Apple Arcade Surpasses 200 Games

[suns93]

I am surprised that Apple did not learn anything from the bloating of iTunes given how much it hurt Apple's revenue

Bringing the heat on a Friday afternoon, love it!

Fair enough and point taken, such missteps did not hold them back. But they talk such a big game about not “just” being a hardware company and how much future revenue is in Services… it’d be nice for them to follow up the talk.

 

[masteroflondon]

Might Apple bring the original Monkey Island titles back to life?

The first one, at least, is on Steam for macOS

 

[garylapointe]

Personally I won't be satisfied until Apple buys Steam and ports all the AAA games to Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple TV and it shouldn't cost more than $5 a month.

I'm not under the impression that Steam owns all the games they sell, the source code, nor the rights to port to other platforms.

 

[BornAgainMac]

It is like 2 cents per month per game and less than that with Apple One. Lot of haters.

 

[macar00n]

I'm not under the impression that Steam owns all the games they sell, the source code, nor the rights to port to other platforms.

If they did though, the rest of the comment you replied to would be 100% plausible so we should at least start a petition

 

[garylapointe]

I can buy 10 games at a yard sale for $5 that I get to keep forever so I do not agree with the pricing but agree with everything else you said. I'm going to email Tim about it directly

But 200 games would cost you another $95 and at some point. So at month 21, you'll start saving money and have as many games!

Assuming the media works and you have a system it plays on. I'm sure I have a few but I'd be hard-pressed to find a computer CD/DVD drive around here.

(Only pointing out the craziness of comparing the cost of used physical media at a yard sale to a subscription service).

 

[macar00n]

Bringing the heat on a Friday afternoon, love it!

Fair enough and point taken, such missteps did not hold them back. But they talk such a big game about not “just” being a hardware company and how much future revenue is in Services… it’d be nice for them to follow up the talk.

I don't really know what Apple's revenue is, or honestly even a ballpark. I think I posted that when I was hungry and I may not have thought it through. I agree that Apple should consider making iTunes hardware instead of software so that it's not as bad. Maybe a standalone device or bundled within a Mac. No hard feelings

 

[macar00n]

But 200 games would cost you another $95 and at some point. So at month 21, you'll start saving money and have as many games!

Assuming the media works and you have a system it plays on. I'm sure I have a few but I'd be hard-pressed to find a computer CD/DVD drive around here.

(Only pointing out the craziness of comparing the cost of used physical media at a yard sale to a subscription service).

Purchasing used physical media and board games from a yard sale are very comparable to renting games through a subscription service - I know, because I've made this direct comparison myself.

 

[whatgift]

It’s always amusing reading these threads with either complaints about the games selection (while not understanding the target audience) or claiming it’s a failure (with no data to support it).

 

[dogslobber]

IS this good or bad?

 

[cmaier]

I can buy 10 games at a yard sale for $5 that I get to keep forever so I do not agree with the pricing but agree with everything else you said. I'm going to email Tim about it directly

So how do the game developers make money when you are giving them a penny a download?

 

[Abazigal]

IS this good or bad?

It depends on how many games you actually find worth playing from Apple Arcade.

Right now, I am enjoying World of Demons (and have purchased a PS5 controller to use with my Apple TV). Maybe I will eventually move on to Fantasian and resume Pathless, but for me, its value lies more in even if developers are not willing to port their games over to the Apple TV, Apple themselves is willing to spend money to prop up this platform.

It's a nice middle ground for people like me who are deeply invested in the apple ecosystem, and have no interest in owning a traditional game console or paying the prices for AAA console titles.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

My wish list:

-GeoDefense
-Flight Control
-Train of Thought (from Lumosity)

Just these three would be worth the cost.

 

[garylapointe]

So how do the game developers make money when you are giving them a penny a download?

I'm not sure exactly how it works:

But a million people playing your game a month could add up!

IF it is screen time, I'd guess if I play two games this month for equal amounts of time, my profit gets split between those two developers (or if I play 6 games and 50% of my time on 1 and 10% on each of the others, I'd guess it gets spilt proportionately that way).

Or for some games, Apple might just buy the game from them and all profits are theirs.

Some are out for other platforms, Apple might have paid them for all rights or a monthly amount to keep in the store and keep up to date.

The deal might vary per title.

I don't think I've seen details on how they are doing it.

If they've got 10 million subscribers a month, that's $50 million a month. They could be paying $1,000,000 a game and everything after 4 months is profit (heck, with those numbers, they could pay $1,000,000 a year per game and be making money). This is back of the napkin math, but it adds up quick if they've got those kinds of numbers.

 

[macar00n]

So how do the game developers make money when you are giving them a penny a download?

Where does it say I give developers a penny a download? I'm talking about buying 10 games at a yard sale for $5. That's 50 cents per game, 50 times the value you cited, and you don't download Hungry Hungry Hippos. You just put it in your car and drive it home.

Also I don't know how game developers make money. How do surgeons make money? How do golfers make money? I could hazard a guess but there are just things we can't know for sure.

 

[cmaier]

Where does it say I give developers a penny a download? I'm talking about buying 10 games at a yard sale for $5. That's 50 cents per game, 50 times the value you cited, and you don't download Hungry Hungry Hippos. You just put it in your car and drive it home.

Also I don't know how game developers make money. How do surgeons make money? How do golfers make money? I could hazard a guess but there are just things we can't know for sure.

You think $5 a month to download 200 games is too much. You are willing to pay more than a penny. So what is a fair price?

