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Apple Arcade Frustrations Persist for Game Developers

There may be some truth to this on the support side. However, what some of us seem to gloss over is that Devs and Admins aren’t what they used to be, either.

I’ve sat in all three chairs and have worked at and still with a Top 5 Tech.
 
WarmWinterHat said:
I suspect any new CEO will just be more of a shareholder-focused CEO then even Cook, and they will double-down on services revenue to the detriment of hardware and software updates. The Devil you know.

Cook was hand-picked by Jobs. The next CEO won't be.
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In my opinion, cook did a great job in the beginning. Making Apple a profitable company with good growth perspectives.

Nowadays the landscape has changed. Competition is on par with Apple and on many fronts better than Apple. The time Apple could charge extra for their products, simply because they were better, are behind. It takes Apple too long to develop compelling new products. In a fast changing technology landscape you can’t rest on old successes but have constantly put enough R&D in your products to stay competitive.

The new Microsoft surface laptops are a good example. If there wasn’t a logo on the backside it would be a hard guess to tell if it was an Apple device or not. Competition copies the best. Apple was the best… but today it’s a stagnant, arrogant company who’s slow in every category.

Final Cut Pro was the standard but Apple didn’t came with new hardware for years. Now adobe premiere eats fcp for lunch.

The new to be introduced iPhone 16 will look the same as the iPhone 12,13,14,15. And will probably sell for the same premium price. Googles pixel pro will be a very reasonable alternative with all the bells and whistles, not to mention Chinese manufacturers.

Same for the iPhone SE. Last renewed in 2022 with no design change of the years before. It can’t compete with the competition at all. Three years no update for a phone??? 🤨

Apples Ai offerings show to me that they’ve just started. It wasn’t ready for developers during wwdc 2024 last June and most will be ready in 2025. That’s a whole year. I’ll bet the competition will offer the same if not better by then.

iMacs not seen a respectable upgrade in years and same for most Macs.

Come on Apple! You have the resources to be a technology leader! Act like one!

Developers and users you’re dependent on.
 
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IllegitimateValor said:
Sounds like exactly what I would expect from Apple. They should get SteamOS working on the platform and leave the gaming to people that care about it.
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Totally agree

I wish they'd do whatever it takes to get technically in alignment with whatever gaming houses want/need so they could be in the mix for cross platform releases

Leave gaming to those who care about it and invest in it and it's "what they do"
 
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I pay Arcade but not Tv+.
Most games are quite old, recent and top games seldom arrive. How about a model where the games a newer but “with limited ads and no need for IAP”?.
 
CarAnalogy said:
These three seem to capture the sentiment. But in its defense I’ll say this:

Apple Arcade does solve one clear problem, and it’s a problem of Apple’s own making. No sane parent would turn their child loose on the App Store, not even to the point of letting them choose games under supervision. The App Store is a cesspool of casino games for children.

Right now Arcade is the only “safe space” in the App Store where you won’t find predatory in app purchasing and advertising. They’re games people like me have already played, but for ten or so year olds they are brand new.

It’s probably not what Apple had in mind, but it probably is the change in vision alluded to in the article. They seem to be leaning in to that angle because it works better for everyone. Developers don’t have to make super hit triple a games for it, just make decent basic ones and get paid better than they would for making more IAP garbage.
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And if you have kids you probably have Apple One as well which means that you’re not really paying through the nose for it either.
 
Apple needs to have a reckoning with the way it markets it's services and seriously work on UI/UX.
Even people subscribed to these services (TV+, Arcade, Fitness, Music, etc...) can't find things on it.
 
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Here we go again with the results of Cook's squeeze every last penny from every last service that Apple provides.

Please, please can we get someone in charge that has some vision and understand of technology.
 
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I’ll say this, there’s a few gems on the service and some games that I’ve sunk at least 50+ hours into but it certainly is lacking nowadays. My hope was that they would use it as a way to get interested into AVP or even do something like Xbox and ps plus and have big games like the RE series. On the Mac gaming side they do seem to be doing somewhat better overall, but come on Apple…
 
I wish they raised the price from $6 CAD to $7 CAD, not to the current price, $9 CAD. then I would consider subscribing in addition to the Netflix games selection. Too bad Apple got a little greedy.
 
Most games in Arcade are not interesting. Apple could be getting ready to dump Arcade because developers are not making interesting games. They're making cute games and taking Apple's money. This could be why they are getting lousy service.
 
Apple taking their eye off the ball after a good start again. For such a big company they don't make it easy for devs to grow - the business should be running better than it as as most iOS titles are profitable through micropayments and ad supported games. The chance for an ad free platform where you don't have to pay to win should have been good enough to attract family gamers - Apple should be supplanting Nintendo but don't appear to be able or willing to invest in and create or attract a sufficiently compelling IP to the platform.
 
turbineseaplane said:
They should just make the shows and sell them to other platforms
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I’d go the other way. Apple TV+ is a great app in terms of UX. Perhaps, in some aspects, the best streaming app there is. But the service lacks enough compelling content because Apple insists on producing all its own shows, and the quality is hit and miss.

So I’d argue the solution is for Apple to start buying in content from other producers, in addition to their own exclusives. After all, even Disney+ carries a lot of non-Disney content to bulk up their appeal.
 
These frustrations sum up nearly EVERY single product or piece of software Apple makes EXCEPT iPhone and iOS. But if you look at many many products and services over the years Apple half asses all of it because of the iPhone. Then they give something some attention it’s been lacking for years and act like they’re doing everyone a favor (calculator or weather app for iPad anyone?). The arrogance is very clear.
 
turbineseaplane said:
Everyone wants to "charge for gaming" ...but nobody seems to want to do any investment and actual creative work to create great new games.

The gaming landscape, to me, seems as bad as it's been in recent memory
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Apples problem is the arrogance. If they partnered with the right people and made the right deals iOS and Mac OS could be a AAA platforms. The hardware has been there for a few years now. All of that has distilled mobile gaming into lots of garbage and a few diamonds in the rough. It’s a behemoth beast in general.

I will agree though the gaming landscape is pretty rough. everything is a remake of a remake of a remake. Kinda like movies. Gaming is essentially the Marvel Cinematic Universe now 🤣.
 
Arguments about Gaming aside, I feel like more attention should be put on Apple's awful technical support for their developers. I've heard similar horror stories about those that were trying to develop with the Apple Silicon DTK. 5-6 month delays on payments and several weeks to respond to emails/support having no idea what you're talking about is stuff you should be hearing about from sleazy startups, not Apple.
 
LavaLevel said:
As an iOS game developer I wouldn't develop for Apple Arcade at all. They only favor select teams and even if you do get selected you get assigned huge commercial (pop) licenses. I did that for Gameboy Advance, when that's the only thing publishers would take and I have no desire to go back to that. The few 'artsy' games they promote would fare better outside that environment at price point.
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I'm a game dev working in the indie world on a Gameboy Color homebrew and can I just say it's so cool that you actually developed for the GBA in its heyday? I'd love to make a Gameboy Advance game at some point
 
This is such an untapped area for Apple - the Apple TV [device, not service], has the means to be a killer console system! Create a controller [and still allow 3rd party controllers], and put an M3 or M4 chip in a new Apple TV, and pay actual attention to game developers, and *give* them these devices and promises to market their games in the Apple TV app/game store [in fact, break out the Game Store - make it a separate app]. This little device could do so much, if they just gave the right amount of attention and funding to it.
 
Disappointing to hear about the problems faced. Also would like to see good quality games in Apple Arcade
 
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