Is 3D Touch being ignored by game developers just because there are too few iPhone 6s users?

For the iPhone 6S, which is known as "the only thing that's changed is everything", 3D Touch is definitely one of the biggest upgrade highlights. At the press conference, Apple announced that the feature has been opened to the development team, and many applications will be launched in succession with upgraded versions that support 3D Touch.

However, judging from the reactions of mobile game developers, the changes brought about by this feature were not as popular as Apple expected.

Nitrome, a British game company specializing in pixel games, once said that it has not yet included 3D Touch in its product plans. There are not many games on the App Store that include this feature. What is the reason for everyone to take such a cautious attitude?

Poor cross-platform capabilities and small audience range

So far, the only products that support 3D Touch are iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, and even the iPad Pro and iPad mini4 that were updated at the product launch conference do not have this function. This means that if game manufacturers update their products for this purpose, only users of these two products can enjoy it.

The iPhone 6s has been on sale for less than a month since its official launch on September 25. Data shows that the new product sold over 13 million units in the first three days, and sales in the fourth quarter of this year are expected to exceed 70 million units. These figures are not impressive compared to the more than 800 million iOS users.

Technology is not yet mature and user habits need to be cultivated

3D Touch, which was first introduced into the product, has not been tested much, so it is inevitable that there will be some loopholes. Previously, some media reported that when using Live Photos, the camera will continue to shoot a video and the audio will be automatically recorded after the phone is put down. Live Photos is a native 3D Touch application that Apple emphasized at the press conference. Although it is not yet certain whether the loophole is related to 3D Touch, it has also set a bad precedent for related applications.

3D Touch actually adds a hard press option based on the original click and long press. Some users reported that it is not easy to grasp the pressing force and time of 3D Touch, so the menu that should have been called up by long pressing is often skipped. Some netizens simply turned off this new feature.

In any case, from the above highlights we can see that, on the one hand, the function of 3D Touch needs to be improved through continuous updates and iterations; on the other hand, users' usage habits also need to be cultivated over a long period of time with more applications with good experience.

Games with strong functional substitutability may not be optimally positioned

3D Touch is not an irreplaceable function like taking photos. The functions that 3D Touch can perform can be completed by other means. This is one of the reasons why some users think 3D Touch is insignificant.

Apple also mentioned at the press conference that this feature will bring a simpler experience to users, especially for emails, messages, and other commonly used social software. Therefore, the purpose of Apple releasing this feature is to simplify some commonly used operations. The frequency of use of games is much lower than that of commonly used social software, and players are more concerned about the sensitivity and accuracy of control.

Of course, this does not mean that 3D Touch will become a marginalized and useless function. It is just that users' understanding and acceptance of the pressure screen are limited, which makes it difficult for game manufacturers to achieve the corresponding effect at the cost of entering the market. This situation will be improved with the improvement of technology, products, users and applications.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.