Apple’s new App Store boss says the store was built so a small indie game can sit right next to the biggest franchises, and that more premium games are arriving on it this year than last.
That’s according to an interview with Polygon, the first Carson Oliver has given since taking over as head of App Store Worldwide after Phil Schiller stepped away in August.
“From day one, the App Store was built to level the playing field for discovery and distribution, so that an indie title can sit shoulder-to-shoulder with the biggest entertainment franchises,” Oliver told Polygon in an email interview. It ran alongside Apple’s Indie Games Week, which brought seven games, including Vampire Crawlers, Sifu and Little Kitty, Big City, to iPhone and iPad.
Oliver says gaming has “always” been central to the App Store, and that what’s changing now is the hardware and software behind it. “What’s accelerating today is the technology powering that ecosystem,” he said, pointing to hardware-accelerated ray tracing on the A20 Pro, the next-generation vapour chamber in the iPhone 18 Pro, Game Porting Toolkit 4, Metal and Apple’s open-source Unity plug-ins.
Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky port is a good example, with ten years of updates squeezed into a 5GB game that runs on an iPhone 11. Oliver said tools like Game Porting Toolkit 4, MetalFX and the Unity plug-ins “dramatically cut the time, effort, and cost required for developers to bring PC and console games to Apple devices.”
Oliver also pointed to new ways for indie games to get noticed on a crowded store. “We also provide indie developers with tools and services to break through to new audiences and drive engagement,” he said, naming Creative Assets, a new feature that lets developers show artwork of their choosing in App Store search results and product page headers. Apple also leans on a global editorial team to find and feature new games.
Apple doesn’t share player numbers, and Oliver wouldn’t confirm whether the 77% jump in premium mobile game sales in 2025 reported by GamesIndustry.biz matches what Apple sees. He did say growth is clear. “We’ve seen incredible growth of games coming to the App Store, in general, with more premium games releasing on the App Store this year than last,” he said, adding that more console and PC franchises are coming to mobile as well.
Oliver credits part of that growth to players who grew up gaming on phones. “For an entire generation of players, their very first gaming device wasn’t a console or a PC, it was an iPhone with a touchscreen,” he said. He named cozy games, management sims and roguelikes as the genres doing well, and called out Balatro, Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire and Bloons TD 6 as mobile success stories.
He also signalled no change for Apple Arcade, even with games like Vampire Crawlers skipping the service and going straight to the App Store. “That means a breakthrough phenomenon like Balatro can thrive as a premium download, and it can also find a home as part of the Apple Arcade service,” Oliver said. “The important thing is that we give developers the flexibility to make the best choice for every game and players the freedom to play how they want.”
In Canada, Apple Arcade still costs $8.99 a month as part of its subscription service. Do you buy premium games on your iPhone, or does Apple Arcade cover it for you?
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