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

[darngooddesign]

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

That's how Apple Music works. If the record label pulls an album from streaming, you can't listen to it via streaming but you can if you bought it.

 

[drumcat]

It's not a subscription. It's a rental.

Subscriptions are something you get to keep.

 

[BigBag]

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

But that's the service. If you want to own a game, you can buy it. I don't mean that rudely in any way.

When Netflix's rights to, say, Modern Family run out, do you feel like Netflix screwed you? Or that the business side of content is just taking its course?

 

[darngooddesign]

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

You can't purchase games while they are in AA, but I wonder if these games will be purchasable once they are out of AA.

I checked a few games and I have purchased Monument Valley and there is a Monument Valley + in the arcade.

 

[nickgovier]

.

 

[darngooddesign]

Just increased the push for sideloading. 🙄

Why would you need to side-load an App Store game that you own.

You don't own Apple Arcade games, you're just renting them while they are part of the service.

 

[dysamoria]

Oh look, an entirely predictable thing happened. I’m staying in my “never subscribing” lane, thanks.

 

[Le0M]

Apple needs serious investments in desktop gaming.
That's the only way devs will keep developing games for iOS too.

 

[mariusignorello]

You don’t own the games, you own a limited license to play them on an Apple-branded device.

Think before you subscribe…

 

[Whathappened]

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. 😛 🤣

Not that funny.. and makes one feel like you really don’t know much neither drugs nor content subscription.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

The MTX in GT6 and 7 are completely irrelevant to the experience, and are priced in such a way that no regular gamer would ever touch them with a barge pole. They only seem to exist so Sony can fleece the whales who have more money than sense.

True, I purchased GT7 and have not been nudged one bit to buy any in game credits. I have been given free cars about 20 so far and I have built up over 9 million credits. Today I was awarded 500,000 credits from the daily marathon when you drive more than 26 in game miles.

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

I betcha Apple Arcade will be joining this list within a year:

• eWorld
• me.com
• HyperCard
• ClarisWorks
• Apple Hi-Fi
• iTools

You forgot macOS Server.

 

[ackmondual]

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.

I'm sure I'm an outlier, but 99% of the games I play, stuff I stream... I'm happy to watch once, and have never had any desire to redo them. If this really irks you, then yeah, get stuff on physical media as much as possible. I have a few games on Wii, and about a dozen DVDs around, but honestly, no more than that. I don't have the time to go through half of them, and I honestly don't want too much physical clutter around my place.

 

[iSayuSay]

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

Been there. Though funnily enough most of those albums/artists came back some months later.

Idk maybe it’s different with Music where you have nowhere else to go if you don’t stream nowadays. Direct digital sales are paltry in comparison.

 

[ackmondual]

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

I doubt it. FWIW, there may be alternatives. For example, Monument Valley 1+ & 2+ have the '+' suffix b/c there's a regular iOS version available (non-AA). Other games like Exit The Gungeon is on multiple platforms like console and Steam, so there's always those avenues.

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

AA is advertised as over 180 games. Lets round that up to 200. 1% of that is 2. I've found 2 games I liked on there!...
SP!NG
Castlevania: Grimoire Of Souls
Rayman Mini
Frogger and the Rumbling Ruins
Lumen+
Monument Valley 2+
Cat Quest II

... that said, AA still has stiff competition. I may consider resubbing to it (Costco.com has it for $45 per year), but I'm currently enjoying taking a break from it (and I have travel coming up anyways).

Gran Turismo 7 sticks out like a sore thumb with the in-app purchases and is a PlayStation exclusive. 🙁
Yup, the cancer called in-app purchase have been spread to big game title like that.

IAP itself isn't bad. I have games where they use IAP to unlock expansion content, or pay for a game that you tried for free (not unlike in decades past for PC games... buying an expansion, and trying out free demos/shareware respectively). Having to deal with "gems", premium currencies, speed up time meters... that's where the evil's at.

