I think Netflix is in a different situation because of the volume of content. Netflix has a lot of shows.
I read that article largely sympathetic to Apple Arcade and not convinced what they’re doing is wrong. In the time I spent as a subscriber I played a lot of Grindstone and a lot of What The Golf?.
I also played a bunch of those smaller, “indie games” (not a great term I’m sorry), and I enjoyed them, but after the first couple months I’d played through the interesting games from launch and the new games only trickled out.
I don’t think Apple could ever throw enough money at the problem to guarantee you’re getting at least two or three high quality games like Sayonara Wild Hearts or Assemble With Care each month. So while I enjoyed those games, it makes sense those aren’t going to be enough for retention at the pace Apple can fund/produce them.
It’s a shame those games will struggle to find success independently produced and sold (without compromising on unpleasant free to play or advertising models), but I think realistically they’re struggling to find success here too, and that may just be the nature of those games. It doesn’t make them bad games, but what can you do?
Of course Apple also didn’t have that many Grindstone-style games. They’re great because they can keep people engaged for longer, but they’re still finite too, as my lapsed subscription can attest. So I’m not sure just saying they want more of that will make it happen. But it sounds like it might be a more realistic goal.
I think subscription providers will need to come to terms that you need to spend a LOT of money to create content for a subscription service. These things aint cheap. Look at production cost for the TV models to see the scale we are talking about here.
Netflix is spending now more in content production than all hollywood studios combined (it’s budget is higher than the total US box office, by a margin).
While of course you can’t start that big, Apple’s and Amazon’s budgets are pretty high too (about half the total US box office numbers) and higher than most (all?) studios.
Translating that to games is hard, but “tens of millions a year” isn’t going to cut it.
Apple’s got the largest war chest of all, so they’re clearly half-assing it when it comes to funding Apple Arcade. Hell, they probably spend more on a single season of one of their TV shows. (And Apple TV+ sure as hell isn’t taking off.)
Fair, but also our own experiences with Arcade. I was able to play $30 worth of App Store purchases (had the games been traditionally listed for sale) for a trial and $5 without any rush. I buy quality mobile games so they actually missed revenue from me. If I’m typical of a market segment for Arcade, that’s a problem.
A huge thing about Arcade is it about increase the number of games playable with the Apple TV and a controller by a magnitude. It really does turn the ATV into a B grade console - surely as good or better than any similar Android based device.
I see your point but I think I am typical of a segment of Arcade players because I like premium iOS games and I had been keen for controller support. There are other segments I’m not part of (parents buying a walled playground for their kids, tvOS gamers, people uncomfortable digging through the App Store, people who want Netflix-style payments for everything, etc.)
I mean all those boil down to “likes games enough to spend money” but the subcategories are not retaining Arcade differently.
Night School (who made Oxenfree and Afterparty) have a new game on Apple Arcade–Next Stop Nowhere. A space… courier… story game? I’ll report back after I’ve given it a try.
I hope someone is keeping a running list of must-play Apple Arcade games. I don’t have time these days, but I plan on checking it out one of these days since I own an iOS device now. (Apple TV).
In light of the new Apple One subscriptions, I just went to look through the Apple Arcade stuff. None of the newer stuff looked particularly interesting. Nothing made me want to subscribe. Too much stuff looks like it wants a real controller or uses a virtual controller as well.