This is a really strange story to write, as my personal involvement in the world of iOS editorial has a lot to do with Slide to Play. When the iPhone launched I was partners in a medical tech startup, which was pretty cool for how young I was at the time, but it’s hard to think of a less fun industry to work in than the dismally profit-centric world of American healthcare. I’m the kind of person who likes to keep busy, and always had various side projects cooking. When 3rd party iPhone apps started to become a thing, I decided I either wanted to take a crack at iPhone development, or just writing about iPhone stuff instead. I already had a day job that was heavily into software development, and always like writing about random stuff, so the latter won out. I wrote a bunch of reviews on forums, and eventually got encouraged by other people on those forums to try submitting my writing to either TouchArcade or Slide to Play since what I was publishing was better than what both site was posting at the time. (Which isn’t really a slam on either TouchArcade or Slide to Play, if you look at early stories, there just wan’t a lot to get super in-depth over.)
I couldn’t really decide between the two, as if you remember back in the early days in 2008 to 2009, both sites were pretty neck in neck with their content output and overall importance. So, I just reached out to both. TouchArcade responded first, and, here we are, a decade later. It’s pretty ridiculous how in the early days of the App Store, the mobile editorial scene was booming. iPhone games cost money, people paid money for them, and that money then went back to the studio who made the game who turned some of it around back to the editorial outlets for advertising to get more sales, make more money, and continue that cycle. It all made sense. Then free to play happened, direct user acquisition techniques were invented, and Apple decided they needed to be the sole curator of iOS content in killing the affiliate program– Effectively stopping the last few drops of revenue review sites were generating.
Today, after 10,747 posts and 11 years, Slide to Play announced they’re shutting down. There was a time when we weren’t super sure at TouchArcade that we would end up being the dominant voice in iOS editorial, as when Slide to Play was operating on all cylinders the rivalry was real. This makes it extra weird to be covering the site’s closure, as that very easily could be us, and to some extent feels like Scrooge being guided around by the Ghost of Christmas Future. The same things that led to Slide to Play’s closure are directly impacting us on a daily basis. Slide to Play was a big part of the history of gaming on the App Store, and it seems absurd to me that even though year after year all you read are reports on how mobile gaming is growing bigger and more profitable, there just isn’t a way for folks covering these games to survive. It blows my mind that things are ending this way.
So, today, we pour one out for everyone who has ever been involved in Slide to Play. Ya’ll deserve it.
I checked on them several months ago and the site appeared to be down already. Miss the days when these sites were coming up.
They've been limping along for a while just posting major release stuff.
Understandable. It's sad...wish I had the cash to support everyone's dreams. They had a good run though!
I was afraid this day would come.
Unfortunately, now we are here and this is not a good day.
Hi! I was an editor for Slide to Play from 2009-2012 and I really appreciate this article. It's sad to see the site that awakened me as a writer is closing down, but the memories I have of it and its significance in my life and that of many others will live on.
And yes... that rivalry was very real (and as a dumb teenager at the time I definitely played into it a liiiittle hard). You guys have done a great job of upholding the legacy of a bygone golden age, though. I hope TA can continue to be successful in the years to come and continue to carry that torch.
- Tim
It's tough to keep a site like this going for a long time and it was definitely neat to see lots of places to read about early iPhone gaming. The slide to play podcasts made me laugh when everyone introduced themselves with fancy titles like executive VP or associate producer. We could tell you were teenagers, it's all good. :-)
Best of luck with whatever you do next, and I hope you still enjoy the fun side of iPhones now that it's not a job anymore.
I was actually the only teenager! Most of the others guys were married even. ;)
The few times I was on the podcast I bombed though, haha.
TouchGen, Slide2Play, TA, PG and probably some other sites that are already defunc and forgotten. These are sites I visited since I joined the mobile game industry back in 2009 almost on a daily basis. Unfortunately... consumers stopped reading... Maybe Eli Hodapp you guys should reference Switch Force channel on youtube in how they deliver Switch news and discussions, I think they operate on a 2-4 man team, transit TA to video based mobile gaming news delivery.