 

[sublunar]

I'm not sure exactly how it works:

But a million people playing your game a month could add up!

IF it is screen time, I'd guess if I play two games this month for equal amounts of time, my profit gets split between those two developers (or if I play 6 games and 50% of my time on 1 and 10% on each of the others, I'd guess it gets spilt proportionately that way).

Or for some games, Apple might just buy the game from them and all profits are theirs.

Some are out for other platforms, Apple might have paid them for all rights or a monthly amount to keep in the store and keep up to date.

The deal might vary per title.

I don't think I've seen details on how they are doing it.

If they've got 10 million subscribers a month, that's $50 million a month. They could be paying $1,000,000 a game and everything after 4 months is profit (heck, with those numbers, they could pay $1,000,000 a year per game and be making money). This is back of the napkin math, but it adds up quick if they've got those kinds of numbers.

I had the assumption that it's a Netflix style cash upfront deal - Apple fork out cash upfront to the developer for a game on the Apple Arcade platform that has no ads or in app purchases etc enabling the developer to make the game and pocket some money and in return the developer doesn't take any back end revenue.

It'll be the same methodology that Apple is applying to AppleTV+ - paying a huge chunk of money upfront to purchase the rights (in perpetuity if possible, if not then a long period of exclusivity) for the platform.

Certainly on the Netflix Original model studios with an original product that Netflix buy then give up the future royalty rights to the show in return for upfront cash to get the show made plus a profit on the proviso that Netflix then own the right to it and there's no residual.

Why isn’t Arcade a stand-alone app outside of the App Store? Did we learn the lesson from the bloating of iTunes?

We’ve had Arcade with Apple One premier since last fall and am shocked at how little our kids have used it on their iPads. It’s just too buried. Needs a stand-alone app with notifications of when new games arrive. Heck, I’d even go for a feature that allowed for automatic parental approval on all Arcade games.

A standalone Apple Arcade app which could load Apple Arcade games only would be brilliant for the consumer but it has its own tab in the iOS App Store which I guess is the next best thing.

I'd suspect this is what our friends at Epic want. Effectively a standalone App Store App, whereas the Apple Arcade tab is effectively like a storefront within the App Store.

Ultimately after all this brinkmanship by Epic, that's their target - they just want to keep more of a share of the revenue of the regular App Store - I doubt they are that interested in side loading etc despite what they might publicly say.

 

[fel10]

And 20 are worth playing

 

[4jasontv]

actually not that impressive...after almost 2 years launch. They need bigger AAA titles.

Would that mean AAAAAA or BBB titles?

 

[DevNull0]

When I built my first worldwide software arcade, I had over 300 games in my first month, and over 90% of them were huge AAA titles. Ever since then, nothing anyone else does has ever been good enough for me

In a world where Gamepass Ultimate lets me play hundreds of mostly AAA and very new/launch day games for about $6.50 per month (3 month cards are $25 Canadian every Black Friday which is $6.50 US per month -- I assume the US has a similar deal, just buy 4 every holiday season), then Apple Arcade at $5/month shouldn't even exist.

 

[btrach144]

For me, with games, it's not about the quantity, it's about the quality. I only get 30-45 minutes for games a day. I want that time spent on high quality games. AAA level.

Apple Arcade only has 1 game that comes close to that level. The rest is junk or recycled crap from 10 years ago.

Whoever is running this within Apple clearly is not a gamer.

 

[macar00n]

In a world where Gamepass Ultimate lets me play hundreds of mostly AAA and very new/launch day games for about $6.50 per month (3 month cards are $25 Canadian every Black Friday which is $6.50 US per month -- I assume the US has a similar deal, just buy 4 every holiday season), then Apple Arcade at $5/month shouldn't even exist.

I would love to do this but I only go to Canada once every several years and it seems risky to buy 3-4 years of these at a time. That's a lot of $$. What if I lose them. Then I don't play games for 3-4 years? This is not a solution for everyone

 

[macar00n]

For me, with games, it's not about the quantity, it's about the quality. I only get 30-45 minutes for games a day. I want that time spent on high quality games. AAA level.

Apple Arcade only has 1 game that comes close to that level. The rest is junk or recycled crap from 10 years ago.

Whoever is running this within Apple clearly is not a gamer.

I don't even read about AAA games anymore. Once I started playing S games I realized that AAA wasn't good enough for me just like you realized everything below AAA wasn't good enough for you. Everyone has their own standards and I'm not judging and it's not a competition but it seems like mine are the highest until SS and SSS games come out. But then I will change my standard to those specifically to have the highest and most sophisticated standards.

 

[nvmls]

With the level of games offered even $0.99 yearly would be a rip off.

 

[macar00n]

You think $5 a month to download 200 games is too much. You are willing to pay more than a penny. So what is a fair price?

I said I didn't agree with another user's proposed pricing of $5/month for an imaginary service created by Apple buying Steam and porting all Steam games to Mac/iOS despite Steam not owning all of these games. I cited my experience of buying 10 games that I can keep forever at a yard sale for $5.

I should have clarified that this price was not too high - it was too low. I think this service should cost a minimum of $500 per month - only the well to do could afford it but the game developers would be well compensated and need smaller support teams because they'd be serving a tiny pool of users.

If this model does not work, I will accept paying game developers 1 penny per download as you suggested but on the condition that they receive excellent benefits such as health insurance and an office where a massage therapist visits once a month.

I will let you know what Tim says when he replies to my email. I think we have something here. Thank you for helping me to think outside the box