9 ms·

TouchArcade Is Shutting Down

157 points by samsolomon 2y ago

agnakaraara 2y ago
Hi, I made a website called [AppRaven](https://appraven.net https://appraven.net) which has a dedicated iOS game reviews section, you might want to give it a try :) (I know very well it’s not a replacement, but for those seeking great game recommendations and reviews, welcome!)
n3xus_ 2y ago
I'm wondering how many sites are being affected due to AI, I've noticed myself using Google less
- minimaxir 2y ago
  TouchArcade dying is completely unrelated to the AI slop boom: as the post notes they've been on the deathbed for many many years due to shifts both in web revenue and mobile game interests. They were good when premium mobile games sold well (TouchArcade was the best place to learn about deals) but that time is long gone. Notably, websites specialized around gacha mobile games have been doing very well.
  - PlunderBunny 2y ago
    I recall reading several years ago that Apple dropping affiliate links (? Not sure if that’s the correct name) was a major financial blow. I had no interest in the podcast or the reviews of games on other platforms, or the increased coverage of anime games, but I continued to support them financially in a modest way just so that I could read the roundup of new games released every week. A few years ago, there would be several games I would check out each week, but more recently I would just scroll through the list and find nothing of interest.
    - minimaxir 2y ago
      That is also correct. > Apple Kills the App Store Affiliate Program, and I Have No Idea What We Are Going to Do. (2018) https://toucharcade.com/2018/08/01/apple-kills-the-app-store-affiliate-program-and-i-have-no-idea-what-we-are-going-to-do/ https://toucharcade.com/2018/08/01/apple-kills-the-app-store...
      - wahnfrieden 2y ago
        Are there any good backend/IAP-integrated ways to do affiliate referrals now ? I guess the only way is to use in app code entry to unlock access to a promo code or a special IAP
        johnnyanmac 2y ago
        That's the only way I know of. You tell some code for a game, and if you enter it you get some small rewards. That's how some streamers get a bit of pay. Of course, the issue is that communities (and AI slop) will just coalesce the codes into one place, often without credit. I'm guessing this still helps affiliates, but it loses the advantage of more traffic.
        wahnfrieden 2y ago
        But are there any platforms that help with managing the payouts and tracking these events? That's the daunting part that I don't want to do manual accounting on every month...
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    sites specialized around gacha are probably not just western. I imagine sustaining a few korean or japanese site managers is cheaper than in the US. There's a few english-first sites talking about gacha, but they are much smaller endeavors. Not much different from a blog managed by 1-2 people that just need a few hundred dollars (if that) to pay for servers.
dlbucci 2y ago
Now that is a name I haven't heard in a long time. I almost struggle to remember where I heard them from, but I distinctly remember reading this site trying to find the next great game for my first-gen iPod Touch. I can't say I've ever followed it closely, but there's a certain sadness bound to happen when a childhood site goes down. I'll poor one out for TouchArcade (and Joystiq. and Rooster Teeth. Just checked, and gonintendo is still kicking!)
davidczech 2y ago
Darn, I remember checking this website everyday for new games when I had the 1st generation iPod Touch.
fidotron 2y ago
This is a highly visible manifestation of something that has been going on for years. I have been around mobile games for 20 years (going back to J2ME) and have never seen interest in the field so low. Essentially the noise is that people are locked into habits in the app stores. It takes huge amounts of money to get people to try something new, and this invariably leads to amazing conservatism on the part of publishers. The big breakout hit last year was a Monopoly spin off, admittedly well executed, but with absolutely massive marketing pushes. Steam is squeezing on one side and web games on the other. When the mobile herd simply moves where the marketing dollars lead them who needs reviews?
- deleted 2y ago
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- burningChrome 2y ago
  I used to be a huge mobile gaming person, but then a few years ago, I found out several of my mobile games were available on PC so I just stopped gaming on my phone all together. I have several co-workers who also did the same thing. We used to talk all the time about whatever new game was coming out on mobile, but now its all about PC and console titles. You're 100% right that it takes massive amounts of money to move the needle for gamers now. It seems like the group I run in, whatever your game is and you're good at, you stay in that lane. Any new additions or versions, you're on right away and excited about. It takes a lot for the people I know to try a new game and actually spend the time and money to see if they like it. Nobody I know is willing to do that now since the economy is not great and money is really tight all over. The people I know are only going to buy what they know they'll like. I feel like a lot of this is people sticking with what they know since the market is so saturated like you point out.
