Skip to main content

Apple Arcade: here’s what happens when your favorite game leaves the service

Last week, 9to5Mac reported that 15 games are leaving Apple Arcade soon, as the company added a tab on the App Store that shows which games will leave the service in the near future. With some questions remaining, the company has now addressed what happens when a game leaves Apple Arcade.

In an updated support document, Apple explains what happens when a game is leaving Apple Arcade:

“Games might sometimes leave Apple Arcade. If you download a game before it leaves Arcade, you can play the game for at least two weeks after. If you try to launch an Arcade game that is no longer playable, you receive a No Longer Available message,” the support document states. “After a game leaves Arcade, the game developer might choose to make their game available on the App Store. These games might vary from the Arcade version. If the developer makes their game available on the App Store and allows you to load your saved progress, you can pick up where you left off in the Arcade version.”

With that statement, Apple addresses that subscribers will have two weeks more to play a leaving Arcade game, the developer can make this game available within the App Store (although the user will have to download it again), and it’s up to the developer whether it will let the Apple Arcade subscriber load their previously saved progress in this new app.

MacRumors heard from an inside source that explained why more games could leave Apple Arcade soon. According to the publication, “Apple signed three-year deals with a number of developers, entering into contracts that provided a fixed payment, and ongoing royalties,” which are now ending and Apple isn’t renewing some of them.

You can learn all games leaving the platform soon here.

Do you play Apple’s gaming subscription service? Which one is your favorite? Share it with us in the comment section below.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel