iOS 19 will reportedly include a dedicated gaming app

Every so often, Apple makes an attempt to push its platforms as a place for serious gaming. If the latest report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg is accurate, the company will try again this year with the launch of iOS 19, macOS 15, and its other yearly OS updates.

According to the report, Apple plans a dedicated, pre-installed gaming app on iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple TV. The app will debut at WWDC on June 9, and roll out to those devices with iOS 19 and macOS 15 (or a subsequent update) later this year.

The app will feature editorial content about new games (similar to what you’d find in the App Store today), access to the App Store’s games section and Apple Arcade, and centralize all the stuff currently handled by Game Center, like friends lists, achievements, leaderboards, and communications. The Mac version of the app is said to be able to “tap into games downloaded outside of the App Store.” Likely, that means that it will serve as a launcher for those games, and that the core identity/achievements/leaderboards functions will be available to developers via APIs even for those games distributed outside the App Store.

Apple recently purchased the two-person studio RAC7 Games, whose Sneaky Sasquach was an Apple Arcade launch title. It is unclear if this is the first of many acquisitions as an attempt for Apple to build a big first-party games studio, but it doesn’t speak to the kinds of premium games that drive sales of PlayStation, Xbox, or Switch consoles. Rather, it indicates a drive for more mobile gaming, an area in which Apple is already dominant.

To earn the respect of so-called “AAA” game developers, publishers, and players, Apple will need to do much more than pre-install a gaming app on its devices. We will find out more about Apple’s gaming ambitions at WWDC on June 9, when the app and its features are said to be revealed.