Game Developers Describe 'Smell of Death' Around Apple Arcade

[Regbial]

I knew it was a bad idea the moment it was announced.. I don't think many people want to "rent" their games.. The good ones are treasured experiences you want to have and preserve. (Just look at all the NieR Reincarnation fans crying about the shutdown at the end of April and begging for an offline version (...me included)) ... And if they do want to rent their games, like with Microsoft's Gamepass, it means actual quality full games (which you can, btw, buy separately and keep and use long term at a whim), not quick-fix mobile games...

I find it hard to imagine enjoying something like Fantasian (?) with the time limit of my subscription to Apple Arcade creeping up on me, or knowing that if I stop paying I am barred access from what I already invested my time and energy into. It just sucks...

imo Apple Arcade should've just been a sort of section or storefront where Apple invests in renewing old classics (liek they did with Cut the Rope) and also new quality full sized games ... placed at the forefront of the App Store (or at least the Gaming section) to promote them and remind people of them.. (And more quality over quantity) to try to revitalize the very mired mobile game market, try to make it what it was in the beginning with good purchasable games. (too many "freemium" and gacha games)

I'm surprised they caved in with Death Stranding and made it a full purchase game. They should go that route, or should've, also bringing good quality console games over to their devices.

Apple's most out of touch "get off my lawn" aspect has always been gaming. It's a shame. They need to hire some industry vets like they so quickly hire them for other forefront tech areas.

 

[blcamp]

How much of Apple's reticence maybe has to do with the Epic Games litigation? Maybe they're deciding they have less market friction elsewhere...?

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Apple's problem with EVERYTHING is that they want it to be "family friendly".

And what that means in the real world is "utterly unsuitable for anyone over 10 year old".

Adults don't want that crap. You'll note that everybody in this thread that's said something positive about Apple Arcade has said some variant of "but think of the children".

I didn't see a single comment saying "I love the games on there, I play them all the time". It's all "It's some pap I can hand to the kids so they won't see [insert personal boogieman here]".

Nobody older than 10 wants to play "family friendly" games. It was doomed from the start because of Apple censorship.

 

[JDHiro]

I love Apple Arcade, because it gives me a place to get some fun games that aren't trying to micro-payment me to death.

That said, it seems like good releases are few and far between. There are some gems on there, but overall there is a ton of room for improvement.

 

[delsoul]

I remember Nintendo was very “play it safe” by not allowing blood in games, etc and it worked for a long time but eventually the consumer changed and Nintendo was forced to change with it or else fall behind. Nintendo, surprisingly, started quietly changing their policies and what they allowed on its platform over time. It was truly during this transition that Nintendo became relevant again with “hardcore” gamers because it offered what people wanted. I see Apple in this position at the fork in the road. They can choose to let Arcade go and be completely done with it, or they can quit playing it safe and give the consumers what they want. Nintendo found a magic formula of keeping their family friendly image and games, but also making room for more adult oriented games that would cater to adults. I’m sure Apple can figure out how to walk this path, as well, if they really wanted to.

 

[DFZD]

They should offer at least one AAA game every month if they want to actually thrive in the market.

 

[Royksöpp]

Netflix has the GTA remastered collection at no extra cost. It's a nice little bonus. Apple should really try to go for premium games. The selection at this point is very juvenile and disappointing.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Ye ok, if you think so. They are just realising no one wants to pay a subscription for games. It’s not a misstep, maybe they see the numbers and know it’s dying.

Exactly. People are sick of games disappearing.

I've still got games from the 1970s, they still run perfectly, on old hardware or emulation, they still play. But these online subscriptions? Gone. Games that have to connect to the 'cloud' (somebody else's server)? Gone.

Long term, the subscription model is DONE. It'll take a while for it to finally die, but we're seeing the beginning of the end of "pay forever".

 

[SouthBronx187]

I cancelled my 3 month free arcade trial after 2 days,it’s that bad. No good games with long narratives that draw you in. I wish they would focus ($$) more on games especially on MacOS. Yes the game dev kit and ray tracing support helps but it’s moving like molasses.

 

[cateye]

Nobody older than 10 wants to play "family friendly" games. It was doomed from the start because of Apple censorship.

I don't know if that's necessarily fair. I don't want my daughter to play my favorite games on our Series X, for example, because they're not appropriate for her—they're designed and targeted at adults like me. As others have indicated, however, Nintendo often strikes a balance between games that contain no violence or adult themes, yet are rich and immersive. My whole family can play a variety of games on the Switch and be challenged.

