In its first 5 weeks on the market, Elden Ring sold over 13 million copies. It's a staggering number in a market that has steadily worked to make games easier and more accessible. It’s a figure that flies in the face of analyst predictions and armchair investors. No one could have predicted the success of a game that works so hard to punish it’s players. Hardcore gaming isn’t just alive and well, but fans are hungry for more. As inspiring as this is, it isn’t the first time this has happened in the gaming world.
In the early days of gaming, most titles were staggeringly difficult. Compare Super Mario Odyssey (2018) to the original Super Mario Bros. (1985). For a casual gamer, it's very common to die on the first level of the original, whereas you’d have to be completely inept to die in the first world of Mario Odyssey. Part of the reason for that was that early designers recognized that one of the joys of gaming was overcoming the difficulty of the challenges. On top of the joy of overcoming the difficulty, working up the skill to overcome it was also time consuming, creating a perceived sense of value in the player. Games lasted for months in those early days because they were hard, not because they had a lot of content. Now in 2022, most games are built to create value by creating a wide breadth of content to extract the same amount of value. The tradeoff creates accessibility and ease of use at the cost of challenge and commitment.
In the early days of gaming, most titles were staggeringly difficult. Compare Super Mario Odyssey (2018) to the original Super Mario Bros. (1985). For a casual gamer, it's very common to die on the first level of the original, whereas you’d have to be completely inept to die in the first world of Mario Odyssey. Part of the reason for that was that early designers recognized that one of the joys of gaming was overcoming the difficulty of the challenges. On top of the joy of overcoming the difficulty, working up the skill to overcome it was also time consuming, creating a perceived sense of value in the player. Games lasted for months in those early days because they were hard, not because they had a lot of content. Now in 2022, most games are built to create value by creating a wide breadth of content to extract the same amount of value. The tradeoff creates accessibility and ease of use at the cost of challenge and commitment.
Difficulty adds value to video games and it also creates opportunities for the player to bond with the game. Although the original Super Mario Bros can be beaten in around two hours, most people wouldn’t beat the game within two hours of owning it-they would take months mastering the game, playing it over and over again to master the more challenging levels. I suspect thats one of the reasons Mario became a beloved mascot. The game being bundled with the Nintendo made it accessible to every console owner. The catchy music and colorful graphics made the game inviting, but the difficulty made the players come back again and again. The difficulty allowed the players to be frustrated and talk about the game, and then create stories about their triumphs. Among mascot platformers, Mario is the most well known and beloved, and I think the difficulty of the original trilogy has played a huge part in that.
Elden Ring has created a similar phenomenon. Players were attracted by the mysterious and dark tone of the graphics and the writing of George Martin.They have committed tremendous numbers of hours mastering the game in its high difficulty level, which allows them to create stories to share with their friends and colleagues, which creates future sales and a larger fanbase. Elden Ring really has stolen the show in 2022. It has dominated the gaming conversation even for people who aren’t playing it. It's a hit. Apple Arcade needs a hit like Elden Ring.
Thus far, Arcade has created its own value proposition. No ads, no microtransactions, all you can eat buffet. That’s something even hardcore console games don’t have. The weakness in Arcade’s library however is that all of the games are accessible, casual or have no sense of wonder. While there are certainly some quality titles, there is nothing AAA to speak of in Arcade. Nothing that sparks the imagination and gives the play a desire to search out and discover the hidden depths and secrets of the world. Even Arcade’s best games are either too easy or lack real depth. Sasquatch has a ton of content and secrets but the game is dreadfully easy. Bleak Sword is tough as nails, but it doesn’t have a world to explore or secrets to uncover. Grindstone is both fun and difficult, but there’s nothing to see beyond the main path: its a puzzle game.
If Apple wants their service to really be a part of the gaming conversation they need a big, quality, deep AAA experience that will actually give players an experience worth talking about. Arcade can and should have casual games to appeal to gamers of all ages and experience levels, but it also needs a conversation piece. Gaming has always been a social pass-time, even if the games are played alone. Apple needs to recognize the importance of that.
For that to happen, Apple needs a game that embraces difficulty and obtuse objectives. Something that has tight gameplay but countless secrets and easter eggs. Something that has depth and an explorable world. It also needs something that will benefit from frequent updates and future content. That’s a game that will get someone to pay $5 a month for a whole year so they can experience everything in the game. That’s why it behooves Apple to invest in something like that: because a game like that will keep its players coming back month after month. Call of Duty, Gran Turismo, League of Legends, Hearthstone. All of these games have literally become hobbies and lifestyles for the people that play them. No game on Apple Arcade boasts that kind of identity. Even Grindstone, arguably the best Arcade game, would not qualify as much more than a really fun distraction that lasts a few months.
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