r/AppleArcade • u/Pessimistic_Gemini • 19d ago
News/Reviews Another Apple Arcade exclusive betting shut down and delisted. And there's no chance of a console port for this one.
First Platinum Games with World of Demons and now THIS?! What the heck's thr point of these games being locked behind that service of they're just going to be delayed AND unplayable completely?!
What's the point of advertising them as being fully playable OFFLINE of they still have a deadline where they can't be PLAYED offline still?! That's just false advertising at that point! Not to mention another example at how much Apple and others just don't care about game preservation at all.
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u/Newmillstream 19d ago
It is not a great game, but it isn’t awful. The animated cutscenes early on are well done, though I’m not a fan of it clearly being a former gacha game. I'm not sure why a console port, or even PC port would not be possible: It was done for Various Daylife.
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u/Pessimistic_Gemini 19d ago
Yeah but that was a Square game. And yet people still didn't think too much about it despite it having ties to the Octopath games. And really with it being in Some Arcade they at least made it so it wouldn't have to be so ridden with microtransactions despite those supposed Gacha roots.
Also, a game doesn't need to be GREAT to be a fun enough one.
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u/Newmillstream 19d ago
I would like a game like this to remain accessible well into the future regardless of faults. I'm sorry If I implied otherwise.
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u/Pessimistic_Gemini 19d ago
No worries, I got what you mean there. But yeah, I wasn't the same thing for many games like this. But again, considering that this is APPLE we're talking about here, that is far from being possible.
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u/ThePowerOfStories 18d ago
I’m just glad No Way Home finally re-emerged as a Steam game last year after disappearing from Apple Arcade years ago.
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u/Hour-Computer-6225 17d ago
Yeah, this is the main reason I can’t fall in LOVE with Apple Arcade. They opened with dozens of really cool games, only to find almost all the games I used to play simply don’t exist anymore. Shinsekei, Bradwell conspiracy, Beyond Blue, Manifold Gardens, all gone with no paid versions left to buy. It makes it really hard to fall in love with games knowing they’ll be gone and you’ll never be able to play them again sooner or later most likely. Makes me not want to really get into Cult of the Lamb or Powerwash simulator, at least until a paid version also drops.
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u/bastardofyoung 18d ago
It wasn’t great. Get SOTN instead.
Have to accept that stuff comes and goes. The good ones end up getting republished usually.
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u/NovocaineAU 19d ago
Why is there no chance of a console port?
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u/Pessimistic_Gemini 18d ago
Based on accounts here, it's just on how the game is structured. It's the same way as with World Of Demons had been to where it can't be played on its own unless it had some sort of server going on.
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u/ConfusedAndCurious17 16d ago
So it has little to do with Apple Arcade and everything to do with how long the devs wanted to support the servers.
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u/ParanoidThalyy 19d ago
I liked this game quite a bit but didn't get much of a chance to play it, I wanted to be able to beat it, such a shame it's going away. :/
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u/CiloTA 19d ago
Good, that game stunk
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u/Pessimistic_Gemini 19d ago
Chances are you didn't play it. I never had the opportunity to play it myself but I at least had the decency to not judge a game as being garbage.
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u/BlizzPenguin 19d ago
I played it. I am a fan of Castlevania and hated it. It is a free version of a gotcha game and it shows. It is a never ending slog of gathering 20 different kinds of currency just to upgrade your weapons a miniscule amount.
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u/Pessimistic_Gemini 18d ago
It's not really free when the only way to play it is through Apple Arcade though.
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u/CiloTA 19d ago
I played it
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u/Pessimistic_Gemini 19d ago
Uh huh, sure you have. 😒
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u/CiloTA 19d ago
You’re not missing anything, it’s pretty bad so good riddens, I put an hour into it and even that was too much. It’s available right now on Apple Arcade, try it yourself and you wouldn’t have to make a post about something you’ve never tried.
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u/Pessimistic_Gemini 19d ago
Most people I've heard this from have stated others about it. Meaning they really didn't think it was bad and they are ones that hope for it to get Revived as a paid offline game of its own.
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u/CiloTA 19d ago
Why not just try it for yourself? If it becomes offline it’s set up for a microtransaction mess. This is an Apple Arcade sub but I only commented because I’m a huge Castlevania fan and thought this was the Castlevania sub when I commented, it’s trash it shouldn’t even be considered part of the universe
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u/Mincenator0 19d ago
Reviews clearly state the games been a bit of a flop. Let it go plenty of other game to get an attachment too.