 

[eyeseeyou]

I was playing nba2k arcade for a while then stopped. Really really tried to like other games but it's just way too simple even for a nongamer.

 

[AppleTO]

I don’t play any of those games, but this has still happened to me at least once outside of Apple Arcade. Upon licensing expiry, a game I had purchased from the App Store was removed. Not a huge deal, except, the game stopped working period, even for those who had already bought it. They had somehow put in a ‘kill switch’.

 

[B4U]

The MTX in GT6 and 7 are completely irrelevant to the experience, and are priced in such a way that no regular gamer would ever touch them with a barge pole. They only seem to exist so Sony can fleece the whales who have more money than sense.

Oh yeah?
Good luck grinding for the Jaguar XJ13, the Ferrari 330 P4, along with the Ford Mark IV race car to get the trophy before they are rotated out from the legend car shop again.
Of course, you don't have to pay for the MTX. As long as you have the time and the patience to deal with the pathetic payouts.
And hope for the server doesn't go down on you before that.

 

[B4U]

I doubt it. FWIW, there may be alternatives. For example, Monument Valley 1+ & 2+ have the '+' suffix b/c there's a regular iOS version available (non-AA). Other games like Exit The Gungeon is on multiple platforms like console and Steam, so there's always those avenues.


AA is advertised as over 180 games. Lets round that up to 200. 1% of that is 2. I've found 2 games I liked on there!...
SP!NG
Castlevania: Grimoire Of Souls
Rayman Mini
Frogger and the Rumbling Ruins
Lumen+
Monument Valley 2+
Cat Quest II

... that said, AA still has stiff competition. I may consider resubbing to it (Costco.com has it for $45 per year), but I'm currently enjoying taking a break from it (and I have travel coming up anyways).

IAP itself isn't bad. I have games where they use IAP to unlock expansion content, or pay for a game that you tried for free (not unlike in decades past for PC games... buying an expansion, and trying out free demos/shareware respectively). Having to deal with "gems", premium currencies, speed up time meters... that's where the evil's at.

That is exactly what GT7 is doing right now. Real cash for in game cash. ☹️

 

[thejadedmonkey]

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

Not that I've seen. Which means that either

1) These games are just going to disappear forever, or more likely,
2) They'll come back with ads and you'll need to start over from the beginning.

 

[Astro7x]

Apple Arcade is great for how I use it… spend $5 one time when we go on vacation so that I can download a ton of games to my iPad so that my kid has something to do for car rides or flights. All without ads and in app purchases.

I’d never pay $50 a year for the thing.

I kind of wish that they wouldn’t review mini motorways so I can just buy it on the App Store, because that’s the only game I ever play each time I subscribe.

 

[iSayuSay]

It’s a huge dilemma even for Apple. The Arcade involves 3rd party titles and licenses, unlike the TV+ in which Apple owns all of its contents.

But producing games library from the ground up takes time, probably even longer than TV shows or feature. Thus why Apple Arcade is a much fragile proposition than the TV+

Though on the other end, Apple Music has found to be quite successful with the biggest library in the world despite its heavy reliance on 3rd party? Maybe because the long-standing reputation of iTunes Store?

 

[Abazigal]

Though on the other end, Apple Music has found to be quite sucessfull with the biggest library in the world despite its reliability on 3rd party? Maybe because the long-standing reputation of iTunes Store?

I don’t think there is any incentive to not have one’s music on Apple Music, especially when it pays more than Spotify.

 

[iQuit]

can't wait for the new apple gamestation!

 

[groove-agent]

It's odd that some of Apple's services just don't hold up to their usual high standards. Apple Music is one, Apple Arcade, and Siri are others. It's baffling why they just can't get their **** together in these areas. They're like a different company.

I hope Apple can continue to wade into the gaming market. I'd love to be able to game on the Mac. However Apple Arcade is far from doing this. It's full of cute little kiddie games and not AAA titles like the rest of us want.