Apple Arcade is shedding 15 games soon

Including Spidersaurs, Towaga, and Various Daylife

With the way agreements often shake out, it’s only natural for games to come and go from subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Extra — but I haven’t necessarily associated that ebb and flow with Apple Arcade. At least, not yet. Granted, I don’t keep up with the service as much these days beyond the occasional headline, but it’s a bit surprising to hear that 15 games are leaving Apple Arcade.

As reported by TouchArcade and The Verge, the timeline is hazy at best.

A new section in Apple Arcade lists the following games as leaving “soon”:

• Atone: Heart of the Elder Tree
• BattleSky Brigade: Harpooner
• Cardpocalypse
• Dead End Job
• Don’t Bug Me!
• Dread Nautical
• EarthNight
• Explottens
• Lifeslide
• Over the Alps
• Projection: First Light
• Spelldrifter
• Spidersaurs
• Towaga: Among Shadows
• Various Daylife

Recognize any of them? You might if you were there in the beginning.

I know a few off the top of my head — most notably Spidersaurs, a WayForward run-and-gun game that’s now on other platforms like Nintendo Switch, and Various Daylife, a strangely named Square Enix RPG. Many, but not all, have been ported elsewhere.

Another day, another delisting

We’ve been conditioned to expect that movies, shows, and games won’t stick around indefinitely when they’re lumped together in ever-shifting, ever-more-competitive libraries. A proper heads-up with removal dates is half the battle.

I just hope that in Apple Arcade’s case, players aren’t out of luck when it comes to their game data; the service is in a unique place with no in-app purchases or ads. It would be a shame to invest time and energy into an Apple Arcade title only for it to drop off the list with no other way of picking up the pieces. Games can be so fleeting these days.