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Apple Canceling Some Apple Arcade Game Contracts to Focus on Hit Games That Will Draw Subscribers
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Did the trial period and only finished the "What the Golf" game which was pretty good. I tried about 10 others and they sucked.
The games I have played on iOS are all pretty dead.
Desert Golfing - kill screen. Great time waster.
Monument Valley - relatively short, little replay value. Years between releases
Mini Metro - takes a lot of effort. Not a "fun game", more of a mental challenge.
Alto's Odessey - First one was solid. Second one had too much stuff going on IMO.
I wouldn't mind something Sim's/Animal Crossing style. Just seemed like none of the games they had were actually good.
The games I have played on iOS are all pretty dead.
Desert Golfing - kill screen. Great time waster.
Monument Valley - relatively short, little replay value. Years between releases
Mini Metro - takes a lot of effort. Not a "fun game", more of a mental challenge.
Alto's Odessey - First one was solid. Second one had too much stuff going on IMO.
I wouldn't mind something Sim's/Animal Crossing style. Just seemed like none of the games they had were actually good.
I get the impression that, with services like News and Arcade, they're just throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks.
Wish they would focus on fewer things, better.
Wish they would focus on fewer things, better.
I like it. I hoped it would encourage more unique games that aren't match 3 clones.
Naw... AppleTV+ will do fine if they keep adding content at a constant rate. Get some underappreciated YouTubers like Jon Bois (SB Nation), Alan Melikdjanian (Captain Disillusion), and Bob Clagett (I Like To Make Stuff) to do some weekly content.
Bois could recap sports no one was watching.
Alan could do a whole series where he predicts how AppleTV+ shows did their effects and then interviews the teams.
Bob could build stuff inspired by AppleTV+ shows.
Google isn't supporting these people so they should be easy to poach.
Or try some things and see if experience makes them good at it. They believe that they have an approach to entering businesses that leads to eventual extreme success. They teach the approach internally at apple university. They don’t have to dominate every new business from day one.
Subscriptions and cables. Apple Music is the only competitive one of all Apple Services. Apple original cables are of terrible quality, they die in a year of use. I have third party cables from 2012-2014 that still work amazing, I carry them in backpacks, leave them in my car, etc. and no damage whatsoever, the same cannot be said for the cables that Apple sells.
iCloud is also one that needs work, it is so primitive compared to OneDrive, G Drive, Box, etc. I still remember when drag-and-drop was unsupported, and only recently they implemented shared folders. You still CANNOT upload folders 🙄, you can only upload files. If Apple wants to transition to a "Services Company" they need to provide more than just "privacy" and "courage".
I am not a gamer, but most of my friends are. When they talk of games Apple Arcade is never even an option, same as Macs.
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For my use case, I wanted Apple Arcade so my daughter could play casual games on her bedroom Apple TV 4th-gen. Problem is that games featured in the service, like Hot Lava and Frogger in Toy Town, don't run at full resolution and are glitchy as hell (at least on launch day.) Regular App Store games (Oceanhorn, Horizon Chase, and the like) run fine and have no problems at all. Probably due to the Apple TV 4th-gen processor, but we cancelled the service after the first month anyways. 
It’s pretty popular in my family. I don’t really use it, but my wife and kid do. And i like that i can let her (The kid
You can still save her.
Enlighten her that she could be vaping with the cool kids on MR trashing Apple already.
It looks like it plays exactly like Candy Crush. Swipe match with flashy colors and loud noises.
She’s never had to use android or windows so if she starts to venture to the dark side all i have to do is bring home my work laptop running windows 10 and let her use it, and she’ll veer back on course real quick.
I wish I could just buy Mini Motorways. I’d happily pay the developer $5 or hell even $10 just to have that permanently on my phone. Hate that i need a $5/month subscription to play 1 game and because of that I dont bother. Oh well.
Same here. I hope the developer knows there are people willing to pay for that game w/o a subscription fee. I bought Mini Metro, and it's fun when I have no internet. From my understanding, part of the contract deals with Apple Arcade was that you weren't allowed to release your game for purchase.
I wouldn't mind the original Angry Bird games that disappeared off the App Store. The newer one really is annoying.
a match 3 puzzle game is not what I would call a quality game
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
I'm not a gamer, but from the outside it seems like Apple has had a wasted opportunity for a long time.
The big hit right now is the Switch which is a tablet type device with controllers on either side—basically a small iPad with controllers.
From what I know of the iPad it has an amazing chip for graphics and seems like it could at least keep up with the Switch and probably surpass it--without fans no less.
They showed their chip running a virtualized Mac/PC game at the Mac transition part of WWDC.
I think Apple's biggest problem is that they created an app store that is a race to the bottom in price, whereas Nintendo (the only gaming company I sort of know about) retains premium pricing for premium games.
