Games Leaving Apple Arcade Soon Won't Be Playable [Updated]

[Phogro]

Or Apple wasn't seeing good numbers for those games and decided not to renew their contracts.

I have a feeling this is the key here. Apple Arcade is a service and as they continue to add new games to the service to keep it feeling less cluttered they'll have to remove games from the service.

Odds are these titles were very low on the list of active players within the overall Apple Arcade world and Apple has chosen to cut the fat.

 

[Kylo83]

99% off games are not worth it, to me it’s a failed service

 

[ikir]

As expected from a subscription service - now, how is this going to stick with users?
I did try my 3 months free trial but did not subscribe, I’m not a gamer to begin with and the ones that I did play for some time, were… lame…

Forums comments are often very harsh, in real life I know many Apple Arcade subs and everybody is loving the service myself included.

 

[ikir]

99% off games are not worth it, to me it’s a failed service

And you sai that because you tried the games? There are a lot of indie gems and very fun title also in co-op 4 players on AppleTV. Or you are just taking about AAA games which this service isn't made for, at least for now? games are about FUN.

 

[Quu]

I'm a subscriber of this and I'm surprised because I thought Apple Arcade was where Apple would give developers a percentage of our subscription (based on hours played of the games by each subscriber) like how Spotify and Apple Music pays record companies.

So my assumption was the games would remain forever or until obsoleted by the developers. Now it seems Apple may have paid the companies for only a certain length of availability.

I'm kind of torn on this. On the one hand I haven't played any of the games on this list but there may come a time a game I really enjoy playing is removed. Hmm curious.

 

[Thebrochure]

This is why I buy physical things I like. Subscriptions are good for rentals and trials. Everything else is purchased.

 

[turbineseaplane]

This is why I buy physical things I like. Subscriptions are good for rentals and trials. Everything else is purchased.

I don't think we've had the option to outright purchase the Apple Arcade games, have we?

 

[brownpaw]

It’s fine that things age off the service but your progress has better migrate if you re-buy.

 

[sw1tcher]

Content Subscription is akin to renting, except worse.

Content subscription is akin to paying for drugs. The pusher (Apple) will give you a free hit (free month trial) in an attempt to get you hooked. To keep those happy feelings coming, you go back for more. But this time it will cost you. 🤣

 

[Pirate!]

This is what happens with subscriptions. You don't own anything, when a company decides they don't care about a particular game/song/movie/show/feature, they just remove it. You have no control over it, and if you like the game or whatever, you're screwed.

This. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

Imagine paying for Apple Music and then discovering your favourite albums wouldn't be playable...

That happens regularly already. It’s all part of the subscription model. No “host” is going to guarantee something is available indefinitely. If the contract is up, any party can decide it’s not worth it and leave.

 

[Shirasaki]

I don't think we've had the option to outright purchase the Apple Arcade games, have we?

Quite the opposite, we have arcade exclusives that can’t be downloaded outside of arcade or maybe even in competing app stores. It’s a shady practice that existed long before computer was even a thing and it is still a popular strategy today.

 

[nvmls]

Apple being Apple, consumers getting screwed. Rinse & repeat.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Apple being Apple, consumers getting screwed. Rinse & repeat.

Now do all the other companies that do the same exact thing with their subscription services.

 

[decafjava]

This entire subscription based gaming, in-app purchases, loot boxes etc is complete joke in both console and mobile. Steam and Playstation with some exclusives is still the reliable platform true to the original gaming experience. There were many good games on iOS all stopped working due to Apple's lack of backwards compatibility support, a way to force developers to pay the yearly 99$ fee.

The best by far, well IMHO, mobile game was the Infinity Blade series killed both by lack of backward compatibly as well as Epic (yes it was made by Chair a division of Epic) going all in for Fortnite.

