Developers criticize Apple Arcade for lack of payment transparency, reduced payments and canceled projects.
However, there is hope that Netflix's move into gaming could lead to Apple showing more love to its own subscription gaming service …
About Apple Arcade
Apple Arcade first launched back in 2019 and offers access to a wide range of games with payment otherwise single fixed monthly subscription. The service first launched with nearly 100 titles, and the number has since doubled.
There has recently been speculation that Apple may be planning to turn Arcade into a full-fledged streaming game service rather than a subscription service. which gives access to games that still need to be downloaded the usual way.
Apple Arcade has come under fire from developer side
MobileGamer reports that developers are increasingly dissatisfied with the service, citing several reasons.
One of them is a lack of transparency regarding how developers are paid when their games are selected for inclusion in Apple Arcade.
“They have an opaque metric they call the qualifying session, and bonus pool payouts are made based on that,” one source said. “But no one knows what a qualifying session actually is – it has something to do with whether a game has been started, how long a player has been playing and how often they come back. But in reality it is a black box.”
In addition, payments have been steadily declining since the launch of the service.
Our sources said that payments for games on Apple Arcade have been falling for years. […] Several developers we spoke with noted that Apple Arcade's per-game “bonus pool” payouts began declining around October 2020 and continue to decline. do this because […]
“We're going to see this amount go down and down and down until it's just pennies,” said one developer. Arcade games have also been cut.
Others say Apple is canceling planned projects for reasons that are unclear and that the company has been unwilling to explain.
One studio executive told us that after months of rave reviews for one particular game, the Arcade team suddenly withdrew its interest in the title, citing a change in strategy. When the developer asked for feedback and suggested cutting the budget and redesigning the game to better suit Apple's needs, the Arcade team simply stopped responding to their emails.
But some are optimistic
Some developers point to the significant growth Apple has achieved back in 2021 and hope that competition from Netflix will lead to improved terms from the iPhone manufacturer.
“I really hope that Netflix continues to do what it is doing because it requires Apple to continue to try to be relevant and competitive ” said one of the sources.
Netflix is not paying any ongoing commissions or bonuses, instead focusing on a single upfront payment, but the amount in question is described as “ generous”
Photo: Apple
