Apple plans to replace Game Center with new gaming-focused app

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A new cross-platform application developed by Apple will call attention to games on iPhone, Mac and even Apple TV, according to an unconfirmed report from Tuesday.

It’ll replace the current Game Center, track users’ in-game achievements, give players a way to communicate with other gamers, and more.

New gaming app from Apple on the way

Players spent $93 billion on mobile games in 2024, a figure that dwarfs the $52 billion spent on console gaming or the $42 billion in PC gaming. A majority of that mobile gaming spending happened on iPhones, which means Apple took a cut of the proceeds, but Cupertino is constantly trying to increase its revenue, and that means getting more people to play games.

That’s the likely reason for a new gaming application coming soon to iOS, macOS, iPadOS and tvOS.

Say good-bye to Game Center

Apple’s new gaming app will reportedly replace Game Center. This is unlikely to be controversial, considering many iPhone and Mac users are probably completely unaware that Game Center is tucked away in Settings.

Like Game Center does now, the upcoming app will show gamers the achievements they’ve earned in various games, as well as compete on leaderboards. It’ll serve as a central collection point for these, spanning across titles and a user’s different devices.

And there are a huge number of games to choose from. Of course, there are casual games like Monopoly Go!, but Apple has made a push to bring console-quality titles to its platforms. The new Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown can be enjoyed on iPhone, Capcom brought multiple Resident Evil games to iOS, there’s the brilliant NBA 2K25, plus a whole lot more on Apple Arcade.

Coming in June … sort of

The leak from Apple insiders to Bloomberg doesn’t include the name of the upcoming app, but it’ll probably be something logical like “Apple Games,” considering the same company put out Apple Music, Apple Sports, Apple Podcasts, etc.

Expect the new software to be part of iOS 19, macOS 16, iPadOS 19 and tvOS 19 when they’re all unveiled during the keynote address of WWDC25 on June 9.

Ed Hardy

Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 26 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.

That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)

Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.