Apple is about to launch a dedicated gaming app and has acquired Sneaky Sasquatch maker RAC7, according to two separate reports published today.
Firstly, Bloomberg reports that the iPhone maker will debut a preinstalled games app at WWDC, which will serve as a “launcher for titles and centralize in-game achievements, leaderboards, communications and other activity”, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
“The new app will feature editorial content from Apple about new titles, offer access to the App Store’s game section and promote Arcade, the company’s $6.99-a-month subscription offering,” the Bloomberg report continues. “And it will replace Game Center, an existing social network dedicated to this category that debuted in 2010 but never gathered serious momentum.”
Secondly, Digital Trends reports that Apple has acquired tiny two-person studio RAC7, the maker of Apple Arcade game Sneaky Sasquatch.
“We love Sneaky Sasquatch and are excited that the 2-person RAC7 team has joined Apple to continue their work on it with us,” an Apple spokesperson told Digital Trends. “We will continue to deliver a great experience for Apple Arcade players with hundreds of games from many of the best game developers in the world.”
It’s not the first time Apple has effectively acqui-hired a game studio, though. As we reported back in November 2022, Apple hired the founders of ‘playable TV’ studio Playdeo to work on what became Vision Pro.
Companies House filings suggest the studio’s debts were settled, and the studio was effectively closed thereafter. Studio investor and analyst Matthew Ball later appeared to confirm our report, tweeting a link to our story, adding: “So excited for the Playdeo Team and deeply excited to see their next products”.
Ball also updated his LinkedIn profile to say that Playdeo has “exited to Apple”, then swiftly removed the detail when we contacted him about it.
