Apple could spend more than half a billion dollars on its subscription gaming service

According to sources, Apple spends hundreds of millions of dollars and could exceed half a billion dollars in total funding for its next Arcade game subscription service, the Financial Times reported this weekend.

Although the company's plans to switch to streaming TV and movies (as well as news partnerships) attracted the lion's share of the coverage, this would represent a massive investment, covering half of the $ 1 billion budget. dollars announced by Apple for streaming. Several sources told The Times that most of the more than 100 games planned for the service had multi-million dollar budgets – a lot for the mobile and independent market, targeted by Apple, but not extraordinary compared to the industry's video games in general, where budgets of seven or more digits tend to be equal for the course.

According to the Times report, some forecasters estimate that Apple's gaming efforts will generate more subscription revenue than its streaming service – and that the high-budget strategy is trying to find its way into a market. cluttered with games. Some developers also sign lucrative contracts with the company to keep their exclusive games on iOS for at least "a few months," meaning that the titles would not initially be available on alternative platforms like Android or Xbox and PlayStation games. stores, writes the newspaper.

From the time:

Apple has not announced how much it will cost subscribers for Arcade or TV +, but HSBC analysts have estimated that Apple Arcade's revenue will rise from $ 370 million in 2020 to $ 2.7 billion in 2022 and $ 4.5 billion in 2024, when HSBC predicts 29 million users are paying $ 12.99 a month. These figures are higher than its revenue estimates for Apple TV +, at $ 2.6 billion by 2022 and $ 4.1 billion by 2024, and at Apple News +, which is expected to generate $ 1.7 billion and $ 2.7 billion respectively.

(Some developers were skeptical that Apple would be able to compete with well-established game publishers, the Times added, comparing the company's plans to the 2004 wine country film Next to instead of the Marvel blockbuster Cinematic Universe.)

Apple will compete with Google Stadia and other gaming streaming services; Google has big plans with this service, like providing quality console games to some Android devices. However, he also scored great league partnerships, including the Sonic the hedgehog franchise, Cartoon Network, Lego, Under a steel sky after Beyond a sky of steeland many others. One wonders if Apple really lets millions of titles like Hot Lava, a game on the floor being lava, but hey, it's an unimaginable prerogative on the part of a wealth management company.

[Financial Times]