What is Apple's aim with games on Arcade? With Apple being as secretive a company as they are, bite sized info in interviews is the best we can do to find answers on what Arcade is for, how it makes money and what the incentives are.
It’s easy to determine that Apple just wants as many subscriptions as possible. Apple wants everyone on their devices, for as long as possible, because that assures them of future sales of their devices. So broadly speaking, it's an easy question to answer. More specifically though, what kinds of games is Apple trying to court? Apple wants subscribers and it wants those subscribers to be moderately engaged. So then what games are going to help drive that objective? In short, all of them. Whether it makes sense or not.
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The service started with a broad selection of genres. In the first year and a half, they even got a few games that seemed to be more at home on consoles than phones. In the last year, we have seen a deluge of classic phone games returning like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. We’ve gotten some proper AAA treatment as well (at least, when you compare them to other mobile games), games like The Pathless and Beyond a Steel Sky are truly incredible on a mobile device, and the fact that they save data is shared across Apple devices makes them among the most convenient games in the world. It really is a selling point that I can play almost any Apple Arcade game on the phone, and then load my save file on a tv later and continue where I left off seamlessly. In some ways, its actually better than the Switch, because as portable as Nintendo’s handheld is, I can’t keep it in my back pocket like I can with my phone. I ALWAYS have my phone with me. Always. So being able to make progress on a game there, and then really enjoy the game later on the big screen is a gigantic selling point, and I can’t believe Apple hasn’t been bragging about this.
But I must admit I’m confused by some of the offerings on Arcade. Not every game needs to be a statement of Apple’s objectives. Not every game needs to be a flagship. But what is the purpose of putting another version of Crossy Road on there? Or Altos Odyssey? These are fine mobile games, but the free versions are also fine. In some cases they don’t even add anything to the game. They just move it over to Arcade, put a + on it, and take away the ability to spend money. The unlockables are still there, but they are placed behind 60 hours of grinding just like the free version. Is this a feature now? Annoying me with an incredulous grind, but taking away the temptation to spend money? That’s good design now? In the case of Simon's Cat, an Arcade exclusive, the game is fundamentally designed around microtransactions. It smells eerily like Candy Crush, and the “boosters” that you can bring into each level are as present and useful as ever, but now there is no way to buy them, and they are notoriously difficult to obtain through grinding. It’s almost like the game was finished, and then a month before release Apple comes in, offers them a check, and they decide to just release the game as-is. “Oh yeah, don’t forget to remove the microtransactions, boys. Isn’t this great? It’s a fun mobile game with no microtransactions or ads! What value!”
That's cute, except that since the game was designed around milking money out of people, the fun that you had to pay for before, now isn’t even readily available in the game. So guess what? The game isn’t fun now. This serves a fantastic point, that many of the most popular games on mobile aren’t just badly designed because of the gameplay systems designed to rake money out of people, they’re badly designed even if you take money out of the equation. It’s fine for this to happen on a few releases. Again, not every game needs to be a masterpiece, but Apple can’t keep buying free-to-play games and putting a sticker on them to satisfy their audience long term. Not only is it bad business for keeping players engaged, it also just looks tacky.
I’m not necessarily mad that this is happening, mostly I’m just confused. Apple doesn’t talk about Arcade at all. Their press conferences barely mention any of their services besides Apple TV+, and even that gets little more than a paragraph. If their PR is anything to go on, it seems like Arcade is just an expense that they can write off during tax season, and another means of keeping their customers glued to their Apple devices. Maybe that’s the point. What’s humiliating is that if that’s true, the entire gaming industry still needs to look at Arcade as a threat. if Apple wanted to, they could easily fund 4-5 AAA experiences from major 3rd party studios and it would barely show up on their quarterly report. If these casual, cheap handout gaming experiences aren’t doing it for Apple’s Arcade customers, that might be what we see next.
Apple has already won the hardware business. In most major first world countries, they make up half of the phone market. In tablets, they are utterly dominating. In wearables, they have almost no serious competition at all. They already lock their customers in through iMessage, Facetime and other exclusive apps (personally, I am obsessed with their Notes and Reminders) and Arcade is the next significant means of doing that. Apple is well aware of the loyalty that comes from major exclusive releases in the gaming space. Mario, Zelda, Halo, and Gran Turismo are all major franchises in gaming that fans buy consoles for exclusively. Apple doesn’t have a big, hype-inducing, fanbase on an Arcade franchise yet. That doesn’t mean it isn’t coming. Since every game released on Arcade is exclusive, whenever they find that big hit, whether intentionally or accidentally, the paperwork already allows them to control what platform it winds up on. Arcade being a smash success isn’t a question of if, but when.
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