With Apple pulling back the curtain on its new
gaming subscription service, Apple Arcade, we
take a closer look at the Cupertino firm’s plans
to revolutionize the industry and delve deeper
into the wider gaming landscape at a time when
innovation is rife, new players are entering the
market, and traditional gaming consoles are
becoming a thing of the past...
GAME OVER FOR CONSOLES
If you’ve ever been a gamer, then the chances
are that you spent at least some of your youth
in a GameStop, or the gaming aisle at your
local Walmart, checking out the latest titles and
deciding whether to opt for Final Fantasy VII or
the latest Spyro the Dragon release. Many of our
favorite console games were played for a month
or two and then left to gather dust in our closets,
never to be seen again. And the same can be
said for CDs, DVDs, and VHS - when was the last
time you purchased a physical media title from
the high street or supermarket?
As we head into new digital-first times, where
streaming has overtaken physical and digital
music and entertainment products, games
consoles are looking increasingly outdated.
Both Microsoft and Sony have worked to offer
new gaming escapades as part of their consoles,
like the Xbox Game Pass, which has improved
playtime by 20% since its introduction, but
many consider such concepts too little, too late.
Indeed, being able to subscribe to a limited
number of console titles per month may seem
like good value from an outsider’s perspective,
but modern gamers want to access the latest
blockbuster titles, like Tom Clancy’s The Division
2 and Days Gone when they’re released, rather