  - tourmalinetaco 2y ago
    I haven’t bought a new game for myself for years. Most of what I play is retro emulation, and what PC titles I do play are ones I already own and have a lot of replay value. Indie titles are far cooler than AAA, but even they don’t speak out to me as often. Why spend $60 on a flop like Hyenas, or even $20 on a game inspired by Harvest Moon, when I can actually play the original games for free? Especially on mobile, where most games are idle timewasters looking to lock me into a microtransaction loop. I‘d rather boot up a GBA game and spend my time on that.
smileson2 2y ago
Feels like the race to the bottom is nearing the finish line
- incrudible 2y ago
  Case in point, I just saw one of these bizarre advertisements for a game where they show some simplistic gameplay that is supposed to hook you, which is not at all the point of the actual game. It was about a pregnant women and her other child, freezing outside in the winter. I had to watch it to the end and it turns out the game was... Gardenscapes.
  - htrp 2y ago
    a/b testing to the (local) max
  - mschuster91 2y ago
    Yeah they've run shitty ads for years now. And it seems like the one time they did face consequences for their fake ads four years ago clearly wasn't enough [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24761349 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24761349
    - n_ary 2y ago
      It is a common trick. There are many culprits using same tricks: Gardenscape, Whiteout Survival, Frozen City, Township, Fishdom, Hero Wars and to some extent Royal Match. All of these appear to enjoy a lot of downloads, so whatever tricks they are using works very effectively.
      - mschuster91 2y ago
        > All of these appear to enjoy a lot of downloads, so whatever tricks they are using works very effectively. That's because "# of downloads" is a crap metric that's easily gamed (be it by fake ads or bot campaigns or whatnot). A more useful metric would be "# of installs still active after 1/2/4 weeks", that would disincentivize a lot of these scams, but at the cost of Google being able to claim download numbers for the vitality of their app store ("# of app installs a day!!!"), which is why Google doesn't do much against this shit despite the "quality" dragging down the image of the entire Play Store. Unfortunately there is no competition worth the name as the Apple Store is similarly plagued by copycats and fakes, so neither party has an incentive to de-enshittify.
rightlane 2y ago
One of the last bastions of good games journalism, and the only good mobile gaming site. Another casualty of the garbage listicles and AI generated garbage that fills up search results. I would do anything to have the old, fun, internet back. This monstrosity we have now just isn't doing it for me.
- deleted 2y ago
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- thierrydamiba 2y ago
  Can you explain to me what you mean by this? What about the internet today isn’t fun? There are plenty of websites that don’t have garbage listicles and AI slop, they just aren’t as popular.
  - mercacona 2y ago
    But they don’t get attention-public-funding enough to be profitable because of the garbage. The garbage is burying them in search results but also literally.
    - firebirdn99 2y ago
      i don't know if they were ever profitable. But certainly i think there's been a paradigm shift to commercializing everything (mostly through advertising) the last decade or two and if you fall behind, whatever growth you were aiming for goes away and revenues shrink. And also almost all advertising revenues have probably become centralized with google search, social media by facebook, and youtube, etc. That combined with rising costs, and higher opportunity cost to instead do something else means these sites are biting the dust.
    - 93po 2y ago
      literally what?
    - thierrydamiba 2y ago
      You’re just complaining that the average person doesn’t like what you like, which seems silly. I’m sure the average person thinks what you like is garbage. Who gets to be the judge?
soup10 2y ago
Them featuring my game in a front page article was a big moment for me(and helped it become a viral hit). Best of luck guys.
bmalicoat 2y ago
