Apple Games and the future of iOS gaming

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Last week I wrote that WWDC was Apple’s big moment. Facing off against the US court ruling that’s broken open the App Store, the EU’s Digital Markets Act finding its teeth, and other regulatory heat around the world, perhaps the iPhone giant might seize the moment to get on the front foot.

It was unlikely Apple was really going to discuss the elephant in the room, namely its revenue share and anti-steering measures. It’s still fighting tooth and nail with Epic and the European Commission in active legal battles, with its refusal to offer barely an inch over the years slowly coming back to bite it over time.

So what did we get during the keynote? Apple Games.

The pitch is essentially a new app to provide one centralised place for users to launch their library of games, aid discovery, and get information on new events and updates. It also offers leaderboards, achievements and challenges, which players can compete in with friends. (While they differ, companies like Skillz might be keeping a close eye on how that develops).

It was a pretty lacklustre announcement during the keynote given the events heading into the conference, which was followed up by lots of nice quotes from partners in a press release. Though there were other announcements in the week.

Does Apple understand games?

We asked experts in the industry for their thoughts on Apple Games, as well as what they’d like to see from Apple to make the App Store and iOS a better place for mobile games.

Village Studio Games founder and Department of Play chief product consultant Will Luton, who wrote the book on free-to-play, called the app a revamped Game Center with a little bit of the App Store rolled in.

“This is Apple trying to claw back control over distribution and discovery. But in classic Apple style, not understanding games,” he said.

“I don’t think players care much about their friends’ scores or achievements in 2025. It’s a shrinkingly small number of people. Very few mobile players are competitive against their friends, they’re locked in to either solo or stranger play. So that is not a draw.

“They also don’t care about discovery. That’s a developer rather than player problem. I don’t think this will have any significant impact.”

Apps and Games M&A founder Evelin Herrera had a different view. She felt Apple Games will be a great opportunity for indie developers to win more exposure.

“I’m also confident that Apple will find new ways to reward great products, as with App Store featuring, but now having more space for creativity on how they do it, since the only focus is games,” she said. 

The Battle of Polytopia CEO Christian Lövstedt said the new features in Apple Arcade are something the team be exploring, while he’s supportive of initiatives to improve the gaming experience and enhance discoverability on iOS.

Focus points

As for what else Apple could offer, here’s a wishlist from our experts:

• Improvements to discovery and distribution was top of the list for many. I’ve previously compared the App Store, Google Play and Steam discovery here.
• A Steam Wishlist-type feature.
• More granular tagging for games so players can find the most relevant titles. It’s worth noting market intelligence firms have created their own game taxonomies over the years, with Apple’s being too generic and not always completely accurate.
• A reduction of Apple’s 30% fee or a tiered revenue model. Apple lowers its fee for the first $1 million annually to 15%, the Epic Games Store takes a 12% cut (and it has other initiatives), while Steam reduces its share based on higher sales milestones. Meanwhile, direct-to-consumer payment providers can take around 5%.
• Deeper social features beyond what was announced at WWDC.
• Don’t force new updates on old games. It is curious Apple said in its keynote that players can see all the games they’ve ever had – but some of those may have been removed, in some cases due to the costs of releasing an update and becoming incompatible with new versions of iOS.

You can see more commentary in our Mobile Mavens feature here. The reaction is fairly mixed, with some optimism around what the future holds for Apple Games and improving iOS for publishers and consumers.

It’s taken a long time to get here with overdue features and a history of decisions ultimately hostile to publishers, like forcing a 30% revenue share on decade old games and ATT shaking the very foundations user acquisition, all while building its own ads business.

Apple has a lot more to address than what the Apple Games debut offers. Perhaps the courts and regulators will kick it into action.