Apple Arcade breaks free-to-play, but not how you'd think | Opinion
Christopher A Paul
Monday 10th January 2022
Launching in 2019, Apple Arcade promised players the ability to pay one low monthly fee for dozens of games and offered developers the chance to free themselves from the "shackles" of financing in mobile gaming. The service now boasts over 200 games that are devoid of ads or microtransactions in exchange for a small monthly fee.
It sure seems like subscription services like Apple Arcade could be the death knell of free-to-play, offering players a better value proposition and limiting the features of games some find exploitative.
However, two 2021 releases on Apple Arcade -- Star Trek Legends and Lego Star Wars Battles -- demonstrate another way Apple Arcade breaks free-to-play: it makes games built on established free-to-play mechanics far less compelling to play than if they had microtransactions.
Star Trek Legends is a game that follows closely in the lines of free-to-play titles like Star Wars Galaxies, Marvel Strike Force, and Disney Sorcerer's Arena. New characters are unlocked with gacha boxes, teams of characters set out on battles, and fans can wage player vs player battles in an arena with the opposing team controlled by the game's AI.
Lego Star Wars Battles originally was in a soft beta launch as a free-to-play game, but the game was shuttered in June 2021 then resurrected later that fall as an Apple Arcade exclusive.
In the vein of Clash Royale or Gears Pop, Lego Star Wars Battles charges players with developing decks of cards that are deployed in a tower defense battle. Players earn a chest, or similar item, when they win and those objects are unlocked over time, which is the primary route to adding to your card collection. In all three games, getting more copies of a
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