Apple TV games will no longer be crippled by the Siri Remote

The Siri Remote isn’t a great TV remote, let alone a game controller, so it was an odd last-minute decision for Apple to mandate that developers make all their games work with it on the Apple TV. Fortunately, that decision has been reversed again, according to new guidelines posted during the company’s ongoing Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apple’s Game Controller Programming Guide now states the following: “When designing a tvOS game, you may require the use of an MFi game controller, but where possible you should also support the Siri Remote.” iOS and Mac App Store games still cannot require a game controller, though of course they can still offer optional support.

Apple’s previous stance may well have put developers off creating games for the Apple TV entirely, who quite understandably may have found it an unreasonable burden to find a way to get complex action titles working with a few buttons and a touchpad. The Apple TV hasn’t come anywhere close to its potential as a gaming platform, and this will be a necessary change in order to make that possible.