With both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 continuing to sell well, as reported in VentureBeat, it might seem foolish to discuss the possibility of a changing of the guard, with Apple the likely new king.

However, some important changes have been happening in the types of games which are popular, with simpler — but more addictive — games, such as Clash of Clans, capable of forging billion dollar gaming empires. They are a far cry from the traditional Xbox One-style games, built around action and stunning graphics.

The new Apple TV isn’t, on the face of it, an Xbox One killer, and despite losing to the PS4, sales of the Xbox One are up on the same time last year. The Verge notes, though, that one of Apple’s strengths has been creating those new audiences for gaming. Many new gamers will be people who don’t own an Xbox One or PS4.

It was a shock to the industry how quickly the iPhone went from launch in 2007 to becoming a serious threat to portable gaming. In 2011, The Next Web reported that Nintendo was proclaiming the “destruction” of the industry.

Consoles, such as the Xbox One, boast more games, more power, and more beautiful graphics, as well as a dedicated core market of gamers. The same was true of the handheld market prior to mobile phones becoming powerful enough to offer a good experience to gamers. Judging the first “gaming-capable” iteration of the Apple TV against the Xbox One, for example, would be the same as declaring that the first iPhone had a screen that was too small and too few games.

The Xbox One and PS4 will be bought by gamers for gaming. The Apple TV will find itself in millions of homes for its main purpose — TV and movies. Through significant market penetration it will offer fun and engaging games to the masses — remember that, thanks to the mobile market, studios have already perfected making addictive, easy to monetize games, targeted at casual gamers — and billions of dollars in revenue will follow.

Only once that revenue is flowing will the Apple need to consider upgrading the capability of the device so that it is closer to the Xbox One and PS4. The Motley Fool notes that when considering Apple’s regular product updates compared to consoles, such as the Xbox One, which are often static for years, one could conceivably see an Apple TV that’s more powerful than the Xbox One before that product is retired. With an aggressive price point, too, up to two hundred dollars cheaper than the Xbox One, the box could easily find itself with more gamers, and significant gaming revenue, before it even competes with the Xbox One for serious gamers’ attention, let alone started to catch the current leader, the PS4.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images]