Apple Arcade Fails to Grasp Gamer Needs, Frustrates Developers

Apple Arcade, Apple's subscription service for mobile gaming, has been a double-edged sword for many developers. While it has provided a platform for game creators, the experience has been marred by numerous frustrations, as highlighted in a detailed report by Mobilegamer.biz titled "Inside Apple Arcade." This report sheds light on the challenges developers face, including delayed payments, insufficient technical support, and issues with game discoverability.

One of the most critical issues raised by developers is the prolonged waiting times for responses from the Apple Arcade team. An indie developer recounted a harrowing six-month wait for payment, which nearly led to their studio's collapse. "It’s a very difficult and long process to sign a deal with Apple these days," the developer stated. "The lack of vision and clear focus of the platform is frustrating and if there is any goal, it keeps changing every year or so. Also, technical support is pretty miserable." This sentiment was echoed by another developer who mentioned going weeks without any communication from Apple and receiving unhelpful or non-answers to their queries.

Discoverability is another major pain point. One developer likened their game's presence on the platform to being "in a morgue for the last two years" because Apple did not feature it. "It’s like we don’t exist. So as a developer you think, well, they’ve given us this money for exclusivity… I don’t want to give them the money back, but I do want people to play my game. It’s like we’re invisible," they lamented. The quality assurance (QA) process was also criticized, with one developer describing it as excessively burdensome, requiring the submission of "1000 screenshots all at once to show you have every device aspect ratio and language covered."

Despite these challenges, some developers noted that Apple Arcade has become more focused over time. "I think Arcade knows who its audience is much more today than at the outset. If that doesn’t turn out to be high concept artful indie games, that’s not Apple’s fault," one developer remarked. "If they can build a business on family games, good for them and good for the devs who can chase that opportunity." Furthermore, several developers credited Apple's financial support for their studios' sustainability. "We were able to sign a good deal for our titles which covered our whole development budget," one developer said, acknowledging that without Apple’s funding, their studio might not exist today.

Dev says Apple does not understand gamers

The report also suggests that Apple Arcade lacks a clear strategy and feels disconnected from the broader Apple ecosystem. "Arcade has no clear strategy and feels like a bolt-on to the Apple company ecosystem rather than like it is truly supported inside the company," one developer stated. "Apple 100% does not understand gamers – they have little to no info on who plays their games that they can share with developers, or how they interact with games on the platform already." The overarching sentiment is that Apple views game developers as a "necessary evil." One developer expressed, "Given their status as a huge tech company, it feels as if they treat developers as a necessary evil, and that we will do everything we can to please them for little in return, in the hope that they grace us with another project – and a chance for them to screw us over again."