Many Questions Still Remain About Apple Arcade, But Game Developers Are Cautiously Optimistic

One of the slightly more mysterious services Apple announced earlier this week was Apple Arcade, a gaming subscription service that promises to offer users access to a collection of exclusive game titles for a flat monthly fee, with no other hidden costs like in-app purchases.

While Apple showed off several of the game developers and teased the impressive titles that would be coming, the announcement stopped short of actually explaining how much it’s going to cost, how additional developers will be able to participate in offering games, and exactly what the upside will be for those developers.

Despite this, however, several developers who have spoken to The Verge appear to be enthusiastic about the potential for the service, while remaining cautiously optimistic about exactly how it’s all going to work. The developers and publishers who are involved with the project right now aren’t able to discuss specifics; it’s clear that Apple will be directly funding the development of games for the new service in some way, and Apple has certainly been able to convince some of the biggest names in gaming to participate, including Final Fantasy‘s Hironobu Sakaguchi and Will Wright of SimCity fame, along with the developers of classic boutique iOS games like Monument Valley and Alto’s Adventure.

Creators have said one of the biggest appeals about Apple’s Arcade service so far is simply the fact that Apple is focused on positioning it as a quality, premium service that will help to distinguish and highlight great indie games that otherwise get lost in the shuffle of “freemium” titles that bigger studios keep cranking out.

I’m heartened to see Apple devoting so much energy to maintaining and improving the quality of the App Store, especially while still keeping indie games solidly in the spotlight.

Indie Developer Zach Gage, speaking with The Verge

Developers have expressed concerns, however, that subscriptions could eat into paid game sales — users who are paying a flat monthly fee already are much less likely to purchase additional games outside of the core subscription offering unless they’re exceptionally compelling or high-rated. Since Apple’s Arcade service is somewhat unprecedented, it’s difficult to say how likely this is to happen, but based on Apple’s on-stage demonstration on Monday, it seems fairly certain that Apple Arcade will be an adjunct to the existing App Store, rather than replacing it or acting as a layer on top of it.

Similarly, Apple’s focus on editorial curation of apps should allow it to continue to highlight worthwhile titles, regardless of whether they form part of the Apple Arcade service or not. Exposure from Apple’s editorial team has often succeeded in vaunting smaller and relatively unknown quality games into overnight successes against the flood of “freemium” titles that dominate the download charts.

However, many developers are worried that Apple Arcade may end up being an exclusive club that will be out of reach to all but the most elite game creators. Certainly the talent shown at Monday’s event would suggest this, and the service has definitely been by invitation only thus far. Apple has yet to provide any information on whether game makers will even be able to apply to participate, much less any possible selection criteria for qualifying, but it seems clear at this point that it’s not going to be completely open.

There’s also been no information on exactly how developers will make money. Rumours have suggested that Apple will be allocating subscription revenue based on how much time users spend in each game — something that iOS 12’s Screen Time has certainly laid the foundation for — but at this point, nobody outside of Apple seems to know for certain how this will work, nor what portion of the subscription fees Apple plans to keep for itself; the company traditionally keeps a 30 percent cut for App Store purchases and first-year subscriptions, which drops to 15 percent in the second year. However, it’s also been asking for a 50 percent subscription cut from publishers participating in its News+ service.

In all fairness, this week’s event was a media and public-facing announcement of the service, so it’s not surprising that Apple hasn’t said too much about how the service will work for developers. With Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference only a few weeks away, it seems likely that Apple is holding off those kinds of details for its more developer-focused announcements.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]