Apple would have spent $ 500 million to fund the development of more than 100 games for its Apple Arcade subscription service

Who knew, Apple has deep pockets? The company would spend billions of dollars a year on original content from Apple TV +, spend about $ 480 million on the acquisition of Texture, which would eventually become News +, and also spend several million dollars per game in Apple Arcade.

According to the Financial Times, the company spends "several million dollars each" for more than 100 games, a budget of more than $ 500 million for Apple Arcade. At its March event, Apple announced the launch of Arcade in the fall, but did not announce any awards.

The report also states that Apple offers an "additional incentive" to a developer if its game remains exclusive to Apple Arcade.

Our sources indicate that all Apple Arcade games will not be available on the Google Play Store. The agreement is essentially "exclusive on mobile", developers will be allowed to launch on game consoles such as PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, but not on Android. Arcade games will not be sold in the App Store as normal downloads.

The customer pitch for Apple Arcade is an alternative offer to the countless freemium games that dominate the charts of the App Store. Users can play any game in the Arcade catalog for a monthly fee. An Apple Arcade game will have no additional purchases or additional sales, no limited level and no advertising. Arcade games will also not be able to share data with publishers unless expressly authorized by the client.

These games will be available on iPad, iPhone, Apple TV and Mac, with iCloud cross-platform synchronization to record progress. The games are downloaded to the device, not streamed, so that they can be played offline.

Apple has announced Arcade with some big names such as Sonic and Lego, but is mainly focused on promoting independent titles. In addition to cash advances, Apple would also help engineers deploy their game engines on Apple's operating systems.

With advances of $ 1 to $ 3 million initially paid, developers can take the time to invest in high quality games without worrying about how they will pay for development resources if the title does not sell well after its release.

As soon as Arcade is launched, it is expected that game developers will receive ongoing revenue based on the amount of time users spend playing games. For News +, Apple retains 50% of the $ 9.99 / month subscription fee and distributes the remaining 50% to publishers based on their commitment to their respective content. However, the exact terms for Arcade remain unclear.

Apple Arcade will be launched in the fall, probably as part of iOS 13. The price has not yet been announced – most analysts expect it at a cost of $ 30. about $ 9.99 a month.