7 Years Later, Apple’s Gaming Push Has Proven Surprisingly Resilient
Carson Oliver, the new head of Apple's App Store, tells Polygon where Apple is at in its long quest to embrace gaming.
Seven years after Apple Arcade's debut in 2019, the mobile gaming service has proven to be more resilient than initially thought. Apple has continued to pursue gaming efforts, courting major publishers and launching innovative gaming initiatives. One such initiative was the launch of Indie Games Week, during which Apple welcomed a range of games to iOS and announced a mobile version of No Man’s Sky.
At the helm of this gaming push is Carson Oliver, Apple's new head of App Store Worldwide, who succeeded Phil Schiller just this past August. Oliver's first act as head was to spearhead the indie gaming showcase, indicating his priorities for the App Store's gaming future. In an interview with Polygon, Oliver shared Apple's long-term vision for gaming, stating that the App Store was always meant to provide a level playing field for indie titles to compete with major franchises.
He also highlighted that gaming has always been central to the App Store and that the company has evolved its strategy over time to better cater to players' habits and choices. Oliver attributes Apple's aggressive push in gaming to advancements in technology, such as hardware-accelerated ray tracing, hardware capabilities like the A20 Pro and next-generation iPhone, as well as developer tools like Game Porting Toolkit 4, Metal, and open-source Unity plug-ins.
These advancements have enabled developers, like Hello Games, to bring their games to Apple devices with remarkable features, like No Man’s Sky being ported to iPhone and iPad with all ten years of updates in a mere 5GB game. Apple's approach to attracting developers involves addressing common distribution challenges and offering tools and services to break into new audiences.
Indie Games Week is a testament to this strategy, celebrating independent games on the App Store and showcasing a diverse range of high-quality content. While Apple is cautious with its data, Oliver confirmed that there is clear growth in premium game sales on the App Store, with more premium titles being released this year than the previous year.
This growth indicates that Apple's gaming efforts are resonating with players and attracting more developers to the platform.
Written by urgent.news from Polygon's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
