In the Sisyphean quest to increase profits year-over-year, Apple has had to do some serious soul-searching of late. As sales of iPhones plateau, the tech giant is looking to find new revenue streams, and one of those possible money-makers may just be a boon to gamers. As subscription services (like iCloud storage and monthly app subscriptions) grow and become a bigger slice of revenue pie, Apple is looking at starting a subscription gaming service. A veritable “Netflix for games,” according to Cheddar.
The tech company is in the early stages of talks with developers, and while the news outlet reports that nothing is set in stone as of yet, two of Cheddar’s sources say that the company is also discussing the possibility of getting into the game publishing industry, wherein they’d take care of marketing and distribution in exchange for exclusive releases.
This isn’t exactly a surprise, given the explosive growth of esports and gaming and the fact that Apple is quietly working on a rival streaming service to answer to the likes of Netflix and Hulu, which pump out original content like nobody’s business. But given that there are approximately 728 million iPhones in use in the world right now, a gaming subscription service could have far-reaching consequences for the growing esports and mobile game market.
We’re just excited by the possibility that shelling out $10/month to play Fortnite and NBA Live might make all those in-app purchases a thing of the past. Pfft, here’s hoping.