Apple Arcade's Misaligned Strategy Frustrates Gamers and Developers

While Apple Arcade has provided an avenue to mobile game developers, the platform's problems have left many greatly frustrated. That's according to a report by Mobilegamer.biz. Read on to learn more about devs' insights on Apple Arcade.

Apple Arcade Mobile Game Developers Deeply Frustrated with Platform IssuesThough Several Game Devs Credit Apple for Their Studios' Sustainability

According to a new "Inside Apple Arcade" report by Mobilegamer.biz, developers working on Apple Arcade, the tech behemoth's video game subscription service, are frustrated and deeply dejected with their experience working on mobile games for Apple Arcade. The report highlighted various issues, including delayed payments, insufficient tech support, and problems with game discoverability.

Several studios reported extended waiting times for responses from the Apple Arcade team. One indie developer claimed they had to wait up to six months for payment, nearly causing their entire business to collapse. The developer said, "It’s a very difficult and arduous process to sign a deal with Apple these days. 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 woeful."

Another developer echoed these sentiments, stating, "We can go weeks without hearing from Apple at all, and their general response time to emails is three weeks, if they reply at all." They added that attempts to ask product, technical, and commercial questions often result in non-answers or unhelpful responses due to a lack of knowledge or confidentiality restrictions.

Discoverability issues were another major concern. One developer felt their game had "been in a morgue for the last two years" because Apple refused to 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 said. The quality assurance (QA) process also came under fire. One developer described the QA and localization process as "submitting 1000 screenshots all at once to show you have every device aspect ratio and language covered," which they found excessively burdensome.

Despite these criticisms, some developers acknowledged 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 commented. "If they can build a business on family games, good for them and good for the devs who can chase that opportunity."

Additionally, some developers acknowledged the positive impact of Apple’s financial support and backing. "We were able to sign a good deal for our titles which covered our whole development budget," one developer noted, adding that without Apple’s funding, their studio might not exist today.

Dev says Apple does not understand gamers

The report suggested that Apple Arcade appears directionless and lacks support 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 said. "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."

However, the general sentiment remained that Apple views game developers as a "necessary evil." One developer elaborated, "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."