Apple
Apple Arcade still exists and it’s still a priority – at least that’s the message we’re presenting to Apple. unexpected launch out of 20 new games on the same day aims to send.
New games include (but are not limited to) a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-branded battle game titled Shattered Fate TMNTa Disney-themed Scrabble-style game called enchanted developed in partnership with words with friends co-author, urban planner by name Cityscapes: Sim Builderand the continuation of the hit Arcade What is golf? titled what kind of car (If you haven’t played What is golf? however, you probably should – it’s now available on other platforms as well.)
There are also several remastered versions of premium classics from previous eras of iPhone gaming such as LIMBO, Kingdom of the Two Crowns, Farm Simulator 20, Octodad: the most fatherly catch, Temple Runand Bennet Foddy get over it– think of the likes of Apple, the equivalent of a TV streaming service that also offers episodes of classic TV shows like Office or Star Trek.
This is the biggest trophy we’ve seen for Arcade in quite some time. There has been more of a trickle in the service lately, with one or more games popping up here and there.
Like Apple Arcade’s recent past, the content strategy here seems to be trying to take the best ideas and talent from the open App Store and use them to prove that the idea that “mobile gaming is bad” is completely wrong. – On the one side. partly by caring about quality to counter the mobile signal-to-noise ratio issue on that front, and on the other hand, to deprive games of microtransactions – even in genres that were originally designed around this monetization model.
Apple has correctly identified that the mobile gaming reputation problem stems from the inability of users to get through a lot of bad games (whether bad because of bad content, or because monetization sabotages what would otherwise be a good experience), to find a good thing. There have always been good mobile games; users simply struggled to find them, and many gave up and gave up trying, having too many bad experiences in the process.
However, Apple Arcade’s growth has been limited, in part because the claim that “mobile gaming is bad” wasn’t true from the start. There are hundreds of outstanding mobile games for both iOS and Android, including many free games with reasonable and unobtrusive monetization – so many that it may have been difficult to sell to iPhone owners even at Arcade’s super-cheap price of $4.99 per month . Day. If there are a dozen games you already love and they’re all free, why would you pay $5 a month for others?
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Here are some of the other games added. At first: Shattered Fate TMNT“a co-op adventure in the roguelike genre.”
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Here Cityscapes: Sim BuilderA SimCitystyle game. Here’s how it works on Mac – yes, arcade games work on Mac too, with varying port quality.
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This screenshot from Kingdom of Two Crowns+is the title here for strategy lovers.
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There’s nothing more classic on the iPhone than an endless runner Temple Rush+.
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Bennet Foddy Get over it + is a cult classic – just be prepared to be infuriated by its ridiculously absurd complexity and bizarre delivery.
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One of the original classics of the modern indie revival, LIMBO+ dark black and white platformer.
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This Farm Simulator 20+one of the latest App Store games updated for Arcade.
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Octodad: Father’s Biggest Catch+ this is one of the most popular games in this particular genre where the controls are infuriating. on purpose. (It’s a lot of fun and it’s funny.)
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Disney enchanted is words with friends but Disney is enough said.
Apple
Essentially, Apple offers a curated service here. Arcade is like a personal mobile game shopper; you don’t have to spend hours trying out mediocre games on the App Store and googling to figure out where to start. You can just join Arcade and expect a certain minimum level of quality. But you might argue that the same people who have enough desire to have great mobile games to pay monthly fees for them are often the same people who are already willing to invest in the work themselves.
However, Apple Arcade isn’t the only game subscription service that does this. There’s also Netflix Games, which has grown rapidly over the past year and releases games from popular developers for iOS. Including some of them who hosted their new games in Arcade, for example Odyssey Alto Snowman developer launching a new game Laya skyline via Netflix this week.
Games like Laya skyline they can be played on iPhone and downloaded from the App Store, but require a Netflix subscription to play. Lately, Netflix Games has been generating more buzz among influencers and the press than Apple has released Arcade.
Of course, media hype doesn’t necessarily mean success, and neither Apple nor Netflix have released many details about the performance of individual games.
While Apple Arcade caused some hype immediately upon launch in 2019, reports over the following months suggested that Apple struggled to gain as much ground as possible with it, and much of the noise died down. The company is probably hoping this new flurry of games will rekindle some interest, but the competition is fierce, so we’ll have to wait and see.