Apple's incorrect assumption is that "family friendly" must mean both clean and bland, because they seem almost maniacally unwilling to invest in games for Apple Arcade that would break that assumption. Apple's play is, "look! These games don't have any microtransactions or ads!" which starts from the assumption that the only problem with the existing games in the App Store is the monetization methods.

The irony is not lost that Apple creates a service that forbids common monetization schemes, then doesn't actually support developers to monetize their games adequately on its gated subscription service. The extent to which Apple seems to be constantly at war with its developers is just astounding.

 

[cateye]

Long term, the subscription model is DONE. It'll take a while for it to finally die, but we're seeing the beginning of the end of "pay forever".

This is not grounded in any read of reality or reflected in the continued growth of subscription as a monetization method for all kinds of media, not just games. You may not like the subscription model, and I fully respect your right to have that opinion and allocate your spending accordingly, but don't be surprised that others find value and purpose in it.

I do most of my gaming via Game Pass. And I wouldn't want to go back to buying albums individually, either. There's no value in "owning" media to me. Zero.

 

[atomwork]

Since 1984 Apple doesn't care about games. Why now?

 

[ghostface147]

Apple needs to stop trying to push serious gaming on iOS and Mac. Apple Arcade is a lot of retread of current games and the market share just isn't there to be taken seriously. No one, and I mean no one, buys a Mac to game.

 

[paulovsouza]

They need to buy EA, they have a ton of mobile games and recognizable IP. Then they need to push for Mac gaming. Don’t make Arcade work across all devices. Heck buy steam and move it into Arcade for Mac and charge a little extra, to compete with Microsoft cloud gaming.

 

[anthogag]

It’s not great when a game has a 4+ rating. 😂

Apple Arcade could be great. Get games like GTA on Arcade.

 

[boswald]

Why would they invest in it. It’s a terrible idea. I don’t want to pay a subscription to play a bloody game. I’m so sick of all these subscriptions. Let me buy my own stuff and keep it. I absolutely love sneaky Sasquatch but there isn’t any scenario where I’m paying monthly to play it.

I’m with you. I just about cut all subscriptions out of my life and couldn’t be happier.

 

[koelsh]

Exactly. People are sick of games disappearing.

I've still got games from the 1970s, they still run perfectly, on old hardware or emulation, they still play. But these online subscriptions? Gone. Games that have to connect to the 'cloud' (somebody else's server)? Gone.

Long term, the subscription model is DONE. It'll take a while for it to finally die, but we're seeing the beginning of the end of "pay forever".

Not just subscription model gaming but "purchase one time" games on iOS have a shelf life of maybe 5 years because of iOS changes and deprecation unless the developer is actively updating it.

A song or movie purchased on iTunes 15+ years ago still plays on the latest devices without intervention from the producer/publisher. Software compiled 5 years ago is tenuous at best on all of Apple's platforms and compiled 10 years ago is out of the question.

 

[Johnstrass2]

Apple will never succeed in gaming because they won't really work at it. The only reason iOS has any success with gaming is an utter accident.

I can’t believe Apple is so lame in this regard.

In the 1970s and 80s there was such a limited technology available but the incredible creativity of designers led to everything from asteroids to Frogger Pac-Man, etc. etc. etc.

Apple now has three different screen devices, which sell very well: iPhone iPad $Laptops.

How is it that apple is incapable of designing games that make us want to play on Apple devices?

 

[SmugMaverick]

LMFAO

Shocked I tell thee, shocked!

 

[Johnstrass2]

Not just subscription model gaming but "purchase one time" games on iOS have a shelf life of maybe 5 years because of iOS changes and deprecation unless the developer is actively updating it.

A song or movie purchased on iTunes 15+ years ago still plays on the latest devices without intervention from the producer/publisher. Software compiled 5 years ago is tenuous at best on all of Apple's platforms and compiled 10 years ago is out of the question.

My favorite video game of the last 10 years has been fortunately maintained for all iPad devices: FTL faster than light.

It’s a turn base space adventure game. At first it seems to be very low tech, but it’s actually very compelling as a strategy game.

Oh, I think I bought it once for five dollars about five years ago…..

