Apple’s most important new subscription service may be Apple Arcade

“Apple’s forthcoming subscription mobile gaming service didn’t get much attention when it was announced alongside News+ and TV+ at last month’s event in Cupertino, California,” Adam Levy writes for The Motley Fool. “The subscription will give iOS device owners access to over 100 premium games for a single monthly price — no in-app purchases, no ads, just mobile gaming.”
“Apple is reportedly investing $500 million on content for Apple Arcade, according to the Financial Times,” Levy writes. “That’s certainly a big investment, but still not quite as much as Apple paid to develop original video content for TV+. But Arcade could turn out to be more important to Apple than TV+ because it’s going to cannibalize a business that’s already showing signs of slowing down, just like Apple Music cannibalized iTunes with great success.”
“For the first time since the start of 2015, and perhaps ever, Apple saw a decline in App Store downloads last quarter, according to data from Morgan Stanley analysts. While App Store revenue continues to climb year over year, the drop in downloads indicates Apple may struggle to grow App Store sales going forward,” Levy writes. “Gaming is the largest source of revenue in the App Store. Both premium games and games with in-app purchases are key to that growth. Apple takes a 30% cut from each.”

 
“Apple isn’t the first company to launch a subscription gaming service either, but it’s certainly ahead of where things were when it finally launched Apple Music,” Levy writes. “That could be key to ensuring continuous revenue growth from mobile gaming and dominating the industry.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Music was years late and not fully baked upon arrival and it still quickly displaced rivals to become the No.1 music subscription in the U.S., the world’s largest market for recorded music. Apple Arcade, othe other hand, is ahead of the game (or at least right on time), so we expect success to arrive rapidly.
Apple Arcade only requires one hit that’s exclusive for a long enough period that it makes gamers without an Apple device strongly consider that factor when choosing their next personal computer, smartphone, tablet, or set-top box. Then, of course, once they get one Apple device, the light finally comes on and we all know what happens next!