by Dan Moren
Apple Arcade, six years in
Writing at The Verge (paywalled), Ash Parrish talks to Apple Arcade senior director Alex Rothman about the state of the service. It’s not the most in-depth of interviews, but it’s always interesting when an Apple executive is willing to go on the record. This part in particular jumped out at me:
“By no means are we going all into only IP,” Rothman said. “It’s a broad mix, because we have a broad player base.” And while Rothman understands the criticisms Arcade has faced, he says Apple is invested in Arcade for the long haul. “We care very deeply about games,” he said. “Not just the Arcade team, it’s across the company.” [emphasis added]
I’m sure there are things that Apple likes about Arcade, like having a big backlog of games to point to (Rothman says there are more than 250 now). I’m also interested by Apple working as a publisher to bring together developers and IP holders; that’s a smart use of the company’s clout.
But the idea that Apple cares “very deeply” about games? It’s pretty hard to stomach that after all these years. Arcade feels pretty scattershot to me; I can’t remember the last time I played a game there. Like, I’d wager, many other customers, I get the service for free as part of the Apple One bundle, and I definitely get the feeling that the higher echelons of Apple see it as little more than a “nice to have” value-add. I’d like to be proven wrong, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon.