Apple is reportedly in talks over the possibiliy of launching a subscription-based gaming service. According to a Cheddar, Apple began discussing the service with multiple game developers in late 2018 but has not released an official announcement or timeline.

The anonymous sources stated that Apple has not yet decided on a monthly subscription price, which titles will be available, and which game publishers will be partners. The report also notes that since the project is in such early stages of development, Apple may end up dropping it all together.

Apple could use this opportunity to persuade developers into creating exclusive content for the service, by lowering fees they would normally pay to a third-party firm for user acquisition, marketing, and more distribution-related costs. Currently, Apple takes 30 per cent of App Store purchases but decreases to 15 per cent after the first year of subscription.

According to Newzoo, the mobile gaming industry is expected to be worth $100bn by 2021. While Apple’s iPhone sales see a steady decrease, the gaming category of the App Store continues to produce more and more revenue.

Earlier this month, another tech giant, Amazon, was reported to be developing a Netflix-like video game streaming subscription built on its cloud computing service.