One of the big announcements that Apple could make during its reveal event on Monday is a new video game service. According to Bloomberg, Apple is creating a “premium games subscription” service for the App Store. Unlike the recently announced Google Stadia, or PlayStation Now and Microsoft’s xCloud, Apple’s service is not cloud-based.
Instead, it will focus on iPhones and iPads and bundle together paid games from different developers that consumers can access for a monthly fee,” Bloomberg reported.
One source said Apple will pay developers based on how much time users spend playing their title. The report goes on to claim that the service would only feature paid games, not free-to-play titles. The report also says the service may not be announced on Monday, but instead during its developer conference in June. That timing would be intriguing, as it’s just before E3.
According to analyst Serkan Toto, this kind of package offering is already available in Japan. He also points out that, if free-to-play games are indeed excluded, then Nintendo’s upcoming Mario Kart Tour wouldn’t be eligible. As you may recall, Apple partnered with Nintendo in a big way to promote and release the free-to-play Mario game Super Mario Run.
Problem is: if the article is to be believed, F2P content is excluded.
For Mario Kart Tour, both Nintendo and DeNA confirmed (not only one time) it will not be a paid game.
Let’s see.— Dr. Serkan Toto (Kantan Games Inc.) (@serkantoto) March 23, 2019
Go to Bloomberg to get the full story.
An earlier report suggested the March 25 Apple news conference will include the formal reveal of Apple’s plans for its own Netflix-style TV streaming service. All should become clear soon.