Findingquality games on the App Store is notoriously hard. Historically, Apple doesn’t consider games to be a primary pillar of their service, despite the millions of people playing (and spending money on) games on iOS devices every day.
The Indie Game Showcase will hardly fix that, but it is a step in the right direction. The new section on the App Store highlights critically acclaimed, independent games and the developers who make them.
“Often made up of just a few dedicated members, independent studios prove that what really matters is the size of your dream,” the showcase reads. “In each Indie Game Showcase, we celebrate a popular game and its creative team, highlighting the developer’s titles along with their favorite games from other studios.”
Findingquality games on the App Store is notoriously hard. Historically, Apple doesn’t consider games to be a primary pillar of their service, despite the millions of people playing (and spending money on) games on iOS devices every day.
The Indie Game Showcase will hardly fix that, but it is a step in the right direction. The new section on the App Store highlights critically acclaimed, independent games and the developers who make them.
“Often made up of just a few dedicated members, independent studios prove that what really matters is the size of your dream,” the showcase reads. “In each Indie Game Showcase, we celebrate a popular game and its creative team, highlighting the developer’s titles along with their favorite games from other studios.”
First up is Simogo, creators of Year Walk, Beat Sneak Bandit, and Apple’s first showcase game, Device 6. The game is an “incredible hybrid of text adventure and puzzle game,” according to the Showcase, and we really must agree. (so much so that it was our pick for #2 game of 2013!)
What’s most interesting to me isn’t that Apple is highlighting indie games (which are a hot battleground for game platforms these days), but which games. Device 6 and Year Walk are both incredible games and only cost $3.99 apiece without microtransactions of any kind. That certainly bodes well for the sorts of games Apple is willing to highlight on the section in the future.
We don’t how long Apple will keep featuring Simogo, or whom they’ll be replaced with, but we’ll likely find out soon enough. Then we’ll know if this is a stamp of quality we can continue to trust in the future.
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