It was a romantic Saturday evening when I told my partner the seven words every girl wants to hear: “Are you ready to test the GameScent?”
18.03.2024 - 11:45 / digitaltrends.com / Giovanni Colantonio
Whenever Apple rolls out a lofty new idea, it invites as many skeptics as it does fans. Devices like the Vision Pro birthed naysayers from the moment it was announced, but armchair criticism has rarely, if ever, put a dent in the tech giant’s plans. It has a way of committing to its products and initiatives, even when outsiders might think no one is using them.
That’s been the story of Apple Arcade since it launched in 2019. The service came at a time when the biggest tech companies were hungry for a piece of the lucrative video game industry. While Google and Amazon tried to break in with cloud platforms, Apple laid out an entirely different vision: a mobile subscription service full of games that featured no ads or microtransactions. It sounded too good to be true – and some people at that time weren’t convinced. Look back at the comments on its original tweet announcing the service and you’ll find a mess of replies ripping it apart.
The most to the point one: “It will fail,” one user wrote.
RelatedFour-and-a-half years later, Apple Arcade still stands. If anything, Apple has only doubled down since then by expanding the service’s offering to mobile classics and bringing exclusive spatial games to the Vision Pro. Through years of speculation and dire reports about internal business struggles, Apple has kept its head down during that work and stayed tight-lipped about how its service works or what its user base looks like. It’s a black box that keeps pumping out games.
As the platform’s five-year anniversary approaches, Apple is finally loosening up about the project. In an interview with Digital Trends, Alex Rofman, Apple Arcade Senior Director, provided some rare insight into the platform’s inner workings. While Apple is still keeping its key metrics a mystery, Rofman explained the strategic shifts that have defined the platform and signaled that the end still isn’t nigh for the mobile gaming service.
When Apple Arcade launched in 2019, its business model felt utopian. While the mobile market at the time was focused on free games supported by ads and microtransactions, Apple would instead offer a slew of premium games for a small $5-per-month fee (it has since risen to $7 after a one-month free trial, with a $50 annual option). The service would start on an impressive foot, with a massive selection of games to choose from. That list included everything from indie darlings like Sayonara Wild Hearts to a handful of IP-driven projects. For Apple, the initial goal
It was a romantic Saturday evening when I told my partner the seven words every girl wants to hear: “Are you ready to test the GameScent?”
If you think you have a good handle on the kind of games Devolver Digital publishes by now, you’re in for a surprise. The company’s latest game, The Crush House, is unlike anything you’ve ever played.
Xbox’s anticipated mid-generation console refresh might be right around the corner. Over the past few weeks, there have been some rumblings that an all-white Xbox Series X may be coming this year. That rumor kicked into second gear when Exputer posted photos it says it received of the device. The leaked images show a standard Xbox Series X with a white casing. The design is about the same, but there’s one key difference: It doesn’t have a disk drive. If the rumors are proven true, that’ll be the system’s selling point, potentially putting it at a lower price point than the current Series X.
Jordan Mechner can’t stop looking backward — and that’s not entirely by choice.
Look, it’s been a busy time for video game enthusiasts. Rather than easing out of a busy holiday season, the first three months of 2024 have been filled with enormous, high-profile RPGs that can eat up an upwards of 60 hours each. I’m tired. You’re tired. Don’t you just want to play something short and sweet at this point?
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Sometimes, it takes a tragedy to connect with your family.
If you follow video games, you probably know what a “Soulslike” is at this point. The term, used to describe action RPGs that draw heavy inspiration from punishing titles like Dark Souls, has spawned a popular subgenre whose influence can be seen in games big and small. Now, we may be getting a new mutation of that genre thanks toFlintlock: The Siege of Dawn.
I’ve accumulated a lot of retro console reproductions in my day. The Super NES Classic Edition and Genesis Mini 2 are both prized possessions, giving me easy access to a mess of great (and weird) games. Last year’s excellent Atari 2600+ would especially win me over thanks to it nearly 1:1 replication of the original machine — it could even run my old cartridges with ease. While these tend to go on a shelf after I’ve had my fill of them, I appreciate having a tangible way to experience video game history.
For a certain subset of angry gamers planted behind their keyboards, March 18 was just another day in the digital outrage mines.
Every year at GDC, we play dozens of games that are unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. It’s usually where we find titles that go on to become some of our favorites of the year, like last year’s show-stealing Viewfinder. And while we love finding those surefire hits, our favorite part of the show is discovering the totally unique projects that we can’t stop thinking about.
Harold Halibut, a game that’s been in the works for 14 years, is finally coming out. The handcrafted narrative adventure is set to launch on April 16 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Ahead of its release date announcement, Digital Trends got a closer look at the project, going hands-on with the first five hours of the ambitious project and getting insight into its unusual development from its creators.