Apple's App Store Chief Explains Its Push for Premium Games

More premium games are launching on the App Store this year than last, Apple's ‌App Store‌ Worldwide head Carson Oliver told Polygon, including more franchises coming from PC and consoles.

Oliver said:

We've seen incredible growth of games coming to the App Store, in general, with more premium games releasing on the App Store this year than last. While many of those are indies, we're also seeing more console and PC franchises coming to mobile, as it is a burgeoning audience for those games.

Oliver singled-out "Balatro," "Stardew Valley," "Slay the Spire," and "Bloons TD 6" as games finding success on mobile, and singled out cozy games, management simulations, and roguelikes as particularly successful categories.

Oliver suggested that part of the opportunity comes from players whose first gaming device was an iPhone. Having grown up playing with touch controls, those users give independent developers an audience accustomed to games designed around a touchscreen.

For an entire generation of players, their very first gaming device wasn't a console or a PC, it was an iPhone with a touchscreen. These users embrace direct touch as their primary controller, making iPhone and iPad the ultimate canvas for indie innovation.

The interview followed Apple's Indie Games Week promotion, which highlighted seven new and upcoming iPhone and iPad games, including "Sifu," "Vampire Crawlers," "No Man's Sky," and "Little Kitty, Big City."

With games such as Vampire Crawlers being sold directly on the ‌App Store‌, Polygon asked where Apple Arcade fits into the company's plans. Oliver described subscriptions and individual purchases as options developers can use alongside one another:

We want to give developers a trusted place to reach users around the world, support them at each stage, and help them build successful businesses. To achieve that goal, we provide developers with flexible business model options. That means a breakthrough phenomenon like Balatro can thrive as a premium download, and it can also find a home as part of the Apple Arcade service. The important thing is that we give developers the flexibility to make the best choice for every game and players the freedom to play how they want.

Oliver also discussed how Apple helps smaller studios get noticed, pointing to the ‌App Store‌'s editorial team:

From day one, the App Store was built to level the playing field for discovery and distribution, so that an indie title can sit shoulder-to-shoulder with the biggest entertainment franchises.

Alongside editorial recommendations, Apple recently introduced Creative Assets, which gives developers more control over their games' presentation in the store:

We also provide indie developers with tools and services to break through to new audiences and drive engagement. For example, we just launched Creative Assets. This new feature lets indie game developers tell their game's story in a richer way by showcasing artwork of their choosing in two of the most important places players find games: search results and product page headers.

Oliver said Apple's development tools are also reducing the work required to bring existing games to its platforms:

Technologies like Game Porting Toolkit 4, MetalFX, and our open-source Unity plug-ins dramatically cut the time, effort, and cost required for developers to bring PC and console games to Apple devices.

The full interview is available on Polygon.