Apple:
Apple today announced Apple Arcade, a game subscription service that will feature over 100 new and exclusive games, including original releases from renowned creators Hironobu Sakaguchi, Ken Wong, Will Wright and dozens more. Apple Arcade games will redefine games and be curated based on originality, quality, creativity, fun and their appeal to players of all ages. Apple Arcade will give customers the freedom to try any game from its handpicked collection of titles that are all-you-can-play, have no ads, ad tracking or additional purchases, and respect user privacy.
The App Store is the world’s most successful and vibrant gaming platform with nearly 300,000 free and paid games. Free games, supported by advertising or in-app purchases, are enjoyed by hundreds of millions of players around the world. Paid games are often critically acclaimed and beloved by the people who play them, but competing with free is hard, so even the best of these games have only reached a smaller audience. With the simplicity of a single subscription, Apple Arcade will bring games like these to the App Store’s more than 1 billion gaming customers. Apple Arcade is the perfect complement to the already enormously popular catalog of free games on the App Store, making iOS the premier gaming platform for players of all ages.
Apple is not just handpicking the games in Apple Arcade, but also contributing to the development costs and working closely with creators to bring the games to life. Made by some of the most critically acclaimed game developers in the world, Apple Arcade games will entertain customers with incredibly fun gameplay and immersive stories, while capturing imaginations with original art and music. The service will feature games from Annapurna Interactive, Bossa Studios, Cartoon Network, Finji, Giant Squid, Klei Entertainment, Konami, LEGO, Mistwalker Corporation, SEGA, Snowman, ustwo games and dozens more.
You’ll access Apple Arcade (great name, by the way) via the App Store, under the Games tab. 100+ games, unlimited play. All games will run on iOS, tvOS, and on your Mac. That’s a big deal.
All games available offline. No net connection required.
Pricing to come.
It looked like it had its own Arcade tab, not a tab under the Games tab. Yep, just checked the site. https://www.apple.com/apple-arcade/
Amusingly (to me), this and the Card were the things that interested me the most.
I really hope this pays off for the game designers who are in it for the craft instead of psychologically manipulating players to make consumable in-app purchases.
I’m not much of a gamer, but most of those games they showed looked pretty damn good.
I’m looking forward to this, especially since it supports smaller gaming companies.
On a side note (pun intended) I installed Provence on iPad Pro 13” and now play N64 games with my Nimbus controller. Ridiculously fun.