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Game Developers Describe 'Smell of Death' Around Apple Arcade

For context: Sony just announced layoffs for the PlayStation group. Companies like Epic and Tencent had already done layoffs fairly recently. So there’s generally a negative downturn in the video game industry right now.

www.businessinsider.com

The video game industry is in trouble. Here's why.

Video games have hit a rough patch: Sales are down, usage is down, and layoffs are spiking. There isn't an obvious solution showing up anytime soon.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com
 
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ArtOfWarfare said:
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.
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Apple isn't responsible for that business model. That was the standard set by the gaming industry going back to console gaming. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft... all needed their cut.

Freemium gaming took off as having a zero-cost entry led for a larger customer base that could wildly adopt a game and pay for features they liked. The games then became much more predatory, seeking gambling tactics, notifications, tricking you into ads or payment (even Epic Games did this), and so on. It's not just limited to iOS either, as it's pervasive to Android, Windows, and any other major OS really. Hell, I'd even go as far as saying the experience is worse on Android, due to the extent to which you can be tracked or even tricked into installing ad-loaded launchers.

As for Apple, I will hold them accountable for not providing a means to see free games without ads or in-game purchases. That's something they could easily do to provide a better list of available games... but would ultimately cut into their own bottom line, due to the money they make from in-app purchases and so on.

Apple also need to hold better standards for games as well... but that could be said about all apps really. The elephant in the room is that neither Google or Apple are doing enough to protect children from gambling tactics, manipulative ads, and even tracking children which I believe goes against COPPA.
 
rgwebb said:
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.
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I imagine iOS gaming success parameters are likely more tied to the staggering number of iOS users than they are to those actually engaging with Arcade. Just because a user might have Arcade access/installed, does not necessarily mean they launch the app. That would be our household. We're an Apple One household, so we have access to Arcade on iPhones, iPads and Apple TVs. I'm well aware that my partner & I are not the target audience for Arcade. But you would think our 9 and 13 year olds were targets. But they have only played Arcade, via Apple TV, a handful of times over the years. And even less on their iPads. From what I can tell, I think they get bored pretty quickly. Part of the challenge with Arcade is the mechanics atop which all games are built. While the store boasts thousands of titles, they're all pretty much the same three basic mechanics - just wrapped in different skins. Once you've played those three types of games, you've played what Arcade has to offer. The lack of that AAA, home run, household franchise exclusive is also not doing Apple any favors. But really, it seems to come down to the simple fact that Apple, despite the rhetoric, doesn't actually want to be serious about gaming on their platforms. They certainly have the resources and user base to make some noise... If they wanted. I just don't think they want to. I could be wrong.
 
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lysingur said:
All of Apple's major operating systems are essentially one thing under the hood now, ever since the transition to Apple Silicon has been completed on the Mac. If game developers don't develop games for the Mac, they most likely won't develop games for iOS, iPadOS, or visionOS either. And it's AVP, which runs on visionOS, that's been touted as the next big thing that will replace iPhone as Apple's cash cow.

Your personal preference aside, in the bigger scheme of things, AVP simply won't succeed without gaming. And if AVP doesn't succeed, Apple won't succeed for the next 10 years.
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Apple has never really taking gaming seriously I see the AVP being a very niche product and not convicned its a viable product. Most people dont want to be walking around with huge goggles on their head to consume content.
 
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MacFarmer said:
color me interested, and I bet it is good enough. But I just can't bring myself buying a product that was build on stolen technology and build on bland copying. Just can't.
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Can you elaborate on the stolen technology/ bland copying? You are one of the first I come across to say that. Usually I hear that about Apple not android/samsung.
 
Apollo68 said:
Uh huh. And I’m the king of France. Until you can post actually verifiable data, forgive me for not taking you at your word.
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Totally understandable. I am unable to release anything publicly from my discussions. Apple Arcade is clearly flourishing though just from what you see in the store. Incredible titles being added all the time, amazing platform exclusives, and a thriving third-party ecosystem of accessories that plugs seamlessly into Play on Apple.
 
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dumastudetto said:
Totally understandable. I am unable to release anything publicly from my discussions. Apple Arcade is clearly flourishing though just from what you see in the store. Incredible titles being added all the time, amazing platform exclusives, and a thriving third-party ecosystem of accessories that plugs seamlessly into Play on Apple.
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90 percent of the titles are mobile grade shovelware. Frankly Playstation plus offers a much more compelling option. 84 dollars a year for apple arcade is borderline insulting.
 
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Apollo68 said:
90 percent of the titles are mobile grade shovelware. Frankly Playstation plus offers a much more compelling option. 84 dollars a year for apple arcade is borderline insulting.
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I don't know how much it costs outside of the bundled packages, but I think it's a lot more affordable inside the Apple+ plans. $84/yr isn't even bad for a whole year of unlimited gaming entertainment.
 
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Why isn't this (for example) something I can find on Apple Arcade?

www.cocoongame.com

COCOON

COCOON takes you on an adventure across worlds within worlds. Master world-leaping mechanics to unravel a cosmic mystery.
www.cocoongame.com www.cocoongame.com

Would fit nicely.
And it's on Xbox Game Pass (of course...).
 
star-affinity said:
Why isn't this (for example) something I can find on Apple Arcade?

www.cocoongame.com

COCOON

COCOON takes you on an adventure across worlds within worlds. Master world-leaping mechanics to unravel a cosmic mystery.
www.cocoongame.com www.cocoongame.com

Would fit nicely.
And it's on Xbox Game Pass (of course...).
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Because Apple doesn’t know what a good game is anymore. It’s been a long time since they introduces halo at Macworld. there Is a glimmer of hope with death stranding, but no one in there right mind would ever let that be part of a underbaked subscription service.
 
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