I am currently subscribed to the Xbox Game Pass for PC (beta), which gives me access to about 150 PC games (for download, not streaming) for €4 per month. I think that is a good offer. Now I read about Apple Arcade, which offers to give me access to 100 iOS games for €5 per month, and I think that this is a horribly bad offer. Why, if it is so similar?

In my mind mobile games are cheap, even the best ones. PC games are more expensive, especially triple A titles on release. The Outer Worlds for €60 at release is a regular price, and getting access to it via the Xbox Game Pass for PC for much less feels like a steal. I can't think of a €60 iOS game, and even €20 for an iOS games seems expensive. Apple Arcade doesn't even try to convince you that it is a way to get games cheaper, instead it has "exclusive" games, which you can't buy at all if you aren't on Apple Arcade. And they are indie games rather than triple A games. Because of that, you don't know these games, and don't feel much pull to sign up to try them.

In the end, Apple Arcade appears mostly to be a paid curator system: It selects a bunch of decent games with no in-app purchases. There are other decent games with no in-app purchases in the iOS app store, but they are hard to find in a sea of garbage and exploitative games. The sometimes very low quality of the Apple app store games becomes the purchasing argument for Apple Arcade. I rather find good iOS games by reading free websites reviewing them.