Apple Arcade devs call company out of touch, cite Vision Pro and payment issues

Earlier this year, developers for the Apple Arcade aired their grievances with the tech giant. Now, another report from MobileGamer shows the relationship has become further strained.

Some of the complaints from sources build on what was previously discussed in February. Developers are now waiting up to six months to get paid, go weeks without communication from Apple, and eventual talks can be "disappointing."

One source alleged meetings often have half of Apple's team missing, and those that are there "have no idea what’s going on and can’t answer our questions. Either they don't have knowledge, or can't speak because of confidentiality reasons."

Other concerns raised in the report were brand new. Many surrounded the Apple Vision Pro; a developer claimed Apple's engineering support didn't know how the headset worked, making game development for it even more difficult.

Another described the process as "going back in time 10 years. Despite the advertsed power and cost, it's not a machine built for games. Getting any complex games working on the platform is difficult."

Apple's Arcade treatment is tearing developers apart

The alleged problems with Apple and its Arcade are many, and extend even well after a game's release on the platform. One developer claims it has a discoverability problem that greatly harms older games when a new one with a similar title releases.

According to them, the older title is allegedly phased out of search results completely as the new game takes chart and promo space.

That developer described their game as being "in a morgue for the last two years." Despite their title being an Arcade exclusive, they claim "it doesn’t matter what we put in the game, Apple won’t feature us. It's like we don't exist."

Like last time, the Arcade studios feel that Apple still misunderstands the game industry or how to establish a foothold in it. While a developer has faith in the Arcade, they feel Apple "needs a clear goal for where it should go and what it is for."

Another believes Apple has put studios in "an abusive relationship" where "we 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."

MobileGamer's newest report on the Apple Arcade and developers' frustrations wth the platform can be read here.