Seven years of Apple gaming
When Apple Arcade launched in 2019, many in the gaming community believed the mobile subscription service would be short-lived, arriving during a period when other major tech companies were attempting and failing to enter the gaming market. Seven years later, Apple Arcade remains active, and Apple’s broader gaming initiatives continue to develop.
Carson Oliver, the new head of App Store Worldwide following Phil Schiller’s departure in August, recently outlined Apple’s current position in the gaming sector. In an interview, Oliver indicated that the App Store could increasingly serve as a home for premium indie games comparable to platforms like Steam.
“From day one, the App Store was built to level the playing field for discovery and distribution, so that an indie title can sit shoulder-to-shoulder with the biggest entertainment franchises,” Oliver stated.
Technology and developer tools
Apple’s recent gaming push relies heavily on technological advancements in its hardware and software. Oliver pointed to hardware features such as hardware-accelerated ray tracing in the A20 Pro and next-generation vapor chambers in the iPhone 18 Pro, alongside developer tools like Game Porting Toolkit 4, Metal, and open-source Unity plug-ins.
Practical applications of these tools include upcoming releases such as Hello Games bringing No Man’s Sky to iPhone and iPad. According to Hello Games founder Sean Murray, the port packs ten years of updates into a 5GB game compatible with devices like the iPhone 11, running on hardware capability built over recent years.
Addressing discoverability and curation
To attract major studios and independent developers, Apple has focused on distribution challenges such as game discoverability, utilizing human curation through a global editorial team. The company also introduced “Creative Assets,” a feature enabling indie developers to display custom artwork in search results and product page headers.
These efforts coincide with Indie Games Week, an App Store event introducing titles such as Vampire Crawlers, Sifu, and Little Kitty, Big City to iOS.
While Apple does not publicly disclose precise download or sales metrics for its platform, industry data reported by GamesIndustry.biz indicated that premium mobile game sales rose 77% in 2025. Oliver noted general growth in premium game releases on the App Store, driven in part by a generational shift where users’ primary initial devices are touchscreens rather than traditional consoles or PCs.
Apple Arcade and future outlook
Questions remain regarding how Apple Arcade fits alongside direct App Store purchases, particularly as games like Vampire Crawlers launch directly on the App Store rather than joining the subscription catalog. However, Oliver affirmed that Apple intends to maintain both options, providing developers with flexible business models ranging from premium downloads to Apple Arcade inclusion.
Amid fluctuating support from major publishers like Capcom and Ubisoft and scaled-down production of the Vision Pro headset, Apple continues to position its ecosystem as a viable alternative for players and developers navigating the wider gaming market.
