Hey fellow gamers! Today I‘m taking a nostalgic walk down memory lane to revisit one of the biggest flops in video game history (and trust me, there have been many…) – the Apple Bandai Pippin console from 1996!
Now I know what you‘re thinking…Apple? You mean the Apple that makes iPhones and MacBooks? Yup – even tech juggernauts aren‘t immune from the occasional faceplant. As a hardcore gamer since the 80s arcade era, I‘ve witnessed these industry trainwrecks many times over the decades. In this post I‘ll give you the insider story on how Apple‘s lofty gaming ambitions crashed harder than a fuse-less Contra hero…🤕
Quick Pippin Post-Mortem
Before we get into the nitty gritty details, let me summarize why the Pippin remains an infamous failure:
Ridiculous Launch Price: $650 put it well out of reach vs. PlayStation/Nintendo 64 (~$200)
Clueless Marketing: Poor messaging unable to justify high price or confusing Mac-based features
Miniscule Games Library: 18 total US titles meant no critical content to drive adoption
Awful Timing: Tried competing as absolute newcomer during brutal 1996 console war
Unproven Gaming Reputation: Apple brand had zero connections in console gaming market
As I break down all the missteps that led to miserable sales of just 42,000 units, remember that the Pippin‘s crash-course trajectory is a classic example of broader lessons around product timing, pricing, and understanding your target segment – failings that have taken down many other consoles and technologies over the decades!
Now let‘s rewind back to the mid-90s boom where the Pippin origin story begins…
When Apple Took a Bite Out of Gaming Console Market…😬
After completely dominating the personal computing industry through the 80s/early-90s, Apple was searching for growth opportunities to diversify beyond PCs and printers – their bread-and-butter cash cows.
Gaming consoles seemed ripe for disruption. Incumbents like Nintendo and Sega ruled the living room, but their cartridge-based machines paled in comparison tech-wise to multimedia CD-ROM capabilities in pricey Apple Macintosh computers of the era.
Apple envisioned bringing a scaled-down Mac gaming experience the masses. And so in late 1994, Apple announced a partnership with Japanese game publisher Bandai to produce what would be named the ‘Pippin @World‘ console a year later – named after the apple variety and targeting a global audience hungry for entertainment beyond gaming.
On paper, Apple checked all the boxes…
Cutting-Edge Powerful Mac Tech: Built on 1993‘s Macintosh LC-475, the Pippin promised unique abilities like modem/networking support, compatibility with keyboards/mice, and a PCI expansion slot for upgrading capabilities over time. Table below shows how it stacked up to contemporary offerings:
| Console | CPU/Speed | RAM | Video Processor | Media Format | Release Year | Launch MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pippin | PowerPC 603/@66MHz | 8-16MB | Bandai ASIC | CD-ROM | 1996 | $599 |
| PS1 | R3000A/@33MHz | 2MB | Custom Sony GPU | CD-ROM | 1994 | $299 |
| Saturn | 2x Hitachi SH-2/@28MHz | 2MB | Custom VDP1/2 | CD-ROM | 1994 | $399 |
| N64 | 93.7MHz NEC VR4300 | 4MB | 64-bit NEC RCP | Cartridge | 1996 | $199 |
Built-in Modem: Unheard of in competing consoles – opened door to networked multiplayer and early form of DLC/patches
Future-Proof Expansion Slot: PCI port allowed adding peripherals like storage down the road
And as a pioneer riding Apple‘s soaring business prowess, Pippin looked to be launching a formidable challenger within an otherwise crowded console battleground…
If only reality matched the blueprint…🙄
Pippin‘s Pricing Punch Knocks It Out Cold! 🥊
Instead of coming out swinging, Apple‘s very first blow proved fatally self-destructive before the Pippin could ever step foot in the ring with gaming titans Nintendo/Sony/Sega.
How so? The announced $599 retail price for a Pippin @World console + controller was jaw-droppingly disconnected versus comparable offerings that retailed for under $300 at that time.
This 60-100% premium was effectively a knock-out punch. Pippin was priced far beyond mainstream acceptability despite its advanced capabilities under the hood – a common mistake Apple itself has made many times. iMacs, iPhones, even the Apple Watch have all debuted with premium price points, but Pippin took this strategy to an extreme that devastated its prospects right from the start.
And Apple made almost no attempt to justify or even acknowledge this astronomical price gap versus PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Saturn in a period where consumers became extremely price-sensitive to adopting console systems. This strategic failure highlighted Apple‘s lack of industry experience and blindness to economic realities in the mass gaming entertainment world – a vastly different segment vs. the higher-income computer user base they usually targeted.
Beyond pricing, Apple‘s overall product development, distribution, and marketing approach reeked of dramatic shortcomings despite two years of effort creating Pippin alongside Bandai…
Pippin‘s Pathetic Partnership 🤝
You‘d think the combination of Apple‘s computing powerhouse brand and Bandai‘s toy/game development expertise would be a match made in heaven to shake up console gaming. Think again!