As a mobile game dev, this is a bummer. I have been fortunate to get review and preview coverage on a few of my games from TA. There aren't many sites doing what that do. I get that the market has moved and now discovery happens in the App Store and via advertisement dollars, but growing up reading EGM or IGN.com and seeing people excited about a game just from a few screenshots colored me for life. I'm sad mobile game players don't have that opportunity.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  unfortunate but inevitable. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how the mobile scene became in these past 15 years or so. When you have companies pouring tens of millions of dollars to advertise to a more casual audience who probably isn't looking for a professional review, where does a mobile journalist like TA come in? Meanwhile, the more console-esque audience left because less and less games out on mobile bothered appealing to them. Not TA's fault, but they were pincered on both ends and couldn't do much as the medium they reviewed changed in real time.
MBCook 2y ago
Really too bad, but I’m not surprised. I know losing affiliate money many years ago hurt bad. But the truth is I don’t care much anymore. I loved TA because they helped me find fun games. And while I’ve found a few from them in the last few years like Peglin most of their coverage is unsurprisingly what most of the industry makes: pay to win with smurfberries advertising laden crap. I strongly believe the iOS gaming scene died the day IAPs came out. There is the incredibly rare indie game that you can pay for now, and Apple Arcade. While I enjoy that most of the good games I’ve played before (a plus on the name = existed before). Those that I haven’t played or are new often were obviously designed for IAPs and aren’t that fun when they’re removed. And I know devs seem to hate it, and I’m not surprised. But it’s the only option I’ve got left. I’ll miss you, Touch Arcade. You long outlasted the era of greatness for the platform you covered. Thanks for making it as long as you did. One more sign we can’t have nice things because ruthless unnecessarily exploitive capitalism.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  in some ways, this is on consumer choice as well. I'm sure people like you were more console oriented, but the MTX era meant they could appeal to a casual audience who would slowly drop money here and there, for games that are simpler to iterate on compared to something like Infinity Blade or Chaos Rings. Or watch ads in-between their 30-60 second level-based games. Or in the opposite way, the ruthless Korean MMO model matched very well in mobile and you have that same hyper-hardcore audience dropping thousands for a new character in a gacha. You don't need 99% of that console audience paying $10 when that whale is spending $100k/month, consistently. So it makes sense that the console players, no longer appealed to, left while the newer models found other audiences.
  - MBCook 2y ago
    I understand having other business models. I personally hate ads, but I’m also happy to buy a game and then pay to remove the ads. And I’m willing to pay a lot more than the $1 that most people seem to think is overpriced. I also understand having some in app purchases. My gripe is a few games took a really exploitive route with in app purchases. Having extremely aggressive timers and tons of currencies. And they CLEANED UP. From what I’ve heard it sounds like it’s mostly people who pay nothing, children being tricked into paying, and a small number of people who spend an insane amount of money. The whales. But whatever the mix it made money so every game publisher started racing to turn out identical skinner boxes. This had two effects. First, that’s what the publishers were interested in so it’s probably a lot harder to get anything else through. Second, because those games are “free“ it changed pricing expectations that games and other apps should be “free“. So if you wanted to make a good game and sell it at even a really low price, people screamed at you. How DARE you charge $1.99. By driving down the expected price we ended up at a point where the only things that can make any money at all or either crammed with ads that get shown to you constantly or designed to milk as much money out of people as possible. Games only have to be good enough to keep people looking at the ads or paying for another set of Smurfberries. Worst of all even games that were already made and were absolute classics have been ruined. Because they either get updates to add those features (Flight Control) or sequels to change the game to be more like one of those that makes a lot of money (Plants be Zombies 2, Trism 2).
Jyaif 2y ago
Shame! Fwiw nowadays MiniReview is a very good source of games: https://minireview.io https://minireview.io
nkrisc 2y ago
It’s a shame for sure, as I’ve occasionally used sites like TA as a consumer. But it’s also not anything I’d ever actually pay for. If these kinds of sites go away then I’ll just go on living without them. They’re nice to have, but they’re not necessary by any stretch. Life will go on, with or without video game journalism.
- homarp 2y ago
  Out of curiosity, what kind of sites you pay for? As a consumer, I struggle to find a voice with strong opinion (strong as in ' this game sucks ' and as in ' we found this little gem on itchi.io and it's great' )
