Making games for Apple platforms "like an abusive relationship", say developers

Developing games for Apple platforms has been described as "like an abusive relationship", due to a lack of support or strategy.

In a new report, MobileGamer.biz has spoken to a number of anonymous developers making games for the Apple Arcade mobile platform and the Vision Pro VR headset.

Sources describe a whole litany of issues, suggesting Apple simply "does not understand gamers" or the industry.

A key problem is reportedly a lack of contact or technical support. "We can go weeks without hearing from Apple at all and their general response time to emails is three weeks, if they reply at all," said one source.

"We're supposed to be able to ask product, technical and commercial questions, but often half the Apple team won't turn up and when they do they have no idea what's going on and can't answer our questions, either because they don't have any knowledge on how to answer it, or are not able to share that info for confidentiality reasons."

This is particularly apparent for developers working on Vision Pro, with one developer describing Apple's technical support as "the worst I have seen anywhere".

"Developing for Vision Pro is like going back in time 10 years because despite the advertised power - and the cost - it is not a machine built for gaming," they said. "Getting any complex games working on the platform is difficult."

Apple also does not offer financial incentives for studios to develop for Vision Pro, unlike its main rival Meta, which was described as "utterly baffling" by an anonymous developer.

Other problems include discoverability on Apple Arcade, and grim QA and update processes. Said one source: "It feels like the game's been in a morgue for the last two years... It's like we're invisible."

Another developer detailed the QA and localisation process, which involves submitting a thousand screenshots at once for every device aspect ratio and language. "My team were like: there's no fucking way we're going to do that," they said.

On the plus side, the interviewed sources stated Apple does pay well, although times have changed since the first few years of Arcade. Now, however, there's a five month backlog on royalty payments - one developer had not been paid for six months and nearly went out of business, while another said they had been "stonewalled" by Apple reps for chasing payments.

And while developers believe Apple sees games as a 'necessary evil', Arcade seems to be directionless. One source said it "feels like a bolt-on to the Apple company ecosystem" and isn't "truly supported inside the company".

"Honestly, I think Apple doesn't understand games and gamers," said another source. "I believe Apple Arcade is a good idea in general, but they need a clear goal for where it should go and what it is for. That's a question they need to answer and then act accordingly."

Another source was particularly disgruntled. "Given their status as a huge tech company it feels as if they treat developers as a necessary evil, and that we will do everything we can to please them for little in return, in the hope that they grace us with another project - and a chance for them to screw us over again," they said.

"It's like an abusive relationship where the abused stays in the relationship hoping the other partner will change and become the person you know they could be."

Eurogamer requested comment from Apple, which it declined but did point to an interview with Arcade's senior director Alex Rofman in The Guardian. "Arcade is a place for games that might not otherwise exist, and I think that's a really important part of our strategy," he said, adding "games are more important to Apple now than they ever have been."

A previous report in February, also from MobileGamer.biz, stated developers were concerned about the future of Apple Arcade and described "the smell of death" around the platform.

It's certainly a tricky time for mobile gaming. Capcom's iOS port of Resident Evil 7 has reportedly made under 2000 sales since its launch at the start of July. The likes of Assassin's Creed Mirage, Resident Evil Village, and Death Stranding have fared similarly.