Blog

Apple recently announced new games coming to Apple Arcade, its gaming subscription service for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Vision Pro headsets. The title is Surviving vampires, an indie hit that combined bullet hell shooter gameplay and the addictive quality of clickers to become a mega sensation two years ago. Also coming Temple Run: LegendsAn updated version of the popular game from 2011.

Surviving vampires was already available on the App Store, but was ad-supported, with the option to spend money in-app to get additional content. The Apple Arcade version dubbed Vampire Survivors+, looks more like the PC or Xbox versions that don’t have ads. Both paid extensions will be included at no extra charge.

Meanwhile, Temple Run: Legends is a completely new game (not just a remake of the original Temple Run), which defies the “endless runner” genre label by splitting its gameplay into individual levels – although there will also be some sort of optional endless mode.

If you haven’t played Surviving vampires before, it’s worth a try. Both titles will launch on August 1st.

Arcade could use some fresher and more risky decisions

These new additions are the latest in a long line of Apple Arcade titles prepared with an appetite for risk, if only proven, that more or less ensures that the subscription service doesn’t get the surprise breakouts that draw people to it.

When Apple Arcade launched, its initial lineup was a fascinating mix of casual and indie titles, some of which became popular on other platforms after Arcade exclusivity ended. Early on, though, there were reports that Arcade wasn’t gaining the traction Apple had hoped for, so the company quickly shifted gears. It has become ongoing, ongoing engagement as the primary metric by which to measure success, leading to a preference for games as a service as opposed to standalone or narrative experiences. And it began to mainly release games based on established intellectual rights such as Hello Kitty or Star Wars, as well as re-releases of games that had already proven their success elsewhere on the App Store.

Many of these re-releases were more than a decade old, harking back to the early days of the App Store, when premium titles reigned supreme and free-to-play games hadn’t taken the wheel.

This week, Apple released a new game-as-a-service mobile IP from 2011 and a viral indie hit many months after it went viral. I’m not saying no one cares or plays Surviving vampires now, but imagine how much more it would have pushed iPhone owners to Arcade if it was there when it first made headlines.

It only took a short time for Apple to shift its speed from its initial strategy of approaching creative new developers who presented interesting work at events like IndieCade, to betting only on games that had proven they could be successful, IPs that already proven popular, or experienced developers who have already made waves in the App Store. Maybe Apple didn’t give this strategy enough of a chance.

What we have now is a safe subscription service that essentially maintains the best of what other people have already discovered, and (thankfully) removes ads and microtransactions. It’s a good enough value proposition, especially for the price. But we’re unlikely to see an Arcade breakthrough that makes waves among players, influencers, or the press, because for the most part, Apple follows titles with this service, not leads them.