99.

The newest version of tvOS, 9.1, was released on Tuesday.

27 Comments

boltsfan17 2294 comments · 12 Years

About 8 years ago

I don't think that will happen anytime soon. Xbox One/PS4 are expected to reach over 50 million combined sales at the end of the month. It's going to take a lot for the Apple TV to catch up.

Personally, I don't think you can really compare the Apple TV to gaming systems like the PS4. The Apple TV isn't powerful enough to run console titles. I love my Apple TV and some of the games on the App Store, but it will never have in depth games with great graphics like the WItcher 3, Uncharted, Last of Us, etc.

derrickdoingit 29 comments · 9 Years

About 8 years ago

sog35 said:

Amazing. 200 new games each week.

Give it 3 years and AppleTV will outsell Xbox/PS/Nintendo.

As long as Apple forces developers to develop their games with the Siri Remote it's not going to be taken as a serious platform for gaming. It's like a Wii, no one took that console as a serious gaming machine.

rare comment 206 comments · 14 Years

About 8 years ago

derrickdoingit said:

sog35 said:

Amazing. 200 new games each week.

Give it 3 years and AppleTV will outsell Xbox/PS/Nintendo.

As long as Apple forces developers to develop their games with the Siri Remote it's not going to be taken as a serious platform for gaming. It's like a Wii, no one took that console as a serious gaming machine.

I fear derrickdoingit is exactly right on the first part: the Siri Remote doesn't work well for even simple games, let alone complicated ones so the requirement is a real handicap to developers who want players to feel like they are getting their money's and time's worth.

I didn't quite understand the second sentence - I'd be interested in hearing more about this (I thought the Wii was VERY successful and that those who didn't take it seriously were quite surprised when it did so well). In fact, my hope was that Apple TV would be very similar to the Wii and show that gameplay didn't require power (it can't really compete on power, I think).

eightzero 3145 comments · 14 Years

About 8 years ago

Sure hope Apple provides a web interface of the tvOS Apps Store. There are many times I'd like to browse for stuff, but am not looking at my Apple TV. Have a web interface to browse, and then sign in with a apple ID, and those that you have marked "favorites" show up on your apple TV next time you log in.