  - nkrisc 2y ago
    I’ve subscribed to news sites in the past, but these days I would probably only pay for local news. Currently there isn’t any site I pay for.
drawkbox 2y ago
End of an era. TouchArcade was one of the better review sites and it was great to get featured there. Going for 16 years was a really good run. I hope the people involved land in good places. Game marketing has changed so much during that time. I do wish affiliate programs for games never went away as it was an entire economy and another way others would help get sales.
pnw 2y ago
I remember when Apple killed the Touch Arcade app because apparently apps that include reviews of other apps are verboten. I am sure that sucked for them but in retrospect was probably good for me because it weaned me off finding and playing games on my phone.
- benoau 2y ago
  They went to war with everyone that could make apps popular before that too. https://www.pocketgamer.com/features/opinion-apples-move-to-ban-tapjoy-and-flurry-is-incredible/ https://www.pocketgamer.com/features/opinion-apples-move-to-... > Of course, the fact that revenue generated by the per install business isn't funneled through the App Store so Apple can take its 30 percent cut will be another factor in the company's decision. By coincidence, Apple ended up getting a premium cut of customer acquisition costs on iPhone.
maxglute 2y ago
Too bad. I wish STEAM would open up listings to mobile games, even if unsold by steam just so mobile gets STEAM curators treatment. Hell they should break into the mobile emulator game, but I guess driving people mobile would hurt their bottomline.
archerx 2y ago
This is sad, TouchArcade reviewed my very first game on iOS back in the iPhone 4 days. A lot of places ignored my game but TouchArcade gave my game a fair chance and I will forever appreciate them for that. Thanks to the TA team and here’s hoping the best for them.
zaptrem 2y ago
Why haven’t AAA games on mobile devices been a huge success? Millions of people love their Nintendo Switches, but they’re toasters compared to modern Android and especially iOS devices. With a cheap controller attachment you could provide a much better experience with these devices most people already own. I expected basically every AAA Switch port to come to iOS as well, but they haven’t.
- Terretta 2y ago
  Assassins Creed Mirage, Resident Evil 4, suggest gamers don't think of these devices and casuals don't play these games: https://9to5mac.com/2024/06/28/aaa-games-iphone-ipad-arent-a-hit/ https://9to5mac.com/2024/06/28/aaa-games-iphone-ipad-arent-a... Meanwhile, before IAP destroyed retail pricing of games, there were some, but now the devices can run great games, it's all IAP dross. Braid, Civ VI, Disco Elysium, various others show the devices are fine. Genshin Impact shows a casual fan audience is there, most likely in my mind is: phone other than "Max" screens seems too small, and few people realize you can pair your favorite controller to an iPad. (Xbox Cloud Gaming works so well, it's confusing dedicated cloud players exist.)
  - dragonwriter 2y ago
    On Android, Civ VI has pretty horrible reviews, largely around stability; I think the devices are fine, but I'm not sure I'd cite Civ VI as support for it.
- zinckiwi 2y ago
  Price anchoring, I suspect. Apparently, people simply won't accept mobile games at "game prices" ($20-60) instead of "mobile prices" ($0-3). I am the opposite, refusing to engage with anything freemium, but I am also in the clear minority.
- musicale 2y ago
  1) Phone gamers seem happy with awful "f2p" games that they don't have to "pay" for; big-budget mobile games (Genshin Impact, Diablo Immortal) are still "f2p" because it makes a ton of money 2) Breakout hits on mobile (Angry Birds, etc.) are usually designed to be played on the go in short sessions, while AAA games usually aren't 3) Switch games come on physical cartridges, can be borrowed/lent/reold, and will keep working (except for online features) over years of firmware updates and hardware revisions 4) Nintendo primed the Switch pump with a stellar collection of exclusive first-party games (many inherited from the Wii U) that are rarely discounted; Apple Arcade is good but can't beat Mario/Zelda/Metroid/Pokémon/etc. 5) Switch offers seamless local multiplayer (Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros.) even with two joy-cons and no TV, fully offline gaming (game cards), and many other well-designed features (even the "parental" on-off button that shuts the console off when you hold it down.) Nintendo delivers what it always has, a terrific home (and handheld) gaming experience.
algaeselect 2y ago
It's amazing to me that a website that publishes articles (real articles, not AI slop) about games can't even support the livelihood of 3 people, and yet mobile game companies shovel out godawful games and continue to exist. It blew my mind when I saw how there were several games which were some combination of match-3 + PvP (so that you can whale your way to victory).

