Game program: What aims to use Apple with the Games app for iOS, iPados and MacOS?

The rumors that Apple would only bring its own app on iPhone, iPad and Mac for gaming for the first time: the Apple Games appAccording to the official name, part of iOS 26, Ipados 26 and MacOS 26, as Apple has announced this week on the WWDC 2025. They wanted to create a “central place for games and playing together with friends”, the group said. The approach is interesting: Apple summarizes all games on the Mac, including those that do not come from the App Store. In addition, according to current speculations, By Apple blogger John Gruberyour own Apple game app leads to games and regular apps separate in the future. One reason: Apple could defend itself against new competitors such as the Epic Games Store, which has found its way into the iPhone thanks to the Digital Market Act in the EU. After all, it would be conceivable that Apple also screws on the tariffs for developers, so it makes it more attractive, but to stay on Apple’s platform.

Collection point with “social layer”

Nothing of all of this can be seen at the moment. Instead, Apple first markets the Games app as a way to get a better overview of its game collection, plus the opportunity to discover new content. “The Games app simply does it to enjoy all games comfortably in a central place and to keep an eye on everything that happens, so as not to miss any important events and updates,” writes the group in PR-speaking. There are also challenges and a new “social layer” for communication with other players. Game Center is preserved as an underlying technology.

The central component of the Games app is Apple Arcade, the game absorption of the iPhone Group, which is still comparatively cheap at just under 7 euros a month and allows access to 200 advertising and in-app purchase-free games that are regularly supplemented. The Games app should also advertise all other interesting titles and gather in a surface. There is also a new library that also contains events and achievements and serves as a start screen for existing titles. Nice: game controllers can be used for navigation. A “play together” function is added to a leader board. Unfortunately, Apple TV is not yet covered – whether the Games app also appears for TVOS is still unclear, even though Apple Arcade is running here.

Does Apple want more than one game collection point?

The new game app ensures speculation that Apple could want more than the production of a new game collection point that shows that its platforms provide a rich gaming offer. The iPhone group is currently fighting primarily in the USA and the EU to keep its service sales. In the United States, a court now allows in-app sales to simply handle link to the web via link, while in the EU of Digital Markets Act (DMA) an opening of the iOS and iPados platforms has forced. There are now competing app stores that Apple calls “Alternative App Marketplace”. The central conflict has always been the high commission that Apple has been asking for for many years: 30 percent for sales below one million US dollars a year, otherwise 15 percent (also with subscriptions after one year).

The Epic Games Store by Arch enemy Epic Games is also not free, but has cheaper commissions. So you do not pay a fee of up to one million dollar sales, otherwise 12 percent will be due. It would be conceivable that Apple meets its developers in a similar way and takes some pressure from the regulatory situation. However, this would be easier due to its own player because the group could then limit the price reduction to one area. Alternatively, the high commission could be preserved in games, while “normal” apps are cheaper. So far, all of this is not even a rumor, just a mind game.