Apple reportedly investing $500 million on its game subscription service
The race to become the Netflix of video games is heating up.
Sonic Racing from SEGA on Arcade.
In late March Apple announced Apple Arcade, a subscription service that allows Apple users to play games across iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV devices. Back then Apple promised that 100 exclusive games would be playable out of the gate, games that wouldn't be available on other subscription services or even other mobile devices.
But it looks like that promise may cost them. Apple may end up spending over $500 million on the service, the Financial Times reports. Sources informed the Financial Times that many of the games in the works have budgets in the millions.
Video game budgets are typically huge. It's not completely unusual for a big budget console or PC video game to cost over $200 million. That being said, the type of video games you'd expect to appear on Apple Arcade would most likely cost less. The indie-style video games you'd expect to see on Apple Arcade are usually made by much smaller development teams.
Apple has said Apple Arcade will come with games from Annapurna Interactive, Bossa Studios, Cartoon Network, Finji, Giant Squid, Klei Entertainment, Konami, Lego , Mistwalker, Sega, Snowman and Ustwo. That's an interesting and diverse list of studios and, at this point, we don't know precisely what all of those teams are working on.
The game streaming competition is heating up. Google is working on Google Stadia, Microsoft has also demoed Project xCloud, which features similar streaming technology. But whereas Google and Microsoft will no doubt battle it out on the AAA landscape with established franchises like Forza Horizon and Assassin's Creed, its reasonable to expect Apple Arcade to be a little smaller in scope, at least in terms of the games themselves -- but $500 million is not to be scoffed at.