157 points by samsolomon 2y ago

Hi, I made a website called [AppRaven](https://appraven.net https://appraven.net) which has a dedicated iOS game reviews section, you might want to give it a try :) (I know very well it’s not a replacement, but for those seeking great game recommendations and reviews, welcome!)

n3xus_ 2y ago

I'm wondering how many sites are being affected due to AI, I've noticed myself using Google less

minimaxir 2y ago
TouchArcade dying is completely unrelated to the AI slop boom: as the post notes they've been on the deathbed for many many years due to shifts both in web revenue and mobile game interests. They were good when premium mobile games sold well (TouchArcade was the best place to learn about deals) but that time is long gone. Notably, websites specialized around gacha mobile games have been doing very well.
- PlunderBunny 2y ago
  I recall reading several years ago that Apple dropping affiliate links (? Not sure if that’s the correct name) was a major financial blow. I had no interest in the podcast or the reviews of games on other platforms, or the increased coverage of anime games, but I continued to support them financially in a modest way just so that I could read the roundup of new games released every week. A few years ago, there would be several games I would check out each week, but more recently I would just scroll through the list and find nothing of interest.
  - minimaxir 2y ago
    That is also correct. > Apple Kills the App Store Affiliate Program, and I Have No Idea What We Are Going to Do. (2018) https://toucharcade.com/2018/08/01/apple-kills-the-app-store-affiliate-program-and-i-have-no-idea-what-we-are-going-to-do/ https://toucharcade.com/2018/08/01/apple-kills-the-app-store...
    - wahnfrieden 2y ago
      Are there any good backend/IAP-integrated ways to do affiliate referrals now ? I guess the only way is to use in app code entry to unlock access to a promo code or a special IAP
      - johnnyanmac 2y ago
        That's the only way I know of. You tell some code for a game, and if you enter it you get some small rewards. That's how some streamers get a bit of pay. Of course, the issue is that communities (and AI slop) will just coalesce the codes into one place, often without credit. I'm guessing this still helps affiliates, but it loses the advantage of more traffic.
        wahnfrieden 2y ago
        But are there any platforms that help with managing the payouts and tracking these events? That's the daunting part that I don't want to do manual accounting on every month...
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  sites specialized around gacha are probably not just western. I imagine sustaining a few korean or japanese site managers is cheaper than in the US. There's a few english-first sites talking about gacha, but they are much smaller endeavors. Not much different from a blog managed by 1-2 people that just need a few hundred dollars (if that) to pay for servers.

dlbucci 2y ago

Now that is a name I haven't heard in a long time. I almost struggle to remember where I heard them from, but I distinctly remember reading this site trying to find the next great game for my first-gen iPod Touch. I can't say I've ever followed it closely, but there's a certain sadness bound to happen when a childhood site goes down. I'll poor one out for TouchArcade (and Joystiq. and Rooster Teeth. Just checked, and gonintendo is still kicking!)

davidczech 2y ago

Darn, I remember checking this website everyday for new games when I had the 1st generation iPod Touch.

fidotron 2y ago

This is a highly visible manifestation of something that has been going on for years. I have been around mobile games for 20 years (going back to J2ME) and have never seen interest in the field so low. Essentially the noise is that people are locked into habits in the app stores. It takes huge amounts of money to get people to try something new, and this invariably leads to amazing conservatism on the part of publishers. The big breakout hit last year was a Monopoly spin off, admittedly well executed, but with absolutely massive marketing pushes. Steam is squeezing on one side and web games on the other. When the mobile herd simply moves where the marketing dollars lead them who needs reviews?

deleted 2y ago
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burningChrome 2y ago
I used to be a huge mobile gaming person, but then a few years ago, I found out several of my mobile games were available on PC so I just stopped gaming on my phone all together. I have several co-workers who also did the same thing. We used to talk all the time about whatever new game was coming out on mobile, but now its all about PC and console titles. You're 100% right that it takes massive amounts of money to move the needle for gamers now. It seems like the group I run in, whatever your game is and you're good at, you stay in that lane. Any new additions or versions, you're on right away and excited about. It takes a lot for the people I know to try a new game and actually spend the time and money to see if they like it. Nobody I know is willing to do that now since the economy is not great and money is really tight all over. The people I know are only going to buy what they know they'll like. I feel like a lot of this is people sticking with what they know since the market is so saturated like you point out.
- tourmalinetaco 2y ago
  I haven’t bought a new game for myself for years. Most of what I play is retro emulation, and what PC titles I do play are ones I already own and have a lot of replay value. Indie titles are far cooler than AAA, but even they don’t speak out to me as often. Why spend $60 on a flop like Hyenas, or even $20 on a game inspired by Harvest Moon, when I can actually play the original games for free? Especially on mobile, where most games are idle timewasters looking to lock me into a microtransaction loop. I‘d rather boot up a GBA game and spend my time on that.

smileson2 2y ago

Feels like the race to the bottom is nearing the finish line

incrudible 2y ago
Case in point, I just saw one of these bizarre advertisements for a game where they show some simplistic gameplay that is supposed to hook you, which is not at all the point of the actual game. It was about a pregnant women and her other child, freezing outside in the winter. I had to watch it to the end and it turns out the game was... Gardenscapes.
- htrp 2y ago
  a/b testing to the (local) max
- mschuster91 2y ago
  Yeah they've run shitty ads for years now. And it seems like the one time they did face consequences for their fake ads four years ago clearly wasn't enough [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24761349 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24761349
  - n_ary 2y ago
    It is a common trick. There are many culprits using same tricks: Gardenscape, Whiteout Survival, Frozen City, Township, Fishdom, Hero Wars and to some extent Royal Match. All of these appear to enjoy a lot of downloads, so whatever tricks they are using works very effectively.
    - mschuster91 2y ago
      > All of these appear to enjoy a lot of downloads, so whatever tricks they are using works very effectively. That's because "# of downloads" is a crap metric that's easily gamed (be it by fake ads or bot campaigns or whatnot). A more useful metric would be "# of installs still active after 1/2/4 weeks", that would disincentivize a lot of these scams, but at the cost of Google being able to claim download numbers for the vitality of their app store ("# of app installs a day!!!"), which is why Google doesn't do much against this shit despite the "quality" dragging down the image of the entire Play Store. Unfortunately there is no competition worth the name as the Apple Store is similarly plagued by copycats and fakes, so neither party has an incentive to de-enshittify.

rightlane 2y ago

One of the last bastions of good games journalism, and the only good mobile gaming site. Another casualty of the garbage listicles and AI generated garbage that fills up search results. I would do anything to have the old, fun, internet back. This monstrosity we have now just isn't doing it for me.

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thierrydamiba 2y ago
Can you explain to me what you mean by this? What about the internet today isn’t fun? There are plenty of websites that don’t have garbage listicles and AI slop, they just aren’t as popular.
- mercacona 2y ago
  But they don’t get attention-public-funding enough to be profitable because of the garbage. The garbage is burying them in search results but also literally.
  - firebirdn99 2y ago
    i don't know if they were ever profitable. But certainly i think there's been a paradigm shift to commercializing everything (mostly through advertising) the last decade or two and if you fall behind, whatever growth you were aiming for goes away and revenues shrink. And also almost all advertising revenues have probably become centralized with google search, social media by facebook, and youtube, etc. That combined with rising costs, and higher opportunity cost to instead do something else means these sites are biting the dust.
  - 93po 2y ago
    literally what?
  - thierrydamiba 2y ago
    You’re just complaining that the average person doesn’t like what you like, which seems silly. I’m sure the average person thinks what you like is garbage. Who gets to be the judge?

soup10 2y ago

Them featuring my game in a front page article was a big moment for me(and helped it become a viral hit). Best of luck guys.

bmalicoat 2y ago

As a mobile game dev, this is a bummer. I have been fortunate to get review and preview coverage on a few of my games from TA. There aren't many sites doing what that do. I get that the market has moved and now discovery happens in the App Store and via advertisement dollars, but growing up reading EGM or IGN.com and seeing people excited about a game just from a few screenshots colored me for life. I'm sad mobile game players don't have that opportunity.

johnnyanmac 2y ago
unfortunate but inevitable. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how the mobile scene became in these past 15 years or so. When you have companies pouring tens of millions of dollars to advertise to a more casual audience who probably isn't looking for a professional review, where does a mobile journalist like TA come in? Meanwhile, the more console-esque audience left because less and less games out on mobile bothered appealing to them. Not TA's fault, but they were pincered on both ends and couldn't do much as the medium they reviewed changed in real time.

