In an interview with Polygon, Apple’s new head of App Store Worldwide, Carson Oliver, discussed the company’s broader gaming ambitions, the growing number of premium iPhone games, and where Apple Arcade fits into its strategy. Apple’s efforts to be seen as a proper gaming platform owner have included hardware-accelerated ray tracing, improvements to its Metal graphics framework, and tools to port PC and console games to its platforms. Oliver highlighted Indie Games Week, featuring seven new and upcoming games for iPhone and iPad, including Sifu, Vampire Crawlers, No Man’s Sky, Little Kitty, Big City, 9 Kings Dome Keeper, and Yes, Your Grace 2: Snowfall.
He noted incredible growth in premium games on the App Store this year compared to last, with more console and PC franchises coming to mobile as a burgeoning audience. Oliver emphasized that an entire generation of players grew up with iPhone as their first gaming device, embracing direct touch as their primary controller, making iPhone and iPad the ultimate canvas for indie innovation. Regarding Apple Arcade, Oliver said it provides developers with flexible business model options, allowing games like Balatro to thrive as premium downloads or within the Arcade service, giving developers freedom to choose the best model and players freedom to play how they want.
Source: 9to5Mac · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing