New report highlights the importance of the game for Apple



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According to the Financial Times, the next Apple Arcade game service could generate more revenue than its subscriptions on television or news. So it's perhaps not surprising that the consumer electronics company spends hundreds of millions of dollars securing new games for the service.

"Several people involved in the development of the project said that Apple was spending several million dollars each for most of the more than 100 games selected to be launched on Arcade," the publication says. "Its total budget is likely to exceed $ 500 million."

The fact that games are important for Apple is not surprising: the annual video game market is larger than any other type of content, including Hollywood movies, but the company's preview of its Arcade service was rather dull and lacking in detail. . And Apple is entering an overcrowded world: established video game giants such as Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are all working on their own services, and new competitors like Amazon and Google will complicate things further.

I think Apple will have the greatest success with casual gamers who choose the iPhone and its reach to more serious players who prefer consoles or PCs will be modest at best. But this public is unquestionably the biggest part of the market. The only question that arises is how to monetize people who are not willing to pay a monthly subscription to do something that is now free.

Getting good games is a possibility. And although Apple provides little evidence of good games, important partnerships, or even a basic knowledge of this market during its recent press event, it certainly has money to spend in this world. According to the Financial Times, part of Apple's strategy is to give developers more money when they create games exclusively for Arcade, avoiding rival platforms such as Google Play. Developers who go this route can choose to transfer their games to other platforms after an exclusive period of several months.

And about pocket money, it's unclear exactly what Apple will charge subscribers for Arcade. But that did not stop HSBC analysts, quoted by the Financial Times, predicting that "Arcade's revenues will rise from $ 370 million in 2020 to $ 2.7 billion in 2022 and $ 4.5 billion in 2024, when HSBC predicts millions of users paying $ 12.99 a month. At this rate – a little exaggerated, in my opinion – Apple will draw more from its gaming revenue than its television and news subscriptions.

We will see. The video game market is certainly important enough to deserve this attention. But we do not know if Apple will become one of the key players or a simple actor.

Tagged with Apple Arcade

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