MBCook 2y ago

Really too bad, but I’m not surprised. I know losing affiliate money many years ago hurt bad. But the truth is I don’t care much anymore. I loved TA because they helped me find fun games. And while I’ve found a few from them in the last few years like Peglin most of their coverage is unsurprisingly what most of the industry makes: pay to win with smurfberries advertising laden crap. I strongly believe the iOS gaming scene died the day IAPs came out. There is the incredibly rare indie game that you can pay for now, and Apple Arcade. While I enjoy that most of the good games I’ve played before (a plus on the name = existed before). Those that I haven’t played or are new often were obviously designed for IAPs and aren’t that fun when they’re removed. And I know devs seem to hate it, and I’m not surprised. But it’s the only option I’ve got left. I’ll miss you, Touch Arcade. You long outlasted the era of greatness for the platform you covered. Thanks for making it as long as you did. One more sign we can’t have nice things because ruthless unnecessarily exploitive capitalism.

johnnyanmac 2y ago
in some ways, this is on consumer choice as well. I'm sure people like you were more console oriented, but the MTX era meant they could appeal to a casual audience who would slowly drop money here and there, for games that are simpler to iterate on compared to something like Infinity Blade or Chaos Rings. Or watch ads in-between their 30-60 second level-based games. Or in the opposite way, the ruthless Korean MMO model matched very well in mobile and you have that same hyper-hardcore audience dropping thousands for a new character in a gacha. You don't need 99% of that console audience paying $10 when that whale is spending $100k/month, consistently. So it makes sense that the console players, no longer appealed to, left while the newer models found other audiences.
- MBCook 2y ago
  I understand having other business models. I personally hate ads, but I’m also happy to buy a game and then pay to remove the ads. And I’m willing to pay a lot more than the $1 that most people seem to think is overpriced. I also understand having some in app purchases. My gripe is a few games took a really exploitive route with in app purchases. Having extremely aggressive timers and tons of currencies. And they CLEANED UP. From what I’ve heard it sounds like it’s mostly people who pay nothing, children being tricked into paying, and a small number of people who spend an insane amount of money. The whales. But whatever the mix it made money so every game publisher started racing to turn out identical skinner boxes. This had two effects. First, that’s what the publishers were interested in so it’s probably a lot harder to get anything else through. Second, because those games are “free“ it changed pricing expectations that games and other apps should be “free“. So if you wanted to make a good game and sell it at even a really low price, people screamed at you. How DARE you charge $1.99. By driving down the expected price we ended up at a point where the only things that can make any money at all or either crammed with ads that get shown to you constantly or designed to milk as much money out of people as possible. Games only have to be good enough to keep people looking at the ads or paying for another set of Smurfberries. Worst of all even games that were already made and were absolute classics have been ruined. Because they either get updates to add those features (Flight Control) or sequels to change the game to be more like one of those that makes a lot of money (Plants be Zombies 2, Trism 2).

Jyaif 2y ago

Shame! Fwiw nowadays MiniReview is a very good source of games: https://minireview.io https://minireview.io

nkrisc 2y ago

It’s a shame for sure, as I’ve occasionally used sites like TA as a consumer. But it’s also not anything I’d ever actually pay for. If these kinds of sites go away then I’ll just go on living without them. They’re nice to have, but they’re not necessary by any stretch. Life will go on, with or without video game journalism.

homarp 2y ago
Out of curiosity, what kind of sites you pay for? As a consumer, I struggle to find a voice with strong opinion (strong as in ' this game sucks ' and as in ' we found this little gem on itchi.io and it's great' )
- nkrisc 2y ago
  I’ve subscribed to news sites in the past, but these days I would probably only pay for local news. Currently there isn’t any site I pay for.

