Apple Arcade Expands Its Catalog to More Than 180 Games

Another bit of news from Apple at the end of last week:

Apple today announced it is introducing two entirely new game categories and adding more than 30 incredible titles to Apple Arcade, its popular gaming subscription service for players of all ages. Apple Arcade offers breakthrough, unique benefits players love: no ads, no in-app purchases, support for Apple’s high user privacy standards, and one all-inclusive subscription offer with access for up to six family members. In addition to new exclusive Arcade Originals, including “NBA 2K21 Arcade Edition,” “Star Trek: Legends,” and “The Oregon Trail,” the service is introducing two new game categories, Timeless Classics and App Store Greats. Arcade Originals are playable across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. Timeless Classics and App Store Greats are available on iPhone and iPad.

Timeless Classics includes universally loved, quintessential genres with titles like “Good Sudoku by Zach Gage,” “Chess - Play & Learn,” and “Backgammon,” while App Store Greats brings some of the best award-winning games from the App Store to Apple Arcade, including “Threes!,” “Mini Metro,” and “Fruit Ninja Classic,” all ad-free and fully unlocked.

This sort of expansion might have been planned all along, but it feels like a bit of a strategic change. Previously, every Apple Arcade title was an exclusive original. This expansion to include a bunch of existing games feels like the Arcade equivalent of securing the rights to a catalog of existing movies and TV shows. Apple Arcade is starting to feel a lot more like Netflix for games. These “Timeless Classics” and “App Store Greats” are (mostly?) still in the App Store as non-Arcade titles too — there are two copies of these games now, the standalone versions and the Arcade versions.

$5 a month, a wide variety of great titles, no ads, no in-app purchases. That’s a really compelling price for what you get.

★ Wednesday, 7 April 2021