APPLE ARCADE


Apple Arcade is for families, casual gamers, and anyone who doesn't want ads or in-app purchases for a lower price than other gaming services. But the library is made of largely unknown and mostly mobile-style 'light' games, which makes it a tougher sell among consumers used to spending money only on AAA titles. Apple Arcade is an argument for enjoyable, rich, lower-spec games that prioritise ease of pick-up-and-play in an all-inclusive package – its Apple’s no-stress-walled-garden philosophies brought to games. Apple Arcade is not a standalone repository where you can access the service’s games – it’s a tab in the App Store where subscribers can download titles to their device’s home screens. Yes, you’ll have to download each game to play it, meaning you can only store as many as you’ve got storage space to spare, though there’s no limit on that. Apple has been very coy about its criteria for adding new titles to Apple Arcade, but adheres to these basic guidelines: game candidates must be in development (no already-released titles), they must be family-friendly, and they must work across the Apple device ecosystem. It’s tough not to think of Apple Arcade as a dressed-up mobile gaming experience, especially since its lineup of launch titles include plenty that have that mobile game “look” – stylistic art, singular gameplay concept, and slower (often pensive and puzzle-based) action. But of course, we are only seeing the first generation of Apple Arcade games, including those which were already building games for mobile. It’s entirely possible that the next will feature games built expressly for the service that break out of the mobile gaming mold.

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