Realizing that they can’t make the same ungodly amounts of profit with worse new iPhones alone, this year saw Apple very publicly pivot to becoming a services company. After all, you can make some money by charging a person once for hardware, but you can make all of the money by charging people constantly for subscriptions. And these subscriptions were all over the place, from magazines to credit cards. However, after spending time with Apple’s answers to two of the biggest potential service markets, video games and streaming TV services, we feel confident than one of these services is definitively better than the other.
Apple Arcade is better than Apple TV+.
Okay, maybe I’m a little biased. I do care more about video games than TV. But it’s because I care so much about video games that for years I’ve just been depressed about the sorry state of mobile games Apple helped create with the App Store. Apple Arcade represents mobile gaming finally coming back out of the wilderness of exploitative free-to-play scams that have plagued the scene for years. And while subscription services are clearly coming to all video game platforms, from Xbox Game Pass to Google Stadia, it’s something especially needed and new for mobile.
Apple TV+ is just another subscription TV service. It’s not something for hardcore fans of a certain niche. And its breadth of general content comes from packaging up other services you don’t particularly need to get through Apple. The obvious exceptions are the original shows. But at least right now, they’re no selling point.
If nothing else, Apple’s original shows do feel like shows Apple would make. And not just because the characters are all lovingly using iPhones. Conspicuously expensive, slick, glossy, warm and fuzzy futuristic appeals to some kind of vaguely centrist global and optimism are fantastic for selling a product. But when applied to actual stories it leaves them feeling hollow and overly engineered, not unlike the worst algorithm-driven Netflix shows.
In fact, I thought a lot about Netflix, particularly its original debut hit House of Cards, when watching The Morning Show, Apple’s star-powered Newsroom-esque $300 million dollar flagship show. Both shows get good use out of their recognizable actors like Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. Both feature questionable topical amorality, although Steve Carell’s fake Matt Lauer has nothing on actual Kevin Spacey. And both shows are bad but trashy and watchable in a way that convinces you to keep them on in the background. Still bad, though.
One bad show wouldn’t be such a big deal if The Morning Show didn’t represent like a quarter of Apple TV+’s entire original output so far. What else is there? Blind Jason Momoa? Pass. A space race drama from the Battlestar Galactica people? Seems promising but also niche. That Emily Dickinson thing? Sounds fun and I like John Mulaney. But then what else? And don’t tell me it’s M. Night Shyamalan. Even with their libraries of legacy content being snatched up by rights holders, Netflix and Hulu and Amazon Prime all have original shows people actually care for and talk about. Nothing on Apple TV+ right now looks like it’ll have that same trendsetting effect on viewers. And the market is too crowded to hope consumers will just patiently wait.
But Apple Arcade is having that effect on mobile gamers. Part of it is quantity. Recently I covered over twenty intriguing Apple Arcade games on the service, which means there are over eighty I haven’t even touched. But it’s quality, too. Apple Arcade has legit premium gaming experiences from celebrated creators that people are raving about. Sayonara Wild Hearts! Grindstone! Overland! Granted, not all of these games are exclusive to Apple Arcade. Some of them I prefer playing on other platforms like the Nintendo Switch. But overall Apple Arcade has so many more real reasons you should consider subscribing.
When Apple TV+ was first revealed we learned that anyone who purchased a new Apple product would get a year for free. I thought it was weird that this deal was limited to Apple TV+ and not also Apple Arcade, which also costs $5 per month. What it because TV is still more mainstream than games? But after now using both I know the actual answer. Only Apple Arcade is currently worth the money.
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So many streaming TV services to choose from. Where do you start?
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Although it no longer has a free option, Hulu is a great streaming TV service that is worth paying for.
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From buying to renting to subscribing to individual channels, Amazon offers a bevy of streaming TV options.
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YouTube Red subscribers can watch original shows from streaming stars, but YouTube TV lets you watch actual live TV.
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You have to buy channels in bulk and still deal with commercials, but with DirecTV Now you get the real live TV experience delivered through streaming.
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If you want to stream shows and documentaries that actually teach you something, go with CuriosityStream.
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AMC Premiere just focuses on current AMC shows, but for Walking Dead super fans that might be enough.
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With Boomerang, tons of retro cartoons, from Looney Tunes to Scooby-Doo, can all come back to you
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FuboTV may be the escape from cable that sports fans are looking for. It’s pricey, but being able to easily stream live sports and more from dozens of channels with only one subscription might very well be worth it.
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Brown Sugar has all of the classic Blaxploitation movies you could want and then some. It’s niche, but it’s one of the most impressive niche libraries we’ve seen.
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For the true cinephile, FilmStruck has a large collection of classic films from all eras and countries, including movies from the Criterion Collection.
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Along with presenting streaming services like Netflix and Sling through one box, Dish AirTV also lets you watch local over-the-air channels with an additional installation.
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Get a streaming media device to enjoy these services on your TV. Our favorite is the Amazon Fire Stick.
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