Welcome to my opinion piece on Apple Arcade, a gaming service from Apple that is actually worth the price they ask for it.
When Apple originally announced Apple Arcade, I was not really impressed. They showed off just a few games and made it seem like they reinvented the hot water. They did not. They did not by a long shot.
Apple Arcade costs only 4,99 a month and as it currently stands, it has a few titles well worthy of your time, we here at Gaming Boulevard actually reviewed quite a few games and favored most of them with higher tier scores.
Oceanhorn 2, Shantae, … all appealed to me prior to taking the free month and now, 7 weeks later I am still subscribed. I am currently playing a game called Pinball wizard on my iPhone 11. I am spending way more time than I originally thought I would. I really never expected to even extend my free month, let alone the idea that I will be extending my third time now.
Apple Arcade’s biggest appeal has to be that there are games for everyone and that they are easily accessible. At least for Apple users. It might be their only downside, for now, the fact they are somewhat limited in reach.
Apple Arcade also does not pretend to be the next best thing for gaming, it’s a gaming service that is aware it will not beat out the big three for market supremacy. Only Google Stadia seems to be thinking that right now, with their own “pay to be able to buy games” principle. With Apple however, you are just getting all the games as they are.
And despite not having big AAA titles (yet), I think Apple is playing things right. They are delivering games at a steady pace on their platform and aside from those missing AAA titles, we are getting fun games and that is what it is all about. Having fun with the titles.
But that also brings in the elephant in the room. Can you really survive when you are missing the big franchises and AAA titles? Time will tell. I sincerely doubt it will influence things much, though I would like to see some more firepower too. When I see the game list on Arcade, it is mostly indie games and a few mainstream titles like Frogger, … But that is it?
Can the fun of the smaller indie titles be enough to keep subscribing?
For many people, this will be another few euros/dollars a month that are not fully needed. I do feel that it is an added value for a casual gamer but I doubt the die-hards out there, myself included, will find this a service worth keeping every month throughout the year.
Me, I got around 3 months off of work every year and thus I spend a lot of time at home, I can easily see myself spend some money on Apple Arcade that time, as well as games pass, …. The entire year, I am not so sure.
It’s a bit of a mixed feeling really, the price is very tempting and I am sure that once the library becomes even bigger, the appeal will be strong to keep you subscribed but for me personally, for now, it is more a gut feeling whether to grab one more month or not.
Apple does provide a free month for anyone still on the fence whether or not to try out this service so you do not lose any money on it. Canceling the free month however is instantly processed and you do lose all your remaining time. This does not happen when you are a paying customer.
