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Apple Arcade Is a New Game Subscription Service For iOS, Mac, and Apple TV (theverge.com)
Apple has unveiled a few different subscription services today at its "show time" event, including a new Apple Arcade game subscription service for titles that can be installed from the App Store. The company is aiming to curate some of the 300,000 games currently available from the App Store into this new ad-free subscription service. "There will be 100 new and exclusive games available on Apple Arcade, which will launch on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV," reports The Verge. From the report: These games won't be available on any other mobile platform or any subscription service other than Apple Arcade. Games will be downloaded and played straight from the App Store, and subscribers will be able to try games whenever they want and resume them across devices. All of the game features, content, and future updates will be included, and there will be no ads shown within the games.
SimCity creator Will Wright is also making a game for the service. Apple is promising games from Annapurna Interactive, Bossa Studios, Cartoon Network, Finji, Giant Squid, Klei Entertainment, Konami, Lego, Mistwalker Corporation, SEGA, Snowman, ustwo games, and more. Apple isn't just curating the games for Apple Arcade; it's actually planning to contribute to the development costs of creating them. Apple might not have announced its own game studio today, but it's certainly a big step toward that. Apple Arcade is launching this fall in more than 150 countries, but Apple is not yet revealing pricing for this subscription service. Apple does say that "access for up to six family members," will be available, suggesting you'll be able to share the subscription. While the full list of games isn't available yet, some of the titles revealed on Apple Arcade's website include: LEGO Brawls, HitchHiker, Kings of the Castle, Where Cards Fall, and Frogger in Toy Town. If you're a game developer, you can sign up for more information about the service here.
SimCity creator Will Wright is also making a game for the service. Apple is promising games from Annapurna Interactive, Bossa Studios, Cartoon Network, Finji, Giant Squid, Klei Entertainment, Konami, Lego, Mistwalker Corporation, SEGA, Snowman, ustwo games, and more. Apple isn't just curating the games for Apple Arcade; it's actually planning to contribute to the development costs of creating them. Apple might not have announced its own game studio today, but it's certainly a big step toward that. Apple Arcade is launching this fall in more than 150 countries, but Apple is not yet revealing pricing for this subscription service. Apple does say that "access for up to six family members," will be available, suggesting you'll be able to share the subscription. While the full list of games isn't available yet, some of the titles revealed on Apple Arcade's website include: LEGO Brawls, HitchHiker, Kings of the Castle, Where Cards Fall, and Frogger in Toy Town. If you're a game developer, you can sign up for more information about the service here.
Either Slashdot is doing poorly and they're looking for ways to get people to post inane bullshit about products they need not buy or the editors are staying away from politics because they know Trump ain't going to jail after all.
Either way it's hilarious. Slashdot must be suffering.
Today's /. brought to you by Apple, and the word "payola."
Seriously, we don't need 3 separate Apple stories on the front page. We don't need a blow-by-blow. Just summarize the damn press conference when it's over.
You want what Apple tells you to want.
Think Different.
The Apple Is Your Friend. Trust The Apple.
[x] YES! I want the next great Apple thing!
Dear Apple, enclosed is a blank check. Please fill in the amount for me. I'll be happily waiting for however long it takes for this to become a real product! Your loyal Apple fanboy.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
People just repost macrumors articles. Usually a few days later.
So basically this is what Google just announced in Stadia
Actually it's the opposite.
Not just because it's IOS only (though Apple TV is included). No, because these games are all playable offline (in fact they even through a little shade at Google during this segment by saying unlike streaming games you could play these with no network connection).
It also means a much more stable experience though, that is truly portable - Stadia doesn't seem like a thing that would work well outside a really strong wifi connection and would eat your mobile plan for lunch.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Woo hoo! Another game subscription I can ignore!
If you watch this part of the announcement video, I thought that almost all of the games they were hinting at (not enough to call a preview) looks really interesting. I love the idea of a service that helps support alternative game ideas that simply cannot make money from in-app purchases or subscriptions on their own, to me having a field of potential games all with very unique gameplay is really exciting.
An interesting side note is they mentioned all of these games would work on an AppleTV as well, so I assume that means they will all mandate controller support to make that really possible.
My only gripe is we have to wait until fall to see the service arrive, it will mean a pretty good selection at launch though as I'm sure they'll be promoting this to game developers at WWDC this year to produce more content for.
I wasn't expecting an announcement like this about games but I was really happy to see it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Last Apple product I bought was the iPhone 3GS. Went to Android and never looked back.
