Apple Reportedly Building a ‘Netflix for Games’ Service

Apple is reportedly working on a new service for gamers, according to Cheddar. The company is apparently planning to build a game subscription service that will allow users to pay a monthly subscription price to get access to a catalog of games.

The company has reportedly been in talks with game publishers and developers as early as the second half of 2018. Details about the service are scarce at this moment, however. It’s not clear if the service will be an iOS-only thing, or if it will also work on Mac and more mainstream desktop games that support Mac hardware which has never really been known for gaming. It seems sensible for the platform to be iOS only, however.

Apple’s new game subscription service will basically work as a Netflix for games and may end up being something like Discord Nitro, which gives you access to $1,000 worth of games for a $9.99/month subscription.

The service is in its early stages of development, and may not ever see the light of the day if plans fall apart. It could, however, be a fundamental part of Apple’s growing list of services. The company has been heavily focused on its services business ever since it started experiencing disappointing iPhone sales. Cupertino is expected to launch a streaming service to compete directly with Netflix, a new news subscription service, and now the new game subscription service. These new services could really help the company boost its Services revenue while balancing out the costs of declining iPhone sales.

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Conversation 13 comments

  • Bob Shutts

    28 January, 2019 - 1:10 pm

    <p>Uh, Apple doesn't have the best reputation in the gaming community. </p>

    • j_c

      28 January, 2019 - 1:20 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#400114">In reply to Bob_Shutts:</a></em></blockquote><p>It does in the casual gaming community though and I could see them building a foundation there and working up.</p><p><br></p><p>I would love to see some kind of model where I pay X amount and my kids could play games without having to see all the ads or be told they need to buy things to level up. If they started there and eventually found ways to work their way up to desktop or some kind of Apple TV console with a subscription they could really have something.</p><p><br></p><p>With Apple I think family-friendly is their ticket toward invading the home. Be like Disney.</p>

      • MutualCore

        28 January, 2019 - 2:32 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#400116">In reply to j_c:</a></em></blockquote><p>What does 'family friendly' even mean? They won't have God of War or Halo.</p>

        • Tony Barrett

          29 January, 2019 - 8:52 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#400133">In reply to MutualCore:</a></em></blockquote><p>Seems like Apple want to be seen as squeaky clean. There TV streaming service will, apparently, pretty much all be family friendly, and likewise, I suspect any gaming venture would be too. No violence, cursing, but probably lots of 'praise the lord' type shows.</p>

  • mattbg

    Premium Member
    28 January, 2019 - 1:27 pm

    <p>This is also interesting when correlated with the rumor that Apple is also about to drop a new iPod Touch, which could be positioned as a lower-priced gaming device without the need for a data plan.</p>

  • Bats

    28 January, 2019 - 2:30 pm

    <p>This could spell doom for Microsoft again in this highly vulnerable space of theirs which concerns me.&nbsp;I have said this before and I will say it a million times more….Microsoft does not know how to win. Had it not been for their early success as being the lone OS, Word Processing, and Spreadsheet provider in the 1980's, Microsoft would probably be a nothing company today. With that said……</p><p><br></p><p>There are how many Apple TV devices out there? If I am not mistaken, I think it's the 3rd most popular streaming platform in the market behind Roku and Amazon. As we have seen from the Nvidia Shield, one can run some very high end games with no problem at all, such as the Arkham series and Tomb Raider.&nbsp;If the Nvidia Shield can do that, then so can other devices LIKE the Apple TV and Fire TV.</p><p><br></p><p>This is concerning for Microsoft, because they simply are not good when it comes to competing. With competition coming from Sony, Google, Amazon, Apple, and perhaps others….Microsoft is destined to fall on their face again.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p>

    • MutualCore

      28 January, 2019 - 2:31 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#400131">In reply to Bats:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yeah but Apple has no games. It doesn't matter that they launch a service. The only danger in my mind is that ban Game Pass from coming to iOS because they don't want the competition. </p>

      • Greg Green

        29 January, 2019 - 8:46 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#400132">In reply to MutualCore:</a></em></blockquote><p>They don’t need games, they just need deals with publishers. Almost all games on the Xboxes are not made by MS.</p>

    • cadrethree

      28 January, 2019 - 3:52 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#400131">In reply to Bats:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I can't remember Microsoft ever fighting off a near peer rival before. Now they have 3 in Apple, Google, and Amazon. All contesting the same patch of Earth. Luckily for Microsoft I don't really think Apple wants console and PC gaming. It's a small market and mobile gaming is far far bigger. Console gaming is mirroring what's taking place with Windows on the computer side. I'm sure we'll find out more about their mobile play this year with Xcloud play. </p>

    • Greg Green

      29 January, 2019 - 8:44 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#400131">In reply to Bats:</a></em></blockquote><p>I don’t think it’ll spell doom for MS overall, just in the consumer space. MS is more interested in the corporate side and nearly everything consumer oriented is being de prioritized. I’m surprised they haven’t already given up on gaming (again) and consoles.</p>

    • Bob2000

      29 January, 2019 - 12:20 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#400131">In reply to Bats:</a></em></blockquote><p>Apple does not have the content to make something like this work and the AppleTV has been an utter failure as a means to deliver games.</p><p><br></p><p>The vast bulk of gaming on iOS is free to play, subscription services need full games not F2P titles to make it work. Full games are a small minority on iOS.</p><p><br></p><p>MS has nothing to worry about in this area.</p>

  • Patrick3D

    28 January, 2019 - 3:28 pm

    <p>If we look back on Apple's history of supporting game developers: this well get announced on stage, launch with fewer features, and be abandoned before the year is out.</p>

  • nicholas_kathrein

    Premium Member
    28 January, 2019 - 3:55 pm

    <p>The only way this works is if they play to their strengths. </p><p><br></p><ol><li>IOS games are actually pretty good and fast on their newer hardware.</li></ol><p><br></p><p>I think their only way to capitalize on this is to update iOS and tvOS with a new service for both the phone and Apple TV. If they push it and they update both iOS and Apple TV they could do something. They'd really need to make their own controller for the Apple TV as well as making a controller you can clip your iphone into that has the controller built below it or on the sides. No one likes touching the screen. Since they control the app store it shouldn't be hard to make a store that gives them the games to DL when they want them. </p>

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