No ads, and all of the games are exclusive to Apple
By Tom Warren Mar 25, 2019, 1:45pm EDT
Apple is unveiling a new Apple Arcade game subscription service today at the company’s “show time” event. Unlike cloud gaming services from competitors like Sony, Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia, Apple’s gaming subscription isn’t designed to stream games to iOS devices. Instead, it’s a subscription game service for titles that can be installed from the App Store.
More than 1 billion people have downloaded games from the App Store, and there are more than 300,000 games available already. Apple is aiming to curate some of these games into its Apple Arcade 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.
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.
Apple showed off a variety of games today, but we don’t have a full list of games just yet. Apple has revealed a number of titles on its Apple Arcade website, though:
- Where Cards Fall
- The Pathless
- LEGO Brawls
- Hot Lava
- Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm
- Beyond a Steel Sky
- Mr. Turtle
- Frogger in Toy Town
- Lega Arthouse, Cardpocalypse
- No Way Home
- Down in Bermuda
- The Bradwell Conspiracy
- Projection: First Light
- Lifelike
- Sayonara Wild Hearts
- Repair
- Sneaky Sasquatch
- UFA on Tape: First Contact
- Sonic Racing
- Doomsday Vault
- ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree
- HitchHiker
- Spidersaurs
- Yaga
- Monomals
- Enter The Construct
- Overland
- Winding Worlds
- Kings of the Castle
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.
Google also launched its own game studio last week, alongside its
Stadia game streaming service.
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. Game developers will be able to sign up for
more information about the service right here, ahead of its launch later this year.
Update, March 25th 3PM ET: Apple has revealed a limited list of games, and we’ve added these to the article.
