During its annual keynote ceremony earlier this month, Apple s💮urprised everyone by revealing that both Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 remake would be coming to Mac, iPad, and most surprising of all, the new iPhone 15 Pro. Thou🦄gh technically the world’s most popular gaming platform, the iPhone isn’t exactly known as a platform for new triple-A games. Whether it’s a one-off to boast the new phone’s impressive A17 Pro chip or signs of a seachange for the company remains to be seen, though we know at the very least Death Stranding and Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be coming to iPhone 15 Pro in the near future.
This news has garnered some strange reactions. Over the last few days I’ve noticed quite a few he🎃adlines on both video game and tech sites that simply state Resident Evil 4 Remake will cost $60 on iPhone. I don’t mean to sound glib, but I’m not sure why this is newsworthy. Resident Evil 4 Remake launched earlier this year and, outsid🌃e a short PlayStation sale, has not received a price drop on any platform. It costs $60 on PS5, $60 on Xbox, and $60 on Steam. It’s the same game on iPhone 15 Pro, so why should the price be any different?
Of course, I know why some might be surprised by a full-price game on an iPhone, I just don’t think it’s a reasonable expectation. The disconnect people have about paying for app๊s has always been bizarre to me. People are willing to spend $1500 on a new phone - sometimes as often as every two years - yet most people aren’t willing to spend a single dollar on their apps. The scourge in in-app purchases, gachapon, and games with hidden costs that slowly bleed you dry is directly related to everyone’s unwillingness to pay for games on their phones.
And while RE4 Remake might be the most demanding game to ever run natively on an iPhone, triple-A gaming on mobile is nothing new. Plenty of console and PC ports are already available on iPhone today, like Alien: Isolation, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Life is Strange, Civilization 6, Minecraft, XCOM 2, Ark: Survival Evolved, and Dead Cells. The iPhone versions of these games all launched years after their console and PC debut, so it makes sense that they would have a reduced price, just as they have a reduced price on other platforms. The only thing that makes Resident Evil 4 Remake unique is that it’s launching on iPhone this close to its original release date. There’s no reason it shouldn’t be a full-price game on mobile when it’s still full-price everywhere else. It’s worth noting that Resident Evil Village, a two year old game that🦂 you can get for $40 on Steam, Xbox, and PS5, will also cost $40 on IPhone 15 Pro.
It’s interesting to see people scoff at the idea of paying for a game that runs natively on an iPhone, especially when they’ll also scoff at the idea of streaming a game to an iPhone. You can Bluetooth connect any controller you prefer, or use a mobile controller lik♔e the Backbone or Razer Kishi. You can plug your phone into your TV with a $10 USB-C to HDMI cable and play in nearly FHD with HDR at 30fps. Think of it like having an even more compac𒆙t Switch that also does all the things a phone can do.
I’m not saying the iPhone 15 Pro is going to be replacing anyone’s PS5 anytime soon, but it's a reasonable alternative for playing these specific games, with its own benefits. Should we be skeptical of tech companies pivoting into gaming platforms? Absolutely. Apple has a lot of proving to do where Google and Meta have already failed. But charging full price for a new game isn’t a red flag. The alternative would be a version of RE4 Remake that charges you per bullet, and no one wants that either.