Apple’s Services business is aiming to produce $ 50 billion in revenue this fiscal year
Apple Arcade is part of the Apple Services unit. In 2015, the year iPhone sales peaked, Apple saw what was coming and decided to focus on making money from active iPhone units (now numbering close to a billion) by selling them services at recurring subscription fees like Apple Music, Apple Arcade and Apple News +. Other parts of the Services group include App Store, Apple Pay, Apple Card, iTunes, iCloud, AppleCare + and more. Apple set the goal of doubling its Services revenue from the $ 25 billion it raised in fiscal 2016 to $ 50 billion for fiscal year 2020. And after the first half of fiscal year 2020, Apple has raised $ 26 a billion to get you towards your goal.
While Apple releases new Arcade games every month, none of the app’s 120 titles has become a runaway hit. The developers say Apple’s change in strategy is a sign that subscriber growth for the Arcade app is below expectations. And while the company has yet to reveal how Arcade is doing, Apple has recently added a second month of free trial, another sign that business is not booming. Those familiar with the company say Apple is believed to have spent between $ 1 and $ 5 billion on some new games.
Apple said it was always their intention to change the line of games available in Arcade based on user feedback. Apple said in a statement: “Apple Arcade has redefined what a gaming service can be, making unlimited gaming available to subscribers and their families on all their Apple devices. We are proud to have launched the first ever gaming subscription service mobile that now has over 120 games, many of which are award-winning and widely recognized for their art and gameplay. The vision has always been to grow and evolve the Apple Arcade catalog, and we can’t wait for our users to try the games developers are working now. ” At WWDC last week, Apple announced some changes to Arcade that include multi-user support for Apple TV and the ability to resume a game where a user left it on another device.
While Apple’s Services unit, as we mentioned, is ahead of the $ 50 billion goal in the middle of the fiscal year, there are some signs that the wheels are slowly falling off. The Apple Card, which was a year old in August, is not available out of state, Apple News + lost its chief executive late last year, and only this week the New York Times taken out. Finally, Apple TV + is still looking for its first big hit.