drawkbox 2y ago

End of an era. TouchArcade was one of the better review sites and it was great to get featured there. Going for 16 years was a really good run. I hope the people involved land in good places. Game marketing has changed so much during that time. I do wish affiliate programs for games never went away as it was an entire economy and another way others would help get sales.

pnw 2y ago

I remember when Apple killed the Touch Arcade app because apparently apps that include reviews of other apps are verboten. I am sure that sucked for them but in retrospect was probably good for me because it weaned me off finding and playing games on my phone.

benoau 2y ago
They went to war with everyone that could make apps popular before that too. https://www.pocketgamer.com/features/opinion-apples-move-to-ban-tapjoy-and-flurry-is-incredible/ https://www.pocketgamer.com/features/opinion-apples-move-to-... > Of course, the fact that revenue generated by the per install business isn't funneled through the App Store so Apple can take its 30 percent cut will be another factor in the company's decision. By coincidence, Apple ended up getting a premium cut of customer acquisition costs on iPhone.

maxglute 2y ago

Too bad. I wish STEAM would open up listings to mobile games, even if unsold by steam just so mobile gets STEAM curators treatment. Hell they should break into the mobile emulator game, but I guess driving people mobile would hurt their bottomline.

archerx 2y ago

This is sad, TouchArcade reviewed my very first game on iOS back in the iPhone 4 days. A lot of places ignored my game but TouchArcade gave my game a fair chance and I will forever appreciate them for that. Thanks to the TA team and here’s hoping the best for them.

zaptrem 2y ago

Why haven’t AAA games on mobile devices been a huge success? Millions of people love their Nintendo Switches, but they’re toasters compared to modern Android and especially iOS devices. With a cheap controller attachment you could provide a much better experience with these devices most people already own. I expected basically every AAA Switch port to come to iOS as well, but they haven’t.

Terretta 2y ago
Assassins Creed Mirage, Resident Evil 4, suggest gamers don't think of these devices and casuals don't play these games: https://9to5mac.com/2024/06/28/aaa-games-iphone-ipad-arent-a-hit/ https://9to5mac.com/2024/06/28/aaa-games-iphone-ipad-arent-a... Meanwhile, before IAP destroyed retail pricing of games, there were some, but now the devices can run great games, it's all IAP dross. Braid, Civ VI, Disco Elysium, various others show the devices are fine. Genshin Impact shows a casual fan audience is there, most likely in my mind is: phone other than "Max" screens seems too small, and few people realize you can pair your favorite controller to an iPad. (Xbox Cloud Gaming works so well, it's confusing dedicated cloud players exist.)
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  On Android, Civ VI has pretty horrible reviews, largely around stability; I think the devices are fine, but I'm not sure I'd cite Civ VI as support for it.
zinckiwi 2y ago
Price anchoring, I suspect. Apparently, people simply won't accept mobile games at "game prices" ($20-60) instead of "mobile prices" ($0-3). I am the opposite, refusing to engage with anything freemium, but I am also in the clear minority.
musicale 2y ago
1) Phone gamers seem happy with awful "f2p" games that they don't have to "pay" for; big-budget mobile games (Genshin Impact, Diablo Immortal) are still "f2p" because it makes a ton of money 2) Breakout hits on mobile (Angry Birds, etc.) are usually designed to be played on the go in short sessions, while AAA games usually aren't 3) Switch games come on physical cartridges, can be borrowed/lent/reold, and will keep working (except for online features) over years of firmware updates and hardware revisions 4) Nintendo primed the Switch pump with a stellar collection of exclusive first-party games (many inherited from the Wii U) that are rarely discounted; Apple Arcade is good but can't beat Mario/Zelda/Metroid/Pokémon/etc. 5) Switch offers seamless local multiplayer (Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros.) even with two joy-cons and no TV, fully offline gaming (game cards), and many other well-designed features (even the "parental" on-off button that shuts the console off when you hold it down.) Nintendo delivers what it always has, a terrific home (and handheld) gaming experience.

algaeselect 2y ago

It's amazing to me that a website that publishes articles (real articles, not AI slop) about games can't even support the livelihood of 3 people, and yet mobile game companies shovel out godawful games and continue to exist. It blew my mind when I saw how there were several games which were some combination of match-3 + PvP (so that you can whale your way to victory).