Technolgy Rules: Apple could be working on gaming subscription service

Monday, January 28, 2019

Apple could be working on gaming subscription service

Apple is slowly building a lineup of content subscriptions. According to a report from Cheddar, Apple may also be working on a gaming subscription. Alex Heath managed to get five people to talk about the rumored service.

If Apple goes ahead and launches such a service, users could pay a monthly subscription fee to access a library of games. It’s still unclear how much it would cost and what would be included in the subscription.

Given that many iOS games are now free-to-play games, it’s hard to see how it would work. Apple could choose to focus on paid games and provide those games as part of the subscription. The company could also give you free coins and perks when it comes to free-to-play games.

Apple has to talk with potential partners to put together the service — that’s probably how Cheddar learned about Apple’s plans. The company isn’t going to develop a bunch of games overnight (remember Apple’s Texas Hold ‘Em?). But it could act as a sort of game publisher by promoting and distributing new games in a subscription tier.

Games are by far the most popular category on the App Store. They generate a ton of downloads and revenue. And it sounds like Apple thinks it could generate more revenue by switching to a different business model, beyond the usual 30 percent cut on in-app purchases.

Apple has also been signing deals with TV producers in order to put together a streaming service. The company wants to compete with Netflix and other streaming platforms.

Apple has been working on a magazine subscription service, as well. The company acquired Texture back in March 2018 to build the foundation of the service. And that new subscription should launch pretty soon. You can find a landing page for Apple News Magazines in the beta version of iOS 12.2.

And, of course, Apple has attracted 56 million subscribers for Apple Music. Now let’s see if the company can replicate the same success with other services.