Technology
Apple will have canceled certain Arcade contracts to concentrate on 'engagement'
Apple has reportedly canceled several contracts for games earlier this year which were scheduled to launch on Arcade, the firm's high-quality titles library game subscription service which has no commercials or in-app purchases. It is said that each of them has been canceled for the same reason: Apple wants new games to ensure players get back to service.
A Bloomberg report notes that a manager at Arcade has told some developers that Apple is looking for games with a high degree of "engagement," as one of the sources stated.
The report mentions that an Aple Arcade representative cited Grindstone, a charming, multi-level puzzles of Capybara Games, as an example, to developers who wondered where Apple's bar for engagement currently lies.
Apple paid for the development milestones in this report, and told developers that if they fulfilled Apple's involvement requirement, Apple would work with them in the future. Bloomberg mentioned the financial woes caused by the contracts that were canceled for some of these developers. These games can be released on other platforms such as Google's similar Android Play Pass service, but that may not be enough to recoup the losses.
According to the interview with my colleague Andrew Webster with indie developers, who published games on the Apple Arcade, Play Pass pays developers based on the metrics of user engagement.
The reason Apple can almost certainly change its requirements is because it keeps subscribers. In late 2019, Arcade had a strong dynamism. This was partially aided by a one-month free trial, a first-class service offering that costs $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year. Of course, the other major element of this momentum was the great games, most exclusively for the platform.
How exactly Apple measures engagement in its next games could change the type of games we will see. It's difficult to watch Apple go back without ads or microtransactions, but it might not mean a new direction for engagement in short games, like ustwo's Assembl with Care. It could also involve less games, but I hope to see several good games in the mix for Apple's sake.
