Apple might be planning to make a dedicated hub for its gaming offering, breaking things out from the Arcade tab of the current App Store setup. This would reportedly involve an App Store-esque experience that's just for games, making it easier to find them.
This is according to 9to5Mac, which claims to have heard from sources involved in the project. The new app would apparently merge different parts of the App Store and Game Center that Apple already operates, but wouldn't involve the deletion or delisting of Game Center.
It sounds like it's intended as more of a live hub for what gaming you could get up to immediately, as well as a catalogue of other options for you to download. This would involve a "Play Now" tab, apparently, which would showcase your games and whether you have any Game Center friends online to play with.
This would be heightened by potential integrations with iMessage and FaceTime, presumably making it easy to hop on a call with friends as you play, all in one place. There would also be challenges and achievements for you to take on, shining more of a spotlight on this system. Interestingly, the new app also wouldn't be limited to just Apple Arcade games, but rather would be able to showcase both Arcade games and normal App Store options.
It's been hard to gauge how successful the Arcade subscription has been since it launched back in 2019, but Apple has never breathed a word about discontinuing it, so it must be doing something right. If anything, this new gaming app suggests that it's doubling down on the sector to try to get even more people's eyeballs on its gaming offering.
Still, there's no confirmation here that the separate app will actually arrive. It could well be one of the many internal Apple projects that never actually comes to light in public. Still, for Apple Arcade or mobile gaming fans, this sounds like a potentially exciting development.
If you're looking for your next gaming fix on iOS, meanwhile, you can check out a pretty superb option on Apple Arcade in the form of Balatro, one of the games of the year. This genius title fuses deckbuilding with poker, and I should warn you that it's dangerously addictive.
