Mac Games Arcade Interview

There’s a very real prospect of Mac users having something akin to Steam, the PC downloadable games platform (from the guys who make Half Life no-less!).  Is it coming from Aspyr, the company that makes so many Mac versions of PC games?  No, they only have three titles for download, two of which are games, both of those have the words “Call of Duty” in the title.  Okay then, single publisher services don’t seem the way to go.  What about GameTree Online?  Well, they have a lot of titles on offer running the gamut from big EA titles like Spore, to critically acclaimed Indie hits like Braid ... but they don’t have the secret sauce that makes services like iTunes and Steam so popular; a dedicated app.

So who does?  Mac Games Arcade apparantly; essentially an application version of the macgamestore.com site.  For more on why it looks like Mac Games Arcade is a Mac gamer’s best hope for Steam on their Mac, it’s better to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

So we asked Tuncer Deniz, CEO and owner of Mac Games Arcade, how the service came about:  “We started selling digital downloads back in 2007, and we noticed that while customers loved the idea of digital downloads, they didn’t like the problems that came with it.  For example, customers would download their games but then have problems installing them or have issues with serial numbers.  Often customers would lose their serial numbers and wouldn’t know how to get them back.”

How and when was this problem solved?  Tuncer continues, “So in early 2008 we started working on a digital download app that would solve a lot of those problems.  With Mac Games Arcade, you can download your purchases, keep track of your serial numbers, keep a history of your purchases, delete and reinstall, and on and on.”

“Bottom line...we wanted to create an app that made digital downloads easy and fun to use”, he concludes.

So what do people think of it?  “The reaction has been great.  A lot of our customers from the web site have begun to switch to the app.  However, we still have a long way to go with the app.  We’re working on adding a ton of user requested features and some that we’ve come up on our own.  So Mac Games Arcade is definitely a work in progress and improving with every build.”

Given that the recent success of the iPhone/iPod touch platform has made it more natural to think of games and Apple together, it begs the question of whether or not this this given any momentum to sales on Mac Games Arcade?  “To be honest, I don’t think that has made much of an impact on our sales.  After all, we operate in the Mac platform.  What HAS made a difference is Apple’s continuing growth in the Mac market.  With more and more people switching over to a Mac, we’re seeing customers eager for Macintosh games.”

What could you say the service was modelled after?  The likes of iTunes and Steam feel like influences when using the application.  Asked about this, the CEO replied, “Best of both for sure.  When we designed Mac Games Arcade, we wanted to make it familiar to Mac users.  So it definitely has the look and feel of the Mac OS and iTunes, though, of course, we incorporated our own ideas to better suit Mac gamers.  In the end, our goal was to make an app that didn’t have a completely new and foreign user interface.”

At the start of such a service, you can imagine it might be quite difficult to get developers on board:  “We contact developers who produce quality content for the Mac.  We work with hundreds of Mac developers and the list keeps growing every day.”

As time goes by, both macgamestore.com and Mac Games Arcade gain recognition, does that help things get any easier?  “Early on we used to do most of the contacting but these days we are finding that a lot of developers are contacting us, which is great.  I think one of our secrets to success is our ability to work with hundreds of developers on the Mac.”

It seems like the sort of thing that’s hopefully a win for all concerned, but there’s also a lot of diplomacy required.  What kind of relationship do Mac Games Arcade have with the developers whose products they’re selling?  “Excellent.  Content is king and without good content, you’re pretty much dead in the water.  So we work closely with developers to make sure we provide customers with great content.  We also provide our developers with a lot of information such as real-time sales data, download data, CTR [which stands for Click-Through Rate, which is a measurement of how often people click on ads], and more.  We try to make it as much a win-win proposition as possible.”

Pricing can be somewhat contentious, especially if you end up in a situation where a digital download cost more than a retail boxed copy.  How do Mac Games Arcade decide on pricing?  “We let our developers dictate the pricing as much as possible.  We encourage developers to keep pricing as low as possible but in the end, it’s their call.”

One of the best facets of Steam is the reliable weekend deal.  Often 50% off or better, do Mac Games Arcade have any similar plans?  “We actually have deals through our weekly newsletter every week but it’s something we need to keep working on.  In the future you will see a lot of weekend deals.”  Indeed, at the time or writing, Mac Games Arcade was selling the excellent Penumbra Collection for $5, which is normally $20.  Not only that, it’s comprised of three titles that used to be $20 each!

Where do you see the service being a year from now, or even further?  “We’re continuing to make improvements to Mac Games Arcade.  By the end of the year we hope to release Mac Games Arcade 2.0, which will feature, among other things, a buddy list, live chatting, news alerts, special deals, a point system that awards free games, avatars, and much more.”

Does all this mean to say that Mac Games Arcade is perfect with everything you could possibly wish for?  It's a pretty young service, so of course not.  Certainly there’s a long way to go, but it’s off to a better start than Steam was and look how that turned out.

As you start to talk about features like achievements, avatars and cover flow, your Mac is suddenly getting a gaming service that rivals Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Steam combined.  All with the kind of interface Mac users are used to?  If the content continues to grow at a steady rate, that’s exactly what we’ll have.  Roll on 2.0!

Many thanks to Tuncer Deniz for being such a great sport.

It’s also worth mentioning that Mac Games Arcade gives you Burger Shop ($19.95 to buy) for free if you use “freeburger” as a promotional code at checkout.  Think of it as an incentive to get fully set up.