Initially welcomed as a potential boon for premium mobile gaming, Arcade began facing troubles as payouts reportedly dropped and Apple severed ties with numerous original game studios mid-development during a strategy shift toward licensed family titles.Insider whispers point to a possible reboot, but some question whether gaming can get requisite Apple leadership attention to succeed long-term.
Arcade strategy shift caught devs by surprise
Developers say that when Arcade launched back in September 2019, upfront payments were “very generous,” and revenue share arrangements after that were also lucrative enough that most, if not all, games released on the platform in the first couple of years were profitable straight out of the gate. Apple Arcade was seen as a lifeline for many smaller studios specialising in so-called “premium” games without free-to-play monetization elements.
But multiple developer say the monthly per-user “bonus pool” payouts feeding rev share totals started declining around October 2020 and have steadily dropped since. Then in Spring 2021, as part of a sudden “reboot” of Arcade’s content strategy, Apple allegedly “cancelled a shitload of projects and pissed off a lot of people,” according to one unnamed source.
Developers’ complaint service now focuses on family-friendly games with prominent licensed IP characters attached. It is supplemented only by the occasional new addition from its ‘App Store Greats’ series – essentially repurposed free-to-play games with ads and in-app purchases removed.
“I got the sense they didn’t really know where they were going with it all – almost like they weren’t sure if they’d have jobs at the end of it,” said one unnamed studio head who met with Apple to discuss bringing their games onto Arcade.
Devs in the dark on Arcade’s direction
This strategy shift hasn’t been communicated to Apple’s development partners, however. One indie studio head told MobileGamer that after months of glowing feedback from Apple on one of their titles in development, Arcade reps suddenly withdrew interest, citing unspecified strategy changes. When the studio offered to alter designs and reduce budgets to better fit Arcade, they received no reply.
Other developers who’ve met with Apple to discuss bringing titles onto Arcade walked away confused about the platform’s direction. “I got the sense they didn’t really know where they were going with it all – almost like they weren’t sure if they’d have jobs at the end of it,” one source said, while another described a feeling that Arcade had the “smell of death” around it.
Upfront payments to developers for new Arcade titles have also steeply declined, sources say. And with bonus pool revenue share totals dropping every month, some studios are questioning the service’s future viability. “We’re going to see that amount decrease and decrease until it’s pennies,” warned one developer. “At that point putting a game on Arcade starts to become much less viable.”
Studios say Apple reps have been vague or mysterious about how the opaque bonus pool payments are calculated, leaving developers in the dark. “They have this metric that they call a qualifying session, and bonus pool payments are made based on that,” a source told MobileGamer. “But no-one knows what a qualifying session actually is.”
Netflix emerges as competitor
Some paint Apple as “vindictive” and “spiteful” on Arcade, especially toward studios who sign deals with rival Netflix. But others say Arcade has benefited mobile gaming. “Despite its imperfections, we’re very very happy the Arcade exists. It has made premium games viable on mobile,” one developer insisted.
Rumours suggest another Arcade reboot may be imminent as Apple looks to counter Netflix’s expanding gaming subscription footprint. But multiple studio heads said they feel Apple lacks genuine passion for gaming. “At the very top there needs to be a passion and respect for games, and there just isn’t,” a source said.
Apple has been tight-lipped about the performance of its gaming subscription service, and the word around the town that there may be problems behind the scenes.