Inside Apple Arcade and Vision Pro "Woes"
Some concerning reports and comments from developers working on Apple Arcade games for Vision Pro, via Neil Long writing for MobileGamer.biz on 30 July 2024:
One developer working with Vision Pro was surprised to learn that even Apple’s engineers don’t seem to know how the device works. “The technical support is awful – the worst I have seen anywhere,” they said. “They are unable to offer any insights into how the hardware and the software it runs on works, or how essential middleware is meant to work with it.”
“Developing for Vision Pro is like going back in time 10 years because despite the advertised power – and the cost – it is not a machine built for gaming. Getting any complex games working on the platform is difficult.”
Two other sources told us that they had been approached by Apple to make a Vision Pro game but were offered no compensation to make the title, and no guarantees it would be promoted or marketed in any way. Unlike Meta, which funds a lot of VR development, Apple offers indies no financial incentives at all to develop for Vision Pro – an approach a source described as “utterly baffling”.
It's true, games on Apple Vision Pro couldn't rightfully be described as "advanced" – even if some are very enjoyable (see the short video I recently made showcasing some of my favourite games so far): They're all relatively simple, although several are impressive in terms of how you interact without a controller.
More concerning, though, is the situation within Apple and its relationship with developers, which means we're perhaps unlikely to get any really engaging games for Vision Pro in the near future... if at all... and the Vision Pro is already being written off as a gaming platform?
Sad, if true.