Apple’s gaming strategy still has momentum after seven years
When Apple Arcade launched in 2019, many players expected the subscription service to disappear quickly. Seven years later, it remains active, while Apple continues expanding its wider gaming ambitions across iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Apple has courted major publishers, supported PC and console conversions, and released a dedicated gaming app. Its latest initiative, Indie Games Week, offered the clearest recent signal that gaming remains a serious priority rather than a short-lived experiment.
Indie Games Week puts the App Store centre stage
The week-long App Store event featured seven independent games, including Vampire Crawlers, Sifu and Little Kitty, Big City. It also highlighted the upcoming iOS release of No Man’s Sky, an unusually ambitious mobile conversion.
Carson Oliver, the new head of App Store Worldwide after Phil Schiller left the position in August, led the initiative. In his first interview in the role, Oliver presented the App Store as a potential home for premium independent games on the scale of Steam, while making clear that Apple Arcade remains part of the plan.
“From day one, the App Store was built to level the playing field for discovery and distribution, so that an indie title can sit shoulder-to-shoulder with the biggest entertainment franchises,” Oliver said.
Apple’s pitch relies heavily on discoverability. Its global editorial team uses human curation to help promising games stand out in a crowded marketplace. A recently introduced Creative Assets feature also allows developers to use their own artwork in search results and product-page headers.
For developers considering a release, Apple’s arcade and gaming news offers useful context on how changing platforms influence the wider games industry.
Hardware is making larger games possible
Apple’s gaming push has often appeared fragmented, but its underlying technology has developed steadily. Oliver pointed to hardware-accelerated ray tracing, the A20 Pro chip, the next-generation vapour chamber in the iPhone 18 Pro, Game Porting Toolkit 4, Metal and open-source Unity plug-ins.
The practical impact is illustrated by No Man’s Sky. Hello Games announced an iPhone and iPad version containing ten years of updates in a 5GB package that can run on an iPhone 11. Founder Sean Murray credited the growing capability of Apple hardware for making that conversion possible.
Technology alone does not guarantee an audience, but it can reduce the time, effort and cost involved in bringing PC and console games to Apple devices. Tools such as MetalFX, Game Porting Toolkit 4 and Unity plug-ins are central to that argument.
Premium mobile games are finding a bigger audience
Apple does not routinely publish detailed gaming figures, making the success of its strategy difficult to measure. However, premium mobile game sales were reported to be up 77% in 2025, challenging the idea that mobile players only want free-to-play games supported by microtransactions.
Oliver said more premium games arrived on the App Store this year than last, including both independent releases and established console and PC franchises. He identified cozy games, management simulations and roguelikes as particularly successful categories, naming Balatro, Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire and Bloons TD 6 as examples.
“For an entire generation of players, their very first gaming device wasn’t a console or a PC, it was an iPhone with a touchscreen.”
That generational change may help explain why direct-touch games continue to attract players. It also gives independent developers a large installed audience that already owns the necessary hardware.
Apple Arcade still has a place
The arrival of games such as Vampire Crawlers directly on the App Store raises questions about the future role of Apple Arcade. The subscription service continues to receive original games, but Apple now appears to be presenting Arcade and premium downloads as two separate routes with different audiences.
Oliver said developers should have the flexibility to choose the model that best suits each game. A breakout premium download such as Balatro can also appear in Apple Arcade, while players can decide whether to buy games individually or access them through a subscription.
For Australian players comparing screen-based gaming with dedicated hardware, RETROCADE’s arcade machine buying guide explains the practical considerations involved in choosing a home setup. Compact players can also explore bartop arcade machines.
The unanswered questions
Apple’s wider gaming direction still carries uncertainty. The company’s mixed-reality plans may be affected by reported efforts to cut Vision Pro production after disappointing sales. Apple has also continued pursuing publishers without matching the level of major Capcom and Ubisoft support seen in 2023.
There is nevertheless a strong argument for Apple’s continued relevance. With console hardware prices rising amid an AI-related memory shortage, more players may prefer to use an iPhone or iPad they already own. A technically impressive conversion such as No Man’s Sky demonstrates what that hardware can deliver.
Indie Games Week gave developers and players a persuasive demonstration of Apple’s ambitions. The next challenge is consistency: Apple must keep attracting quality releases and make premium gaming on its devices feel like an everyday option rather than an occasional showcase.
Leave a Reply