 

[XLogic]

The degree to which they have dropped the ball on apple arcade is staggeringly unbelievable. There are entire games, such as Guildlings, that have remained unfinished for years on end. Most of their "exclusive" games are just ports, and bad ones at that. The audio for Balto, for example, is likely to give you hearing damage if listened to with headphones. Other seemingly first party exclusive games like Oceanhorn CD and Demon Sword, bafflingly, are no longer available at all. On a service which also has some of the best, most charming, challenging, and interesting games that I have ever played like A Monster's Expedition, Jumper Jon, and Lego Builder's Journey. Bleak sword, Beyond a Steel Sky 2 are pretty good. However, some games that should feature controller support do not, and other games that should not require a controller do, and they are all lumped in the big pile together. One of the worst offenders is Fantasian, which ought to be a graphical showcase for the M and A series chips, but does not run natively on that hardware and requires Rosetta! Fantasian is not the only example but surely the most egregious. Almost every other game is filler garbage. How many different card games do you need. How many different cartoon "fighting" games, how many "driving" games, when not a one of them is worth anybody's time. NBA 2k that looks and performs like a PS2 game, wow, amazing stuff guys, real value add there. Meanwhile, all manner of games which have no business being iPhone exclusive remain that way, like Devil May Cry peak of combat, Sky Children of Light, and PUBG. Did you forget about the Apple TV? It's literally an iPhone, running a fork of iOS. I'm really supposed to squint at all this stuff? Shameful. Disgraceful. Disappointing does not begin to cover it. Not even worth the $5 they were asking at launch anymore, much less the $40 a month (like $500 a year!) they want for Apple One now. But Eddy Cue gets his little gambling widget. Appalling. Sickening. Monstrous. The worst part is maybe that with just a tiny bit of care and attention this whole mess could be whipped into shape and they would sell 300 million apple tv boxes overnight.

 

[Johnstrass2]

Apple is responsible for all those business models you hate. Apple's insistence on taking a 30% cut on everything drove developers to adopt ads, since Apple didn't take a cut on those.

Using ads instead of payments upfront meant that people who did want to just charge were competing against a tidal wave of "free". It became totally unviable to try to charge for an app.

So they went for the other "free" option - in-app purchases.

The whole point of the rules and review process was initially to ensure quality in the app store, under Jobs. Ensuring quality meant spending money though. Cook was against that, so he cut the review process to the bone.

Instead, Cook found a new purpose to this all - use the rules to ensure Apple's own apps didn't have to have any competition from the App Store.

Under Jobs, I think there was a chance that the App Store would have been great. He was constantly revising the rules to fix issues, making customers and developers love the App Store. Under Cook, the focus has flipped to just maximizing this quarter's profits, even when it's openly hostile to both developers and customers.

Apple could could make life easier for all of us. In the games section, or even anywhere else on the App Store, simply have a toggle button to show those that are “pay once, and enjoy forever” ( or as long as the developer chooses to support it) versus subscriptions, including those that appear to be free or low-cost, but have in-app subscriptions.

Under Cookapple will not do this. He’s really destroying this company.

 

[swingerofbirch]

What never made sense to me is why a company worth trillions of dollars couldn't spend some of their cash to make just one huge amazing game that would be a hit.

With TV I can kind of see why they want to be in the industry, but Macs/iPhones/iPads already have access to every other movie and TV show in the world. It's not like their products were lacking for content.

With games, that's not the case. But they just keep coming out with more and more tools enticing developers to make games instead of just doing it themselves like they did with TV.

When I got an M-series Mac, I was kind of excited about possibly gaming, but it's been a dud.

They advertised that Stray game on the macOS web-page for what seemed like a year before it finally came out.

I'm not a gamer, have never owned a console, but I kind of remember that the Xbox became a hit because of Microsoft's first-party Halo game.

I'm more familiar with Nintendo, and obviously their success lies with their first-party software franchises.

So why is a company as rich as Apple trying to entice some struggling companies to make some janky shareware level games rather than just shove money at the problem like they did with what I would argue was a non-existent problem with Apple TV? I mean they showed they can make Oscar and Emmy winning movies and shows by shoveling money at it. Why not do the same with games?

Just even ONE high-profile AAA game.

They're going after things that aren't exclusive (music, news, sports, and TV—exclusive to the Apple TV service but not Apple products). They could make a really high end exclusive game.

 

[techfreak23]

Apple needs to take gaming seriously or just gtfo out of “gaming” as the joke that it is now on any of their products. I hate that I had to get a PC because my Mac can’t handle AAA games or VR.

 

[Unami]

There are some decent games buried in there but the UI/discoverability is pretty bad and there's lots of crappy filler content. It's a shame that it is as half-baked as it is.