Apple Arcade: Can It Change the World of Gaming?

The world of gaming is about to get a whole lot more crowded. Everyone including Google, Amazon, and even Apple are getting into the mix. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have been dominating the gaming industry for years but the console wars seem to be dying down. No longer do people want to pay for bulky outdated hardware and clutter up their homes with game cases. With PlayStation, Xbox and Switch families already have their primary gaming systems for home entertainment, but what about gaming on the go. Sure, there’s mobile apps but the world of mobile gaming hasn’t taken off quite like console games. Except now that’s about to change with Apple Arcade.

Apple getting into the world of gaming shifts the market a little with their Apple Arcade. Subscription service are all the rage these days and with the fan base Apple carries they set the stage for growing fields. Now, with Apple Arcade, of course, you can still get your gaming fix in with the Apple TV, but with Apple Arcade gaming pivots to an all around experience. You can sit in home with the Apple TV or take the game on the go via iPad or iPhone and pick up right where you left off. You can even play offline.

Surely to start, most developers making games for the Apple Arcade will probably be smaller and more independent developers without the big budgets of major developers, but as the service grows and spreads, how long before the bigger names jump on board. Big budget studios will continue to make games for the diehards on consoles and computer gaming, but Apple might cut out a share of their market. With the Apple Arcade rumored to have a low cost of $5/month with no ads, free upgrades, and no in-game purchases, players might flock to a more retro style of game play before the pay-to-win model shifted the world of gaming.

So far, the one concern most people have to wonder is how Apple Arcade will effect gaming apps already on the App Store? How are these games going to set the difference between the free-to-play apps that already exist and the subscription service being offered? If the only difference between the $5 and free-to-play is ads, then Apple may have overplayed their hand a little here. While the games that were shown during the launch already look stunning and some look up to the standard of console games, $5 for ad-free gaming when most people can only play 1-2 games at any given time might be an unnecessary expense to most.

The world of subscription games goes back to the days of Sega Genesis. Does anyone remember the “Sega Channel” from the mid-to-late ’90s? It wasn’t too long ago that you could get your fill of dozens of Sega games for a monthly fee. How will Apple maintain the longevity that Sega never did? Was it Xbox and PlayStation that killed Sega and their console dreams? Did the Sega Channel run it’s course and fans slowly get bored with the lack of changing variety? Or was it the price of approximately $15/month not worth the price of admission?

Whatever the case may be, maybe a $5 monthly fee will keep Apple die-hards intrigued. Maybe a bundle with their new Apple TV+, Apple News, and Apple Arcade will bring the value that keeps these new services around. Maybe they’re doomed to fail. I guess we’ll have to wait until this fall to see.