The fresh report includes statements from anonymous programmers who worked with Apple Arcade claims that the subscription gaming service has no real goals, barely communicates with studios, and treats teams poorly, forcing them to jump through hoops and wait months to get paid. One developer even claimed that working with Apple Arcade was like an “abusive relationship.”
Apple Arcade launched in 2019 as a premium, ad-free subscription service for exclusive games. Every game on the service is free from in-app purchases or the annoying nonsense that comes with mobile gaming. Since its launch in 2019, Apple Arcade’s library has grown significantly, adding over 200 games to the service, including some really great stuff like Grindstone, ImaginationOregon Trail, Really Bad Chess, AND What about the car? However, a fresh report indicates that for many Apple Arcade game developers, working with Apple has been a frustrating and irritating experience.
In the report of July 30 MobileGamer.bizMultiple developers spoke to the outlet on condition of anonymity. They shared their issues and concerns about Apple Arcade, the tech giant’s lack of vision, and how badly it treats game studios.
Apple makes developers wait for money and rarely responds
One major problem is that some game developers have to spend months chasing Apple for their money. Apple Arcade works by paying game developers a gigantic amount of money upfront to make a game, then collecting royalties from Apple as more players download and play their titles. In the early days of the service, game developers say these payments were quick, but now royalties can take months. One game developer claimed he had to wait six months to get paid, which nearly killed his studio.
“We can go weeks without hearing from Apple, and their general response time to emails is three weeks, if they even respond at all,” the developer told MobileGamer.biz. “We should be able to ask questions about products, technical issues, and sales, but often half the Apple team doesn’t show up, and when they do, they have no idea what’s going on and can’t answer our questions because they either don’t know how to answer them or can’t share the information due to confidentiality.”
MobileGamer.biz contacted Apple for comment but did not receive a response.
Another problem is the ease of finding and promoting the game on Apple Arcade. One game creator told the site that he felt like his game had been “sitting in a morgue for the past two years.”
“No matter what we put in the game, Apple won’t feature us, it’s like we don’t exist,” the creator claimed. “So as a creator, you think, well, they gave us this money for exclusivity… I don’t want to give them money, but I want people to play my game. It’s like we’re invisible.”
Working with Apple Arcade is cumbersome and lacks vision
The same developer described a terrible quality assurance and update process, saying that a single update can require multiple meetings with Apple.
“Submitting updates is so inconvenient that our developers have started avoiding it,” they said.
One person I spoke to MobileGamer.biz claimed that one QA and localization process involved uploading 1,000 screenshots at once to show that the game was working correctly on all devices and in all languages. “My team said, ‘There’s no fucking way we’re doing this.’” the source told the portal.
Another common complaint from game developers was Apple’s lack of vision and planning, with some suggesting the company simply hired developers because it was a “necessary evil” given the immense popularity of games on Apple devices.
“Given their status as a huge tech company, it seems like they treat developers as a necessary evil,” one developer explained. “And we’ll do whatever we can to please them, for a small fee, in the hopes that they’ll grace us with another project—and the chance to rip us off again.”
“It’s like an abusive relationship where the victim stays in the relationship hoping the other person will change and become the person they could be.”
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