3 ms·

Apple Arcade: axed games, declining payouts, disillusioned studios

12 points by MrJagil 3y ago

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
mcphage 3y ago
How dumb. This should be an easy win for Apple, and they’re letting it wither on the vine because they just don’t care about games. Despite making billions of dollars off of gaming. I don’t get it.
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  Never did, maybe never will. They make it harder for devs to port to their minority market with the move to axe Vulkan and then sqaunder back with MoltenVK porting tools years later trying to get devs back in. They want f2p levels of money but then go on to make a subscrition service with no other way to monetize it. From a financial and creative perspective, their strategies don't make sense. They should just keep their easy cut of the genshin et. al. on the app store and let whoever else is interested in hosting premium games do their job. If they get their way they are getting a cut of alternate stores anyway.
- klipklop 3y ago
  Apple every few years will pretend to care about games to get people to buy their hardware. They have been doing this since at least the 90s with games like Quake. They talk a big game about how things will change, but it’s empty promises. The latest is Resident Evil games on iOS that ran like garbage and Apple Arcade that is mostly shovelware.
  - mcphage 3y ago
    > Apple Arcade that is mostly shovelware What's frustrating is that it's not mostly shovelware. There have been plenty of good titles on the service that retail for $10, $15, $20, and above on other platforms (or iOS itself after the come off of Apple Arcade). And the "+" versions where they take an older game, pull out all of the ads and microtransactions, and let you just play the damn things: I think those are great. Too many older games that I really liked, are pretty much unplayable because they've turned cancerous with ads. But you're right—every few years, they care (or pretend to) about games for a little while, and then go back to ignoring them. Apple Arcade as a service isn't bad—and as a piece of their total subscription package, it's pretty good. But it needs constant attention, to keep the games coming. Not diminishing returns for the developers, because that's a death spiral for the service.
    - anotherhue 3y ago
      I think they want to avoid the inevitable and unpleasant comparison to Xbox. There's some oddness also, slay the spire+ is available on iPhone, where I don't want it but not on Apple TV where I do.
      - mcphage 3y ago
        > There's some oddness also, slay the spire+ is available on iPhone, where I don't want it but not on Apple TV where I do. That is weird. I wonder if it comes from Apple or the developers? If the developers, why would Apple allow it?
musicale 3y ago
This is a shame - I enjoy playing games without aggressive, intrusive monetization schemes, and Apple Arcade has several interesting gems such as Fantasian.

12 points by MrJagil 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

How dumb. This should be an easy win for Apple, and they’re letting it wither on the vine because they just don’t care about games. Despite making billions of dollars off of gaming. I don’t get it.

johnnyanmac 3y ago
Never did, maybe never will. They make it harder for devs to port to their minority market with the move to axe Vulkan and then sqaunder back with MoltenVK porting tools years later trying to get devs back in. They want f2p levels of money but then go on to make a subscrition service with no other way to monetize it. From a financial and creative perspective, their strategies don't make sense. They should just keep their easy cut of the genshin et. al. on the app store and let whoever else is interested in hosting premium games do their job. If they get their way they are getting a cut of alternate stores anyway.
klipklop 3y ago
Apple every few years will pretend to care about games to get people to buy their hardware. They have been doing this since at least the 90s with games like Quake. They talk a big game about how things will change, but it’s empty promises. The latest is Resident Evil games on iOS that ran like garbage and Apple Arcade that is mostly shovelware.
- mcphage 3y ago
  > Apple Arcade that is mostly shovelware What's frustrating is that it's not mostly shovelware. There have been plenty of good titles on the service that retail for $10, $15, $20, and above on other platforms (or iOS itself after the come off of Apple Arcade). And the "+" versions where they take an older game, pull out all of the ads and microtransactions, and let you just play the damn things: I think those are great. Too many older games that I really liked, are pretty much unplayable because they've turned cancerous with ads. But you're right—every few years, they care (or pretend to) about games for a little while, and then go back to ignoring them. Apple Arcade as a service isn't bad—and as a piece of their total subscription package, it's pretty good. But it needs constant attention, to keep the games coming. Not diminishing returns for the developers, because that's a death spiral for the service.
  - anotherhue 3y ago
    I think they want to avoid the inevitable and unpleasant comparison to Xbox. There's some oddness also, slay the spire+ is available on iPhone, where I don't want it but not on Apple TV where I do.
    - mcphage 3y ago
      > There's some oddness also, slay the spire+ is available on iPhone, where I don't want it but not on Apple TV where I do. That is weird. I wonder if it comes from Apple or the developers? If the developers, why would Apple allow it?

musicale 3y ago

This is a shame - I enjoy playing games without aggressive, intrusive monetization schemes, and Apple Arcade has several interesting gems such as Fantasian.