If they created some sort of walled off gaming area that you could only use with special Apple controllers or with a new version of iPod touch that is only for gaming (why else keep it around?) and in that walled off area all games were normal console prices, maybe they'd have something interesting. PC game manufacturers could port their games over as well—they apparently already play well in a virtualized environment.
I think their second biggest problem is that I don't think any *great* games rely on tapping on glass.
Maybe they'll tackle all that with their AR/VR headseat.
But by far the biggest problem is the app store. I could go on about how it's ruined software across the board. I don't care so much about games. But it's destroyed indie Mac development. The Mac App Store is like a junkyard. I would guess it's having the same effect in gaming having the ability to take off.
The big hit right now is the Switch which is a tablet type device with controllers on either side—basically a small iPad with controllers.
From what I know of the iPad it has an amazing chip for graphics and seems like it could at least keep up with the Switch and probably surpass it--without fans no less.
They showed their chip running a virtualized Mac/PC game at the Mac transition part of WWDC.
I think Apple's biggest problem is that they created an app store that is a race to the bottom in price, whereas Nintendo (the only gaming company I sort of know about) retains premium pricing for premium games.
If they created some sort of walled off gaming area that you could only use with special Apple controllers or with a new version of iPod touch that is only for gaming (why else keep it around?) and in that walled off area all games were normal console prices, maybe they'd have something interesting. PC game manufacturers could port their games over as well—they apparently already play well in a virtualized environment.
I think their second biggest problem is that I don't think any *great* games rely on tapping on glass.
Maybe they'll tackle all that with their AR/VR headseat.
But by far the biggest problem is the app store. I could go on about how it's ruined software across the board. I don't care so much about games. But it's destroyed indie Mac development. The Mac App Store is like a junkyard. I would guess it's having the same effect in gaming having the ability to take off.
It's the right direction. The question is whether the hit games are actually hits. Highlighting something like Grindstone doesn't instill confidence. Admittedly, I'm basing that opinion on a trailer.
Yep thats the problem with Apple, no stick-to-itiveness. Sometimes things are not an instant hit, until you refine the product to fix the problems. Thats also why I never try Apple services. Chances are high that the service will be cancelled in a year or tow if it is not a mega hit.
If Apple were smart they push and help big titles come to the Apple TV store and take a share of that vs this Apple Arcade
No stand out killer games yet. A few good ones but not enough to keep people subscribed. Whoever is in charge of commissioning games at Apple Arcade needs to be fired. They have no clue whatsoever.
Apple as you said has been lost in the wilderness as far as games for a long time. This arcade is nothing more then imitating some older console games experienced pushed to promote iPhone/Ipad/AppleTV products sales.
In this modern age with all the fantastic console and PC desktop games out there, if the latest laptop and desktops cannot attract serious gamesters they are just killing Mac sales.
I used Apple Arcade for a few weeks, and check on it every month or so to see if the games are interesting. They are not - at least to me. They seem overly-generic and aimed at a more family friendly demographic.
There is very little interest, as far as I can tell, for an average gamer. No big titles, no 'full' games.
Apple should look at the games coming out for the Switch, seeing how much is being spent on the fantastic range and quality of games on that platform, and go 'there, that's what we should be doing'.
If I were at Apple Arcade HQ, I would bang my fist on the table at the creative meetings and demand the following:
Civilisation clone
Terraria clone
Stardew Valley clone
Daily puzzle games (like Peak/Luminosity or crosswords/suduko)
(off the top of my head - plenty more as well, but hopefully you get my drift)
Games should be fully-realised, not the little vertical slices I've seen (some have 2 hours play max - on a subscription service. Really?). They could do so, so much, and instead haven't done anything of note.
It actually feels like they don't know what they are doing, like someone a high exec level said we want a games subscription server and everyone underneath said okay how and what and they just repeated we want a games subscription service.
There is very little interest, as far as I can tell, for an average gamer. No big titles, no 'full' games.
Apple should look at the games coming out for the Switch, seeing how much is being spent on the fantastic range and quality of games on that platform, and go 'there, that's what we should be doing'.
If I were at Apple Arcade HQ, I would bang my fist on the table at the creative meetings and demand the following:
Civilisation clone
Terraria clone
Stardew Valley clone
Daily puzzle games (like Peak/Luminosity or crosswords/suduko)
(off the top of my head - plenty more as well, but hopefully you get my drift)
Games should be fully-realised, not the little vertical slices I've seen (some have 2 hours play max - on a subscription service. Really?). They could do so, so much, and instead haven't done anything of note.
It actually feels like they don't know what they are doing, like someone a high exec level said we want a games subscription server and everyone underneath said okay how and what and they just repeated we want a games subscription service.