I still remember the last time Apple wanted to make a business out of selling "digital" newspapers. Fact is paid print media is mostly dead.
So do tell me about market trends then.
I think someone saw the recent success of the Epic Game store recently and wanted to make a buck replicating it. I mean the business model with game "exclusives". Since we already had online game stores before. I agree that this mainly seems like an attempt to copy the people who are making money on services. Without even thinking if the product provides anything people want.
i.e. it's the anti-Steve Jobs model. He tried to make something he would like to use himself and then sold it. Quite often before most of the market catched up.
Apple seems to be desperate. Launching so many services with either paid subscriptions or captive market models in an attempt to gain revenue.
Although I agree it's an attempt to gain revenue, to me it makes sense to launch these all together since they are in a way competing for the same space.
This is just like how Netflix was saying the real competition they had was simply for attention. Apple is launching News+, TV+, and Arcade all together because they are all facets of ways people spend time, Apple is trying to do what they do best in any space - offer a really premium experience. If you like to read news, how about a way to do that with no ads? If you like TV, here's.... well an HBO clone (was going to say Netflix but after some thought the efforts Apple has are not broad enough to compete with Netflix properly) with a bunch of big Hollywood names who have not been arrested yet to hopefully lure you in.
You like to spend time on games? How about a bunch of really unique games you can throw time in on whenever, on whatever Apple device you have handy.
To me it's a simple extension of what they already do with hardware and other things like photography. It makes a ton of sense to launch them all together - the only one that was kind of strange to include was the Apple Card, probably would have been better to wait until it was ready to go. But I guess there they want to phase people in via mailing list.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
to recap:
Netflix - but from Apple
Steam - but from Apple
Visa - but from Apple
News - but from Apple
The only innovation I see here is the attempt to direct other peoples' revenue streams into Apple's coffers.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Gives everybody six more months of nauseating hype before the disappointment. Call it the Apple *Mueller Report*.
Hey now, at least Apple will deliver something people can use.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The Apple T.V.O.D.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
wait, wait, here me out...
Cookie Clicker, but every time you click, it sends a penny to Apple!
Oh, and makes some sort of bullshit boop noise. Every once in a while throw in a different kind of boop to keep the player engaged.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
They show the exact same game running on an iPad, iPhone, TV, and MacBook. And you're supposed to be able to seamlessly switch between each platform, moving the same game between them, just like Stadia does.
So what's the problem believing that? They already do this today, really well, with iCloud syncing of save game content between an iPad and iPhone for example.
Apple gets flak for some services being unreliable but iCloud sync has been really reliable, and fast, for me.
It's only a tiny bit more work for games to able to run on AppleTV from other iOS devices, it's still IOS - since they don't really use UIKit at all. Moving to the Mac is similarly very easy as well, with a compatibility layer - all the real work is done by the GPU of any given system, and Metal is much the same across all those platforms (or at least most of it is).
And the only way you can pull that off is with streaming.
Simply not true, syncing game state in save files is a totally legit way to do it. I wouldn't say it would be AS seamless as streaming, but for most games very close and really more than close enough.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
NOBODY wants exclusive content except the subscription services themselves. Now that there's a ridiculous number of subscription services, and all the exclusive content is fragmenting what is available to the average consumer.
Screw this trend. I hate it. Especially screw Apple, who are doubling down on exclusivity. (our service & our hardware)
We don't appreciate your new offerings... we think you're all assholes. We might grudgingly subscribe to some things (well, not Apple anyway), but we hate you for playing these stupid games and hurting your customers in the process.
Game makers can't afford lock-in. If Apple wants everything to be exclusive this thing is dead in the water before it starts.
So basically this is what Google just announced in Stadia
Not even close. Other than being about gaming, the two are basically nothing alike, regardless of whether you think one is better or worse. These are two VERY different approaches to gaming, each of which makes different compromises and plays to different strengths of their respective companies.
it will only run on Apple hardware.
At least so far, yup. And just a subset of it at that! That said, with Apple just announcing that they're bringing their TV app to other platforms like Roku, Amazon Fire, and smart TVs from various manufacturers (e.g. Samsung, LG, Vizio), it's entirely possible that Apple may revisit that decision in the future. Likewise, with rumors of ARM-based Macs on the horizon, it wouldn't be surprising if it expands to the Mac as well in the near future. In the meantime, however, this is clearly Stadia's greatest strength: the ability to run AAA titles at the highest quality on any screen, without the need to shell out for AAA hardware.
