Charles Cecil hopes Apple Arcade will rejuvenate premium games on iOS

Revolution Software’s Charles Cecil MBE hopes that Apple Arcade will significantly increase the audience for premium games on mobile.

Announced in March and scheduled to launch this autumn, Apple Arcade is a new subscription service which will house over 100 “new and exclusive games” for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.

There’s no confirmed pricing or launch info yet, but Apple has reportedly committed to spending some $500 million on the first wave of Apple Arcade games, including The Chinese Room’s Little Orpheus, Mistwalker’s Fantasian and Revolution’s own Beyond a Steel Sky.

Cecil told VGC that he feels the service could see the audience for premium iOS games such as Beyond a Steel Sky grow significantly.

“The thing about mobile games is that more than 90% of games are free-to-play,” he said. “But it’s really important for Apple that there’s a really solid, strong base of premium games.

“What Apple Arcade does is it gives us a great opportunity to make games that would otherwise be reaching a mostly free-to-play audience,” the designer added.

“Instead of reaching hundreds of thousands of people with our game, we could now potentially go to tens of millions of people. That’s what’s really exciting. We are huge fans of Apple Arcade.”

Beyond a Steel Sky is the sequel to the cult classic 1994 adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky. The title is set for release on PC and Apple Arcade, with console versions yet to be confirmed.

Cecil and comic artist David Gibbons (Watchmen) have been planning the game since as early as 2012, Cecil said, but didn’t want to show anything until it was ready.

The new game is described as a “dramatic, humorous, cyberpunk thriller” in which puzzles drive a “timely and intelligent” narrative.

“The hugely ambitious adventure is set in a dynamic gameworld that will respond to – and be subverted by – the player’s actions,” according to Revolution. “The intelligent responses of game characters will allow multiple interesting (and fun) solutions to puzzles.”

While Cecil insists the new game will stand apart from its famous predecessor, it does see the return of protagonist Robert Foster, as he battles against a rogue AI which controls the security and privacy of an entire city.

“We kept talking about writing a new game but it was never possible,” Cecil told VGC.

“The reason that it is possible now is because previously we were working with publishers and love them as I do, a lot of them are risk averse and tend to want what has come before. But what our community want is innovation and we wanted to do that.

“We sat down a few years ago and decided we could afford to fund a prototype, because ultimately all that matters is whether our community like it or not – and they will tell us.”