Apple tvOS Ecosystem Problem Storage Limitations Affecting Game Developers

TapTechNews on May 21st, it was reported by the tech media 9to5Mac in a blog post that uncovered the tvOS ecosystem problem, stating that although AppleTV is not as star a product as the iPhone for Apple, the limitations of tvOS are also a major reason why game developers stay away from this platform.

Apple has relaxed the AppStore simulation game restrictions, so simulator applications such as PPSSPP have been listed in the app store one after another, and developers have also tried to port these simulation game applications to the tvOS AppStore.

RetroArch landed on tvOS last week, but users who tested RetroArch on AppleTV found that their games were suddenly deleted by the application.

But this is not the problem of the application, but the problem of the system. More specifically, Apple limits the storage space of each tvOS application.

TapTechNews attached the following content of the AppStore official documentation: The maximum bundled capacity of a tvOS application is 4GB. In addition, your application can only access 500KB of persistent storage local to the device. You read that right: AppleTV applications can only store 500KB of data permanently, just enough for settings and saving games.

The problem is that tvOS applications can download more data, but the system can delete them at any time because they are all regarded as temporary files. Of course, for console-level games, the 4GB application bundle limit is also quite low.

Developer OleBegemann said:

tvOS obviously does not allow applications to use persistent storage, which is unacceptable. For example, the new RetroArch game simulator must store all saved games, screenshots and ROMs in the cache directory, and the operating system may clear these contents at any time without any warning.