It became increasingly obvious through 1995-96 that Apple lacked conviction in attacking the console market, seemingly just dabbling around the edges instead of making a dedicated long-term investment.
Why do I say that? Just look at the initial rollout strategy…
The Pippin was targeted almost exclusively for commercial markets rather than home entertainment early on. Apple struck deals with 52 developers across verticals like education and hospitality to deploy specialized Pippin-based services in settings like school computer labs and hotel rooms.
This focus left Bandai alone to figure out manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and securing actual gaming content for a home console launch – areas neither company showed much mastery in when combined with Apple‘s unchecked hubris in the face of gaming industry dynamics.
The result? Only 100,000 Pippin units were ever produced in 1996-97 based on Bandai‘s projections, but even that production scale was far too ambitious compared to actual demand…
Pippin‘s Pathetic Game Catalog 🎮
Now you can have the best console hardware ever conceived, but without a stacked, high-quality games library, you‘ll end up dead in the water every time. Just ask Philips CD-i, Nokia N-Gage, or Ouya who made similar mistakes.
Unfortunately Pippin suffered the same lack of gaming content fate. With Apple providing little direct software support, the burden of porting/developing titles fell to Bandai and other partners.
Yet after two years, only 18 games total launched for Pippin in North America including some mediocre pack-in titles like Cyberia and Super Marathon. Even fewer options existed across Europe/Japan making for almost no worthy exclusives to drive platform adoption compared to 1000+ titles already available on PlayStation.
Bottom line was clear – with no compelling games to play, no amount of benchmark tests or marketing speeches around superior CD-ROM capabilities could possibly convince the average gamer to buy-in to a $600 Apple-powered “super console” vs. proven incumbents for half the price.
Pippin Pratfall – Victim of 1996 Console War Bloodbath ⚔️
As if over-priced hardware, ineffective partners, and missing content wasn‘t enough, Pippin‘s launch timing couldn‘t have been worse either. 🤦♂️
The mid-90s console war was reaching absolute peak ferocity by 1996. Sony PlayStation had exploded onto the scene two years prior – leveraging cutting-edge 3D visuals and edgy game experiences that started stealing Nintendo‘s user base. Meanwhile Sega was still strongly established but struggling to gain next-gen traction with the Saturn. And Nintendo was slated to return fire in late ‘96 with its cartridge-based N64 system.
This was an absolute dogfight between entrenched rivals commanding both technical and mainstream consumer mindshare plus having vast content libraries and developer partnerships forged during the 80s/early-90s console days.
Yet Apple & Bandai somehow convinced themselves there was still room in the playground for a new challenger. 😂 Talk about walking straight into a console market woodchipper!
The Pippin was utterly overwhelmed and simply ignored amidst the warring hype machines and blizzard of marketing that accompanied PlayStation, Saturn, and N64 throughout that brutal year. Press and consumers had zero bandwidth left to care about Apple‘s quirky Mac hybrid thingamajig. What the heck even was a Pippin anyways from a fruit company??
So it‘s no wonder by early 1997 as next-gen consoles sold millions of units thanks to legendary titles like Mario 64 or Final Fantasy 7, poor ol’ Pippin was wasting away in the bargain bin having moved less than 50,000 units worldwide at fire sale prices.
Apple threw in the towel by that year‘s end. Pippin would forever be remembered as one of tech‘s most infamous failures. Harsh lesson learned!
The Failures That Doomed Pippin Console
As I reflect on Pippin’s shockingly fast downfall, the missteps and oversights seem so obvious in hindsight:
Pricing: Set 2-3x higher than competing PlayStation/Nintendo consoles
Marketing Messaging: Failed to justify premium price or convince gamers Apple understood gaming audience
Content Catalog & Support: Just 18 titles at launch made Pippin DOA no matter the slick hardware
Awful Timing: Tried barging into a brutal three-way console war with zero gaming reputation
Lack of Conviction: Apple half-committed to Pippin by targeting niche commercial uses rather than home entertainment
This perfect storm made Pippin one of tech’s biggest hardware flops! But like they say in gaming – no guts, no glory! Apple deserves some credit for ambition here, even if the execution was bungled beyond belief.
At least hardware fails don’t sink legendary companies…just ask Microsoft about that little device called Xbox that helped their second act! But for now Apple seems content focusing on its winning software/services formula across its billions of deployed devices.
And for once, that’s definitely the right strategic call as Apple TV struggles prove the living room remains hostile territory for Cupertino. So RIP Pippin – your legacy lives on teaching inventors to carefully pick their battles!
Let me know what other defunct gaming platforms or accessories you remember from past eras! I’d love to hear your war stories in the comments below! 😄👇
