There are no longer any of the games that were formerly included in the Apple Arcade subscription service.
15 games have been removed, and all of them were released during the early stages of the service. These games had been visible in the “Leaving Arcade Soon” section of the Apple Arcade tab of the App Store since mid-July. Now that that area is vanished, it is possible that these are the only games that will be taken down in the near future.
Within that section, Apple said that these titles would be exiting Arcade, giving users just over two weeks’ notice. However, individuals who are actively playing the games have a bit more time.
According to a support document made available by Apple, users who have already downloaded the games will still be able to play them for an additional two weeks. Users will see a pop-up stating that the games are not available once they are no longer playable.
The agreements between the developers and Apple have come to an end, so the games are leaving the service. However, these agreements do not prevent developers from making those games directly available for purchase or download through the App Store at this time, independent of the Arcade subscription.
The games available on the open App Store might occasionally be nearly identical to their arcade equivalents, but there might also be some variations. Additionally, the developers of a game may decide not to re-release it in the App Store.
Developers must decide to support that, therefore it may not always be possible. Apple offers the infrastructure for players to import their saved progress from the Arcade versions to the App Store versions.
The agreements that developers made with subscription services, like TV subscription services like Netflix, are frequently not binding, so expect the Arcade library to change over time, just as we’ve seen with Xbox Game Pass.
For games that have been taken off the service, there is no clear method to long-term preservation, but in some cases Apple and app creators may extend expiration agreements.
Here’s a full list of games that have not been renewed:
- Atone: Heart of the Elder Tree
- BattleSky Brigade: Harpooner
- Cardpocalypse
- Dead End Job
- Don’t Bug Me!
- Dread Nautical
- EarthNight
- Explottens
- Lifeslide
- Over the Alps
- Projection: First Light
- Spelldrifter
- Spidersaurs
- Towaga: Among Shadows
- Various Daylife