And apparently require touch screen controls because it doesn't come with a controller.
First off, this is a software subscription service, so it doesn't come with any hardware. Instead, it's designed to run on a variety of hardware, some of which—such as the Apple TV—lack a touchscreen, so your assumption is incorrect. You also seem to be unaware that there are a huge number of games for iOS/tvOS that are designed to work without a touchscreen (Apple even features games intended for controllers in a section of the App Store). There are probably a dozen gaming companies already making "MFi" (Made for iPhone/iPod/iPad) controllers that are compatible with iOS/tvOS. If Arcade ever makes its way to Mac the situation is even better because—as is the case on Windows or Linux—any HID-compliant peripherals (e.g. DualShocks, Xbox, etc.) will work just fine, so long as you have a way to connect it (e.g. Bluetooth, wireless adapter, USB, etc.).
All the downsides of Stadia but with none of the upsides.
Quite the contrary, it actually addresses nearly every downside of Stadia:
- Stadia won't work if you lack home broadband/have an outdated router or AP/your Internet goes down, but Arcade will
- Stadia won't work well when you're in a car, flying, taking public transit, etc., but Arcade will
- Stadia won't work if you share a connection with a network hog, but Arcade will
- Stadia collects data on your use and allows games to do so too, but Arcade doesn't do that or allow that
- Stadia has one controller shape/size, but Arcade has a huge number of options
That said, Arcade comes with its own set of compromises, most of which are things that Stadia excels at:
- Arcade's quality is limited to the hardware it's running on, but Stadia can run at full quality on virtually anything
- Arcade only runs on a subset of Apple hardware, but Stadia runs on practically any screen
- Arcade requires on-device storage, but Stadia requires no storage
- Arcade ONLY has highly curated exclusives, but Stadia is an open platform
Or, as I said at the top, they're two wholly different approaches, each with advantages and disadvantages.
Between the two, I'm probably more excited about Stadia, though I honestly doubt I'll sign up for either, given that I'm the sort of gamer who waits for games to hit the bargain bin before picking them up (I have a backlog of over 200 games I already own that I haven't played but want to play, so why pay a monthly fee for "maybe" entertainment when I already paid for sure entertainment?). Not only do I think that Stadia's drawbacks (which already don't really affect me much) are likely to decrease in severity with time, I also expect it to have a more compelling library of games, given that Apple has yet to demonstrate that they get gamers, despite numerous false starts at getting ser
So basically this is what Google just announced in Stadia, but worse, because it will only run on Apple hardware.
But unlike a new Google product, it will still be available a year from now.
Between the two, I'm probably more excited about Stadia, though I honestly doubt I'll sign up for either,
I would as well...
An interesting point of difference as well - for Stadia the developer assumes all of the risk of converting a game to run under Stadia. I assume it has a PC base but even so that is not zero effort.
Meanwhile Apple is paying all of these game developers to make the games for Apple's service. I'm sure they also get a cut of service revenue depending on how many people play, but they have much less downside than a developer moving to support Stadia...
One more quibble, is that Stadia can't really display at full quality on everything, because it's limited by the display and network connection you are playing with. Even if the back-end is always running at full quality, you yourself may not be seeing the full effect of that. I wonder if that will cause some issues given some games optimize particular resolutions, whereas a 4K display just scaled down to a 1080p display would look different and maybe lose some detail they could have protected with a real 1080p rendering from the game.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Stadia was (you might as well say it will be cancelled) an online game streaming service (the game is executed "in the cloud"). This is an 'app subscription' service where you actually get the app downloaded to your device.
Two different things completely. And yes, you can has a controller (Bluetooth) to iOS.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
seems like a collection of casual games, which is OK i guess for that lost minute every now and then.
but not for a serious, engaging gaming experience.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
Anyone recall Apple's answer to AOL. A tiny little community called eWorld? This is history repeating itself all over but what Tim doesn't know is that Goldman Sachs will own Apple at the end of this new flop.
All these subscription service offering are exhausting, and in aggregate, incredibly expensive. Given how much iOS games outright suck this is probably a service I can just ignore.
Everything else is Apple ____+. With all of them being announced at the same time I'm surprised to not see this called Apple Arcade+.
I don't see the point in such selections. If I want light games, then it's much easier to play ethereum lottery Relaxing games, a responsive website that I can access from the phone is all I need to relax after work. I like it a lot more than this hypothetically free subscription. I have nothing against Apple but why reinvent the wheel for the thousandth time.