Apple Arcade was originally launched as a subscription-based home for iOS games hosted exclusively within its library, but Apple is expanding the subscription library’s offerings by adding premium games already found elsewhere on the App Store.
The slight shift, along with a handful of new additions to the Arcade Originals line, brings an additional 180 games into Apple Arcade’s library by including select titles in two new categories: Timeless Classics and App Store Greats.
As with other games hosted in Apple Arcade, none of those new titles will include in-app purchases or any upfront cost (beyond Arcade’s $4.99 per month subscription fee).
Apple praises the move as a way for Arcade to offer “an incredible variety of gameplay experiences for everyone,” but it is worth noting that this move follows whispers last year of an internal shift toward games that encourage better engagement which brought about the quiet cancelation of contracts for projects that didn’t fit that new vision.
That 2020 report held up games like Grindstone as what Apple was looking for to keep players logging in (and subscribed) to Apple Arcade day after day and month after month. Rolling premium games that have already proven themselves on the wider App Store over the years seems to fit this bill. The addition includes familiar faces like Threes!, Monument Valley, Reigns, and Fruit Ninja Classic, as well as classics like Really Bad Chess, Tiny Crossword, and Solitaire. A list of other classics, greats, and originals launching on Arcade can be found here.