Apple is not the most transparent of operators, to say the least.
As we’ve reported before, even some of those working closely with the tech giant to release games through its curated Arcade subscription service have not been treated well, or worse, have been ignored and even unpaid, for a while at least.
We’re told that relations between Apple and its Arcade partners have improved since those reports, but there’s still very little data out there about what is popular on the service.
Yes, there is a ‘Top Arcade Games’ section on the Arcade tab that functions like a top downloads chart – but we’re told that’s not exactly what it is (it would be completely static if it was a pure chart, a bit like the Spotify charts). Instead, we understand it is a mix of the most popular games, new releases and other strategic priorities for Apple.
Still, our friends at GameDiscoverCo have found a way around some of this classic Apple obfuscation. The data and insights platform has been tracking player reviews of every single Apple Arcade game since launch, and through that we can build a picture of what is working on the platform, and perhaps even more interestingly, what is not.
This data comes with some caveats. We can assume that, roughly speaking, the more player reviews there are of a game, the more downloads it has. But two games in particular, Sneaky Sasquatch and Hello Kitty Island Adventure, actively ask for a review through an in-game pop-up, so these titles will likely over-index. The rest of the top 20 listed here either do not ask for a review or do so only in certain contexts, so it’s hard to assess whether they have effectively been buffed or nerfed.
And naturally, this is a lifetime total so games released more recently have had less time to rack up reviews.
Courtesy of GameDiscoverCo, then, here’s the top 20 most-reviewed Apple Arcade games, with a little analysis to go with it below. The smaller number in grey next to the icon is the release date, and the big number on the right is the total number of reviews to date.
Sneaky Sasquatch is by far the most-reviewed game on Apple Arcade, not just because it was a launch game but perhaps also due to its review prompt pop-up, family-friendly approach and accessible sandbox-like gameplay.
It has consistently been pushed by Apple as a solid ‘starter’ game for its subscription service on the store and in its marketing ever since the service launched. Indeed, it appears to have been such a success that Apple went ahead and bought the studio behind it back in May 2025.
The tech giant has also pushed Hello Kitty Island Adventure pretty hard as its answer to Animal Crossing. Sunblink’s cutesy life sim has received a ton of updates and marketing support since launch in 2023, and looks like the service’s most recent hit, placing second despite only having had around three years on the service to rack up player reviews.
A word on all those NBA 2K games: these are annualised titles that also get heavily pushed by Apple’s marketing machine, so it’s no surprise to see several iterations of the game in this top 20, though NBA 2K23 and its predecessors have now been removed from the service.
These NBA games are also among the very few titles in this top 20 that feel console-game-adjacent, or appealing to a more adult or hardcore player.
The Oregon Trail‘s high ranking here may surprise those outside the US, but its presence in millions of US schools during a formative time for many of today’s parents explains its placing here. Angry Birds’ peerless brand recognition in mobile and family-friendly play style feel just right for Apple Arcade, so its high ranking here makes perfect sense.
Balatro is arguably most potent and addictive in mobile form, and it is the only true ‘indie’ game on this top 20 list, really – a testament to the crossover appeal of Playstack’s poker roguelike. (We’ve also heard rumblings that Apple paid over the odds to get it on the service first, too, with Playstack receiving very healthy ‘bonus pool’ payouts based on its lengthy average playtimes…)
Once upon a time SongPop and developer Fresh Planet were the darlings of the mobile game world, so it’s interesting to note that SongPop Party, a slick, well-executed music quiz, is still appealing to players inside the walled gardens of Apple Arcade.
In 12th spot, Ninja Kiwi’s Bloons games seem to have a huge following no matter where they appear, be it on the ‘real’ app stores, on Arcade or on Netflix Games. The appearance of Spongebob and Lego Star Wars also reiterate the importance of familiar brands for family-focused services like this, and StoryToys seems to be doing well on this front too, with Lego and Disney-licensed kids playthings riding high in the top 20.
Skate City was pushed hard by Apple at launch, and is one of just two original properties on this chart, the other being Sneaky Sasquatch.
So yes, this top 20 shows that Apple’s decision to shift attention away from the indie-style Arcade games it pushed at launch in favour of licensed and family-friendly fare has been the right one. But it is also useful to look at the games that have received the fewest player reviews to date as an indicator of what has not worked.
The weakest performer by far, by this metric at least, is Devolver’s Painty Mob, a game that arrived at launch in September 2019 but has only attracted 33 reviews to date. And sure enough, other more hardcore fare like Koei Tecmo’s strategy game Three Kingdoms, Taito’s Arkanoid Vs Space Invaders+ and Square Enix’s Final Fantasy IV: The After Years+ are in the bottom ten titles sorted by player reviews, and they have each had at least 18 months to gain some traction.
These are more hardcore, ‘gamery’ titles that again perhaps do not really fit into the service as it is today – one that is rightly designed as an ad-and-IAP-free ‘safe space’ for kids, with a smattering of big brand and indie games mixed in.
