Apple Arcade is one of several services run by the tech giant that “struggle with low usage and profits”, according to a report from The Information.
The outlet claims that Apple Arcade’s subscriber numbers and revenue is being propped up by its inclusion in Apple’s ‘One’ subscription bundle – and that it “likely wouldn’t be profitable” if it were strictly a standalone service.
Apple Arcade is included in all tiers of the Apple One subscription bundle, which also offers extra iCloud storage, Apple TV, Apple Music and other services. Most customers sign up for added iCloud capacity and get Arcade as part of the deal, the report claims. And were it not for that One bundle, Arcade would struggle to break even if it were sold on its own. It is $6.99 per month when purchased individually, outside of the One bundle.
Sources with working knowledge of Apple Arcade’s numbers told the outlet that the service had just two million users in 2019, its first year, and around a quarter of those players were on free trials.
It is one of several Apple services that “struggle with low usage and profits”, says The Information. The biggest claim in the report is that Apple TV is losing up to $1bn a year, while other services like Fitness+ and News+ are also said to be struggling, alongside Arcade.
In February 2024, we published the first of two Inside Apple Arcade reports in which multiple sources told us that while payouts had been good to begin with, Arcade now had the “smell of death” around it, and income and engagement had been declining for years.
Apple was also described as aloof, difficult to work with, “famously vindictive” and even “spiteful” in its dealings with developers leaving the service.
Our second report, Inside Apple Arcade (again), revealed that some indie studios had suffered delayed payments of up to six months, while those working on the Vision Pro games on the service said the device struggles to run “complex games”, and developing for it is “like going back in time 10 years” due to the lack of tech support.
Discoverability on Arcade is so poor that one person said it was like their game “was in a morgue”, and another said working with Apple is like being in an “abusive relationship”.