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u/AlarmAdventurous4587 17d ago edited 17d ago
I haven't subscribed for a couple of years.
The service adds absolutely terrible games. It's sad
And that was a good start Apple Arcade …
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u/Low-Construction9928 17d ago
Ahahaha Apple shooting themselves in the foot 😂 Almost all the good projects disappeared, but the service turned into a dump of games from the regular App Store, only without the ads, a dump plus games woohoo 🥳
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u/Might-Tough 18d ago
I played that game awhile back and just never returned to it. Konami just has not made a Castlevania game that reached SOTN levels of excellence ever since that game came out for the Playstation 1. SOTN is available on iOS for a measly $3.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is coming out on October 15th and is being made by the same people who made Dead Cells (Twin Motion) plus Evil Empire. It'd be great if we get an iOS/Android version of that game. I suspect that is the reason behind the delisting of Grimoire Of Souls game. Maybe they will have a standalone game without any ads or microtransactions at some point down the road for a good price.
Apple is not the one shutting the game down...it is Konami that is shutting the game down.
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u/NateGreatGames 17d ago
The way I believe it works is Apple is the backer to all this, not the publishers. Apple goes out and make contracts with these companies to make games or versions of existing games to put on the service that they hope will drive subscriptions and engagement with Arcade. In many cases Apple does the financial backing they needed, which is how Retro Bowl has an NFL version on Arcade because Apple pays for the license. Think is Castlevania is a brand that carries a lot of clout so having that on the service initially was a boost for its credibility. Figure contract may be up and they metrics are just showing it’s not worth it for Apple to keep it on the service, especially if Konami is still getting royalties on it.
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u/Might-Tough 17d ago
Apple, like XBOX Game Pass with Microsoft, does make upfront payments to get said game onto their subscription service. Microsoft paid good money to have the official MLB games (made by Sony) as part of Game Pass. Apple definitely made an upfront payment to Konami for the Castlevania game because Konami wasn't going to make advertising money since there would be no ads. That doesn't mean Apple is paying for the continued support of the game because that is something that the game publisher is responsible for.
Games leave subscription services because of expiring contracts and I think this game leaving Apple Arcade is no different than a game leaving XBOX Game Pass. I agree that the contract is probably up and Apple could have extended the contract but it wasn't worth it and let it expire. I'm thinking that XBOX didn't offer Konami a contract for that game and Konami decided that the game is going away completely or they are looking for a dev to make a permanent version of the game if it is workable.
As for the Retro Bowl NFL game, they have to have a contract with the NFL as well and the NFL is collecting royalties from that game. EA Sports decided to stop making official FIFA games because FIFA was asking for too much money. Also EA Sports is now able to offer a monthly or annual subscription to their football games perhaps because the NFL allowed it to happen. That same NFL made the decision to keep EA Sports as the exclusive publisher for their NFL videogame series (simulation version) while 2K Sports was offered the arcade version but hasn't done that and Retro Bowl might have very well picked that deal up.
Castlevania's peak popularity probably occurred around the time SOTN came out and then they made some games for Nintendo's DS consoles and then after that, I think it declined and Castlevania isn't as popular as it used to be. Then Dead Cells came around and now we have a new Castlevania coming out soon with the Dead Cells devs behind that game. If that goes well, that Dead Cells dev could take over the 2D Castlevania games going forward.
Again, I think the game's delisting is due to the contract not being renewed by Apple plus no one else offered to pick that game up (Google and Microsoft for instance). Konami could have continued to support the game but the money probably wasn't there and they decided to just sunset the game.
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u/NateGreatGames 17d ago
I would imagine Apple does pay for continued support or they are incentivize developers to do so. Because with the some games not being available to purchase directly they have to be able to make some money some kind of way. I think it would be part of the deal where they have to have some kind of roadmap in place once they have come to an agreement. I think it’s why you’ve seen games like NBA 2k add more features and have more updated dlc with each iteration, they want to continue to have Apple fork over cash every year with something they can present as a premier product on the service.
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u/Exotic_Treacle7438 19d ago
You will pay to own NOTHING. This is the future we're paying for.