Apple Arcade: Next-Generation Gaming

With Apple pulling back the curtain on its new gaming subscription service, Apple Arcade, we take a closer look at the Cupertino firm’s plans to revolutionize the industry and delve deeper into the wider gaming landscape at a time when innovation is rife, new players are entering the market, and traditional gaming consoles are becoming a thing of the past…

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GAME OVER FOR CONSOLES

If you’ve ever been a gamer, then the chances are that you spent at least some of your youth in a GameStop, or the gaming aisle at your local Walmart, checking out the latest titles and deciding whether to opt for Final Fantasy VII or the latest Spyro the Dragon release. Many of our favorite console games were played for a month or two and then left to gather dust in our closets, never to be seen again. And the same can be said for CDs, DVDs, and VHS - when was the last time you purchased a physical media title from the high street or supermarket?

As we head into new digital-first times, where streaming has overtaken physical and digital music and entertainment products, games consoles are looking increasingly outdated. Both Microsoft and Sony have worked to offer new gaming escapades as part of their consoles, like the Xbox Game Pass, which has improved playtime by 20% since its introduction, but many consider such concepts too little, too late. Indeed, being able to subscribe to a limited number of console titles per month may seem like good value from an outsider’s perspective, but modern gamers want to access the latest blockbuster titles, like Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 and Days Gone when they’re released, rather than waiting months or even years for them to be added to a gaming subscription service for a monthly $9.99 fee.