Dedicated Games App Announced at Apple WWDC 2025
The App Store won't be rendered useless, since you'll still need to access it for nongaming app downloads. But the old Game Center app, which provided leaderboards and social features to mobile gamers (and has long been relegated to a deep, dark corner of the iPhone's Settings menus), will finally be reaching a point of obsolescence.
Once it launches later this year, the Games app will be preinstalled on all new Apple devices. The hub will allow gamers who are deeply embedded in Apple's product ecosystem to launch their favorite titles from their mobile devices, Macs and smart TVs.
Watch this: WWDC 2025: Everything Revealed in 10 Minutes
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The app provides multiple tabs to manage your gaming experience on Apple devices. The streamlined interface includes Home, Apple Arcade, Library and Play Together tabs, as well as a search feature that will allow you to delve into a dedicated game storefront.
The Games app's Home tab allows gamers to quickly check out new events and updates for the mobile games they frequently play, while the Library tab lets users scroll through any game they've ever downloaded from the App Store.
The new Games hub has a simple control screen to let you navigate all of your Apple games on any device.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET
The new app will also serve as a hub for Apple's other recent endeavor in the gaming space, Apple Arcade. This curated gaming subscription service launched in September 2019 and allows subscribers to download and play hundreds of games handpicked by Apple employees. The Apple Arcade includes some of the biggest indie successes and retro gaming ports, as well as classic fan-favorites from the App Store with some additional bells and whistles.
The Games app is a hybrid gaming app store and social hub, making it much more front and center than the Game Center application. Game Center functionality has long been buried within Apple's mobile device settings, but it's possible that this new hub fares better now that Apple has built out a scaffolding of mobile gaming infrastructure with Apple Arcade.
The Game Center leaderboards will be revamped and integrated into the new Games application through the Play Together feature. Within the Play Together tab, people will be able to keep up with what their friends are playing, compare achievements and high scores and invite other gamers to multiplayer games.
The announcement of the Games hub comes on the heels of Apple's acquisition of RAC7, the developer of Apple Arcade hit Sneaky Sasquatch. An investment in first-party developers could signal that Apple wants to pursue some level of gaming exclusivity on its platforms.
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