UPDATE: Apple has provided some guidance on what is happening to the Apple Arcade games leaving the service:
“Games might sometimes leave Apple Arcade. If you download a game before it leaves Arcade, you can play the game for at least two weeks after. If you try to launch an Arcade game that is no longer playable, you receive a No Longer Available message.
After a game leaves Arcade, the game developer might choose to make their game available on the App Store. These games might vary from the Arcade version. If the developer makes their game available on the App Store and allows you to load your saved progress, you can pick up where you left off in the Arcade version.”
The original story as posted on 18/07/22 is below.
15 games will be leaving Apple Arcade soon, marking the first time the subscription service’s catalogue will have shrunk since it launched.
Games from Square Enix, WayForward, Noodlecake, Cleaversoft and Frosty Pop are among the titles for the chop, many of which were released around the launch of the service back in September 2019.
We have asked Apple what it means for players who have the games installed once they are removed from Arcade, and if they will continue to be functional. We will update this story if we hear back from them.
The games listed in a new ‘Leaving Arcade Soon’ section on the Arcade tab of the App Store are as follows:
- Atone: Heart of the Elder Tree (Wildboy Studios)
- BattleSky Brigade: Harpooner (BattleBrew)
- Cardpocalypse (Versus Evil)
- Dead End Job (Headup)
- Don’t Bug Me! (Frosty Pop)
- Dread Nautical (Zen Studios)
- EarthNight (Cleaversoft)
- Explottens (Werplay)
- Lifeslide (Block Zero)
- Over The Alps (Stave Studios)
- Projection: First Light (Blowfish)
- Spelldrifter (Free Range)
- Spidersaurs (WayForward)
- Towaga: Among Shadows (Noodlecake)
- Various Daylife (Square Enix)
Apple Arcade launched in September 2019 with over 100 games playable across the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. At launch, there was a mix of family-friendly fare and credible indie games like Assemble with Care, Sayonara Wild Hearts and What The Golf.
The service was rebooted in April of 2021 with a new focus on what Apple calls ‘timeless classics’ and ‘App Store greats’ – that is, more traditional games like solitaire, chess, backgammon and also catalogue premium titles like Monument Valley, Fruit Ninja, Crossy Road and Tiny Wings.
This month, Apple is releasing five new Arcade titles. Two new games Subway Surfers Tag and Heroish are joined by rereleases My Bowling 3D+, Samorost 3+ and Kingdom Rush Vengeance TD+.