 

[BigBag]

Not sure I get the hubbub here. Apple licenses licenses for a few years and your subscription dollars get you to access to the library of currently-licensed content. Same as Netflix, Gamepass, Playstation Plus, etc. Yes it's a bummer when something you like drops off the list, but they're seemingly adding new content every month to keep the flow moving. I do hope developers have a way to preserve users' progress if they decide to relaunch the apps as standalone propositions, but isn't that on the developer's hands to figure out?

 

[deryk]

I sporadically play TempleRun, Spire Blast, Pinball Party, Zookeeper World, Legends, and King's League II. I enjoy these offerings my phone/iPad.

Of the games being discontinued, I tried Spell Drifter, which I enjoyed, but the developer has not updated and the story just hangs. I kept hoping the developer would update it, but that never happened. I feel like Apple added VARIOUS DAYLIFE to have an RPG, but the game felt like an alpha version and clunky. I did not try the others, but maybe the lack of developer engagement and maintenance played into Apple's decision.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Not sure I get the hubbub here. Apple licenses licenses for a few years and your subscription dollars get you to access to the library of currently-licensed content. Same as Netflix, Gamepass, Playstation Plus, etc. Yes it's a bummer when something you like drops off the list, but they're seemingly adding new content every month to keep the flow moving. I do hope developers have a way to preserve users' progress if they decide to relaunch the apps as standalone propositions, but isn't that on the developer's hands to figure out?

Well - that sort of is the issue (to address your question of "what is the hubbub")

If you lose the game you like...just "getting new ones" doesn't do anything to help

 

[bpb]

Apple being Apple, consumers getting screwed. Rinse & repeat.

How, exactly, are consumers getting screwed?

For $5 per month you can play any of 200 games with no ads and no in-app purchases. For the last three years these games have been in that service. Now they are aging out (possibly because too few people were downloading them).

If someone still wants these games they can pay for them (assuming they come back to the app store) or maybe get them free with ads or in-app purchases.

Products age out of subscription services all the time. If you don't want to get in on the subscription.. don't sign up. Nobody forced anyone and nobody is out any money because these games are being removed.

 

[jlnr]

Has anyone played the games in question? It's been years since I've tried Spidersaurs on Apple Arcade, and I am still angry at this game. The intro video looked like so much fun, but I got worn out by the endless introductory dialogue, and then the in-game controls and balancing were absolute amateur hour. I've tried to play as many games as possible during my Arcade trial, and this one was easily the worst. (I hope the dev is not a regular on here.)

tl;dr maybe it's not a conspiracy, just Apple focusing on quality over quantity.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

$5 a month for a service with no games, and the few actually good games on the service aren't available for purchase separate.

At this point just let Xbox Game Pass Cloud onto the App Store Apple. At least then we'd have actually good stuff to play.

 

[azentropy]

I admit I have Apple Arcade. It is fantastic if you have younger kids. Previously I was so frustrated with the AppStore in general and most of the "free" games and even some of the paid ones that just constantly tried to get her to do in-app purchases, or the ads or the even the constant ads for other games that exit your current game... etc. Do I wish it had more games I personally would like? Sure. But for $5 a month it is well worth it for that use case.

Now as far as removing Apps it is a bummer but is expected like all similar subscription services. There are plenty of Apps that I purchased outright that no longer are available and no longer work either. I'm still mad that EA shutdown the servers for the NHL hockey games I played in the early 2000s! And even recently Sony shutdown many of the Little Big Planet servers/services.

 

[rweed]

Anyone know how a developer gets paid for an app on Apple Arcade? Is it based on playtime maybe?

 

[k1121j]

Perhaps some real multiplayer games could have helped not just Nintendo like online games

 

[axantas]

Imagine paying for Apple Music and then discovering your favourite albums wouldn't be playable...

Build your own library with your favourite albums and listen to them, whenever you like. Never left that path myself.

 

[chkay]

Apple board meeting: "How can we make Arcade an even more useless and underwhelming platform than it already is?"