Apple’s WWDC25: Breakthrough or Bust? What Industry Insiders Think
By Mariam Ahmad 17 June 2025
By now, we all know what Apple's WWDC25 brought to the table - new tools, new promises, and a fresh coat of polish on familiar platforms.
We spoke with industry vets to get their raw, unfiltered reactions. Some saw bold moves and long-overdue innovation. Others saw smoke, mirrors, and a company more focused on headlines than substance. Here's what they had to say.
Apple refreshes the look but not the model
Apple's WWDC25 updates feel like a welcome step forward, but perhaps not the great leap many developers and investors were hoping for.
For developers, the feeling on the ground is mixed. While Metal 4 offers some serious graphical horsepower, the new Games app is seen by many as a long-overdue UI refresh rather than a solution to the core discoverability problem. It’s a nicer-looking storefront, but getting players through the door without a massive user acquisition budget remains the fundamental challenge.
For investors, this means the underlying economics of mobile gaming on iOS are largely unchanged. These updates don't fundamentally alter the post-ATT reality where paid UA is king. The increased editorial curation within the new Games app is a new 'kingmaker' to watch, but it also concentrates risk, making an Apple feature more critical than ever for organic growth.
The bottom line is that Apple has laid a better foundation, signaling a stronger commitment. However, it’s not a revolution that changes the core strategies required to build and scale a successful mobile game today.
Faheem Saiyad, Director, AppSamurai
Game hub or ad engine? Apple’s WWDC play protects margins, not developers
Apple’s WWDC25 updates represent a real shift, but the motivation isn’t purely developer-first. These changes are primarily about protecting Apple’s margins in the face of growing direct-to-consumer trends. With the new Games app, Apple is attempting to rebuild the narrative that they add value for gamers and game developers through discovery, promotion, and infrastructure - similar to Steam. But there’s a critical distinction: Steam doesn’t sell ads. Apple does. By creating a more aggregated game distribution hub, Apple gets more advertising real estate, which they’re hoping will offset lost margins from D2C.
At the same time, we see Apple making anti-competitive moves on third-party products. Their new restrictions on fingerprinting will hurt third-party attribution providers and UA, while their AdAttributionKit gives more flexibility within their own walled garden. Combined with social features aimed at building an Apple-owned social graph, these changes tighten the ecosystem and make it harder for developers to go around them.
Archie Stonehill, Chief Growth Officer at Stash
WWDC felt more PR than progress
Was it just me, or was WWDC this year a bit of an anti-climax?
Usually, this is one of Apple’s big flex moments, the annual showcase where the Apple faithful bang their drums, pray to the ghost of Steve Jobs, and hope for something that redefines how we work with (and around) the world’s most polished walled garden. But this year? It all felt a little… meh.
Features like “UI glass” completely missed the mark, and judging by the people’s thoughts online, I’m not the only one who thought so.
The only bit that stood out for me, from a gaming perspective, was the announcement of Apple’s new Games app. It looks like they’re trying to build a more cohesive, engaging ecosystem for gaming. You can almost see the influence of Steam in the structure: a library, social features, events, overlays. They’ve clearly looked at how it’s done on PC and tried to replicate that on mobile.
The problem? That strategy hasn’t worked for them before. Game Center flopped, with a capital F. Apple Arcade has struggled with adoption, and I say that as a subscriber who mostly uses it to play Balatro+ and the occasional indie.
I do give them credit for finally acknowledging the developer complaints around discoverability. If they actually follow through and start surfacing new and lesser-known games, that’s a win. But let’s be honest, the timing of all this suggests something else.
After major hits like the DMA ruling in the EU and the Epic case in the US, this feels less like a leap forward for players or devs, and more like Apple trying to regain control of the narrative and the revenue streams.
So yeah, WWDC didn’t blow me away. But I’ll be keeping an eye on the Games app when it launches. Hopefully it helps indie titles get discovered and doesn’t just become another funnel to make sure Apple still gets its 30% cut post the D2C revolution.
John Wright, CEO, Turborilla
Apple’s gaming push isn’t the power play it wants to be
Apple’s WWDC25 gaming updates, like the new Games app, Game Overlay, and Metal 4, look exciting on the surface, but let’s be real: this isn’t a bold new era for game devs. It’s Apple tidying up their gaming corner.
The Games app isn’t really “new.” It’s just the old Games tab from the App Store, now with a standalone UI and a rebranded Game Center baked in. It’s cleaner, sure - but fundamentally it’s still just a front for tracking what you play and showcasing Apple Arcade a bit louder.
Let’s be honest, this is Apple asking: “Why aren’t we selling more Arcade subs when over half our users play games?” So they built a hub to make Arcade more visible - not to fix game discovery or support devs in a deeper way.
Could it help organic discovery? Maybe—if they build in smart recommendations like “Because you played X...” But App Store discovery is still driven by editorial picks, ads, and rankings. That won’t change just because we have a new front-end. And virality? Still lives off-platform. TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Reels—they remain the real discovery engines. Unless Apple cracks in-store virality, this app won’t move the needle much.
As for Metal 4 and Game Overlay - they’re solid updates, but mostly for high-end devs building for Mac or Vision Pro. Cool, but not game-changing for mobile teams.
In short: useful polish, not a platform shift.
Apple’s moving, but the real power for mobile game devs still lives outside Cupertino.
Ömer Yakabagi, Founder, Gamigion
Nice move, but no checkmate: Apple’s game discoverability tweaks leave devs wanting more
Though these are interesting additions from Apple, they aren’t groundbreaking. That said, as developers, we understand the importance of game discoverability improvements, so we'll definitely be exploring how these changes can help discovery for The Battle of Polytopia on iOS. We’ll also be looking into how the focus on the gaming experience can benefit our new and existing players. From our perspective, there’s a lot more to be done to improve reach to players. For example, including a wish list system with notifications about discount campaigns, and improved support for bundles - similar to what Steam currently offers. But this is a step in the right direction.
Christian Lövstedt, CEO, Midjiwan AB - Polytopia
Epic wins, Apple spins: Devs still waiting for real discoverability fixes
From the game developers and studios perspective, there is nothing in the announcements that can help with the current fundamental problem of the iOS platform, which is discoverability of games in the store. Ironically, the biggest "improvement" was the latest ruling in the Epic vs Apple case, which we see now manifested through new shiny web store popups during startup of some big games already.
Jakub Remiar, Product & Game Design Consultant and Co-host of two & a half gamers
An olive branch, not a revolution
Apple’s recent updates are incremental, but they shouldn’t be dismissed entirely. I see these moves as an olive branch to game developers, who generate much of Apple’s revenue. However, for Apple to truly transform its relationship with developers, we need to see significant changes in discovery and distribution. While these recent steps make some progress in that direction, they are far from revolutionary.
Marca Wosoba, COO, ZBD
Game Center grows up, but iOS still plays catch-up
Apple Games finally puts player libraries, cross-device progression and social challenges in one place - a long-overdue fix that makes Game Center relevant again. It’s a solid foundation, but iOS still needs deeper reforms: algorithm-plus-editorial discoverability, playable demos and a proper wishlist to surface indies; a graduated revenue share (12–15 % after recoup) and alternative payment methods to attract premium titles.
Other features I’d like to see include A/B asset testing for developers; and an overlay to see the performance of games. Addressing these would turn a good app into an ecosystem that rivals the feature-rich Steam on pocket screens.
