Apple Arcade to Gain NFL Retro Bowl '25, Monster Train+, and Puzzle Sculpt

The Apple Arcade gaming service is set to gain three new games in September, including NFL Retro Bowl '25, an NFL and NFLPA-licensed relaunch of the popular Retro Bowl game that initially came out in 2020.

apple arcade retro bowl
NFL Retro Bowl '25 lets NFL fans create their own football dynasty by selecting their favorite NFL teams and players to manage. The game focuses on roster management and game strategies, with the ‌Apple Arcade‌ version offering authentic rosters and NFL players in the original game's retro style.

Monster Train+ is another ‌Apple Arcade‌ revamp of a popular original. It is a roguelite deck builder with more than 250 cards to unlock and six monster clans to discover. The ‌Apple Arcade‌ version of the game includes a new strategic layer with three vertical playing fields to defend, along with support for The Last Divinity DLC with an additional clan and more gameplay challenges.

For the Apple Vision Pro, ‌Apple Arcade‌ is gaining Puzzle Sculpt, a game where players decipher increasingly challenging clues to solve puzzles. Gameplay consists of removing unnecessary cubes to uncover Deco Objects that can then be placed anywhere in the virtual space around the player.

Several ‌Apple Arcade‌ games are set to get new content updates, including new Shrek-themed hoops for Stitch, a Smithsonian-inspired area in Crayola Create and Play, and Tiana from The Princess and the Frog for Disney Dreamlight Valley.

‌Apple Arcade‌ is priced at $6.99 per month, a fee that allows up to six family members to play games. ‌Apple Arcade‌ titles have no in-app purchases or ads. ‌Apple Arcade‌ is also part of the Apple One, Family, and Premier plans.

Popular Stories

iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
macbook pro blue green

M5 MacBook Pro No Longer Coming in 2025

Thursday July 10, 2025 12:38 pm PDT by
Apple does not plan to refresh any Macs with updated M5 chips in 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are now planned for the first half of 2026. Gurman previously said that Apple would debut the M5 MacBook Pro models in late 2025, but his newest report suggests that Apple is "considering" pushing them back to 2026. Apple is now said to be...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says iPhone Driver's Licenses Will Expand to These 8 U.S. States

Tuesday July 8, 2025 11:26 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states, Puerto Rico,...
iPhone 17 Air Colors Thumb 2

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air Rumored to Come in These 9 Colors

Friday July 11, 2025 12:30 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be available in a total of nine color options, according to new information coming out of Asia. The iPhone 17 Air's expected color options. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean blog Naver, accessory manufacturers are now producing camera protector rings for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air in colors to match their...

Top Rated Comments

Simmias Avatar
12 months ago
It’s time to take Apple Arcade off life support.

We‘ve had enough puzzle games.
We’ve had enough recycled mobile games.
We’ve had enough crude pixel art games.

Bring higher quality, or shut it down.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Circa1984 Avatar
12 months ago
I wish Apple would let you choose within the One subscription, I’d probably go with News over Arcade.

I like to game once in a while, but the current Arcade games I’m not very interested in - It would be a pleasant surprise if they made a dozen or so of the most popular console games for Apple Arcade - I’m not suggesting 2024 AAA titles but maybe a reboot of top rated games from a few years back, that phone/ipad and Apple TV hardware could handle & that have wide appeal to a ‘gamer audience’.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BugHunter Avatar
12 months ago
People are so harsh on Apple Arcade, I think the games they offer there are fine, with a few gems to make it worthwhile, and a few bits of Pay to Win mobile games with the Pay to Win removed exposing how un-fun the games that rely on FOMO are.

All that said, I would imagine the primary target audience of Apple Arcade is parents who don't want to have to constantly tell their children that no, they can't buy $99 worth of magic crystal gems even if it is "BEST VALUE".

I'm sure people will reply to that with "maybe they should try parenting" - but I'd say giving your child a gaming experience that's not infested with addiction and gamble mechanics - is parenting. Yeah, have your kids do sports and other activities as well, but sometimes parents just need a break when they're at a cafe with their bored kid.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Velli Avatar
12 months ago

True. I doubt Apple Arcade was ever targeted to serious gamers. It’s a sandbox for mobile gaming with protections. I enjoyed me last free trail, just don’t see much value in paying for subscription.
So-called “Serious gamers” are in general a bunch of arrogant wankers who can’t see beyond their nosetip. Casual gamers are big business. Maybe, perhaps, if you are doing it professionally, gaming is by definition not “serious”. Stop kidding yourselves.

I probably spend a few hours per day gaming, but rarely more than 15 minutes at a time. I simply don’t have X hours set aside by myself to do a “gaming session”. But, I loathe P2W, and will happily pay significant money to avoid ads. I am very happy with Apple Arcade, and I have spent more hours using Apple Arcade games than I care to think about.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MasterControlProgram Avatar
12 months ago

Name a AAA game that “serious gamers” typically play on their phone.
It depends when we're talking about. We used to get interesting stuff like Bioshock, Ridge Racer, Soul Calibur, GTA Vice City, Deus Ex, Max Payne, etc on iOS. The trouble is, Apple kept breaking old games with iOS updates, I believe Bioshock lasted about 4 months before it stopped working and the developer didn't bother to fix it.

The trouble with mobile gaming is the race to the bottom that made F2P so prevalent, no-one is willing to pay for games anymore. Aside from the odd developer dipping their toe (like Capcom with their current RE ports) we never seem to get a consistent stream of decent games because anything more expensive than free gets ignored by the majority. I used to game on iOS all the time, but slowly but surely the choices have dwindled to nothing. The Switch and the Steam Deck have pretty much replaced my iOS devices for gaming now.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Velli Avatar
12 months ago

People are so harsh on Apple Arcade, I think the games they offer there are fine, with a few gems to make it worthwhile, and a few bits of Pay to Win mobile games with the Pay to Win removed exposing how un-fun the games that rely on FOMO are.

All that said, I would imagine the primary target audience of Apple Arcade is parents who don't want to have to constantly tell their children that no, they can't buy $99 worth of magic crystal gems even if it is "BEST VALUE".

I'm sure people will reply to that with "maybe they should try parenting" - but I'd say giving your child a gaming experience that's not infested with addiction and gamble mechanics - is parenting. Yeah, have your kids do sports and other activities as well, but sometimes parents just need a break when they're at a cafe with their bored kid.
100% agree. And yes, I pay for a family subscription to Youtube that I rarely use myself, only to avoid my kids being subjected to ads 25% of their screen time (and yes, we have exactly zero ad-supported TV channels or services available in my household).
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)