News Apple Arcade changes content direction, according to report

[Virtual Ruminant]

According to Bloomberg (paywall-free paraphrasing available at Macworld), Apple has determined that exclusive, linear premium indie titles trying to be hybrid mobile and TV games aren't bringing in the big subscriber numbers and is set to shift course towards giving people a flat-rate to more typical mindless mobile grind, minus the predatory freemium monetization scourge.

Personal opinion: Good. People who enjoy mobile time-waster games continue to get a fair package that doesn't bleed them dry and the rest of us will hopefully be able enjoy games like Little Orpheus or Oceanhorn where they belong: Various computers and consoles hooked up to big screens.

 

[lashman]

yeah, that whole apple arcade thing was sooooo bizarre

 

[low-G]

I really hope the Chu Chu Rocket and Frogger games get (improved) PC ports...

 

[lashman]

I really hope the Chu Chu Rocket and Frogger games get (improved) PC ports...

they better ... i REALLY want to play both

 

[Li Kao]

Is Necrobarista in trouble ? Am I sad ? Am I petty ?
So many questions.

 

[manchego obfuscator]

Apple has done a pretty impressive job curating games for the service, but I unsubscribed after a few months. I'm not into more conventionally mobile-esque games designed to maintain user engagement over a long period of time, and while there are a lot of games on the service that run more to my tastes (mainly shorter, more linear, story-driven games), most of them clearly aren't designed around mobile as a platform; even at $5/month, it's just not worth it when I'd rather just wait to play games like Inmost, Little Orpheus, Shinsekai, Beyond a Steel Sky, etc. on a bigger screen with a controller and better visuals/performance

 

[C-Dub]

I tried the free month of Arcade, and if I hadn't left the Apple ecosystem I'd have continued to subscribe.

In fact, as my girlfriend hates the Shield TV so much, I was actually thinking of getting the new Apple TV (whenever they announce it) as our Smart TV box and just sub to Apple Arcade again on that. I won't now.

 

[manchego obfuscator]

I tried the free month of Arcade, and if I hadn't left the Apple ecosystem I'd have continued to subscribe.

In fact, as my girlfriend hates the Shield TV so much, I was actually thinking of getting the new Apple TV (whenever they announce it) as our Smart TV box and just sub to Apple Arcade again on that. I won't now.

tbh an Apple TV and a wireless Xbox/PS4 controller is pretty much the ideal setup for Apple Arcade, though idk about performance/visuals for every game

 

[C-Dub]

tbh an Apple TV and a wireless Xbox/PS4 controller is pretty much the ideal setup for Apple Arcade, though idk about performance/visuals for every game

I had that setup before I sold all my Apple devices. It was very good.

Alas, I thought the Shield TV would be good enough, but my girlfriend hates the UI and a few other things. To be fair, I've soured on the device too.

But if Apple are going to fuck up Arcade, I may just put the £200-250 I was going to spend on Apple TV towards a different Smart TV product.

 

[Aelphaeis Mangarae]

This is very unfortunate, because Apple Arcade represented a welcome pushback against the worst aspects of mobile gaming, prioritizing high quality games that respected your time. But it would seem that audiences don't want that, or that this doesn't keep people hooked. Instead what seems to work is addictive and predatory games with the predatory parts replaced with a flat subscription fee.

 

[beep boop]

So... everything everyone was worried about with the advent of subscription-driven game distribution. Neat. I can only hope this isn't where games will be going over the next ten years. As much as I appreciate the boost in accessibility to a large number of games that subscriptions offer, the idea of a payment model dictating how games attached to it are designed is a bit dire. As flawed as the curation and spotlight paradigm is, this doesn't seem like a healthy replacement.

 

[manchego obfuscator]

So... everything everyone was worried about with the advent of subscription-driven game distribution. Neat. I can only hope this isn't where games will be going over the next ten years. As much as I appreciate the boost in accessibility to a large number of games that subscriptions offer, the idea of a payment model dictating how games attached to it are designed is a bit dire. As flawed as the curation and spotlight paradigm is, this doesn't seem like a healthy replacement.

perhaps I’m being overly optimistic, but for now, this seems specific to mobile. if anything, Microsoft and Xbox Game Studios have shifted away from what seemed Iike a monolithic focus on GAAS a few years ago, even as Game Pass has become a bigger part of their business

 

[dummmyy]

Agh this is such a bummer, i was thinking about subscribing soon!

 

[Aelphaeis Mangarae]

perhaps I’m being overly optimistic, but for now, this seems specific to mobile. if anything, Microsoft and Xbox Game Studios have shifted away from what seemed Iike a monolithic focus on GAAS a few years ago, even as Game Pass has become a bigger part of their business

With Game Pass, the model seems to be a combination of GaaS titles (Sea of Thieves and the like), AA titles (the Blair Witches), and MS plan to release a new AAA title from an in-house studio every 2-3 months or something like that once they're really rolling. I think the dynamics are a bit different, and it points to some unfortunate problems with how audiences engage with games on mobile.