I wouldn't mind a TA channel, so long as there was still a "print" based site as well. It's easier for me to hide that I'm reading a thousand articles instead of working compared to watching YouTube videos...
I agree. As with any news site, I don’t mind video as an optional supplement, but if I want information I want to read it.
Video is so much slower than reading, and there’s no way to cross reference, or check links, or glance back at a quote, etc. That, and it too easily emphasizes presentation over substance.
I used to write reviews and editorials for them for a couple of years from 2011-2013, and it was great fun. The people in charge at the time were really cool and nice people and really made me appreciate having a good editor.
My reviews for CSR:Racing and WaywardSouls really made people mad!
It was really just a pale shadow of it's former self after it got bought out a few years ago.
Sad to see it go...it was a really great time in my life.
"My reviews for CSR:Racing and WaywardSouls really made people mad!"
Wear it like a badge of honor : )
Ok...no idea why my comment got posted five times...sorry!!!
This is quite sad. They were the first iOS gaming site I discovered. Admittedly, Touch Arcade became my go to when I found it, but I still had a soft spot in my heart for Slide to Play.
I’m sad to see this. The App Store is such a wild and changing environment that there’s a real need for multilple sources and teams combing through it. Every time we lose a site like this it hurts the overall profile of the mobile gaming scene.
This is one step farther away from having active, informed buyers who can reward competition, and one step closer to having passive consumers tied to a provider. (I’m speaking of Apple, Google, etc. Not Touch Arcade.)
They want our choices to be distilled to either what they spoon feed us or what their singular, primary competitor spoon feeds us.
ELI: How long do you think it will be until the AppStore itself becomes a subscription service?
Subscribe to AppStore Games...
Subscribe to AppStore Productivity...
Subscribe to AppStore Creative (sub-subscriptions Creative Visual, Creative Video, Creative Photo, Creative Music Studio)...
Etc, etc...
Can Google Play and the AppStore become Netflix and Hulu?
I think they’d love to.
Put the tin foil hast away. Apple had nothing to do with it, and have no incentive to do what you suggest. They would make far more money from F2P games than anything else.
Blame the readers who never clicked links, used ad blockers and don't care one way or another whether a site lives or dies. What happens to the app store, Google Play etc is all down to those who use it. In spite of all the phones sold by Apple and the Android phone makers, a fraction of a percent use sites like S2P, TA or any of the others. Even the big sites are struggling to keep the lights on. People expect everything for nothing, and then wonder why sites close, apps get pulled, and things vanish. It's not Apple or Google doing that, it's the reflection in your mirror.
Did you even read the article? Apple has a lot to do with the killing of such sites and was the very reason the sites lost their abilities to be decently profitable in the first place.
I didn’t mean to imply that Apple was directly trying to sabotage the site. You’re right that a lot of responsibility falls on site visitors doing the things you mentioned. But Apple has done things to undercut the viability of sites that make efforts to review and promote iOS games independently. They basically killed AppShopper be slashing link-through revenue. They essentially banned the TA app because they somehow viewed it as an alternate AppStore competitor.
I don’t think their intent is to wreck these independent sites that are essentially providing fan service and promoting iOS gaming. But they do like having control. And the more they become the primary curator and promoter of what gets played on iOS, the more they can use that advantage to make money off of the skyrocketing spending on mobile gaming.
As for my tinfoil hat... Three days after I crazily suggested that Apple could aim for iOS subscription services, TA posts an article today with the following:
“A new report on Cheddar via 9to5Mac says Apple is reportedly working on a subscription service for games.”
https://9to5mac.com/2019/01...
Slide to Play should redirect the URL to TouchArcade and give the domain name to Eli. Pass the torch, keep the flame alive.
Stay tuned.
"Stay tuned" is such a weird, obsolete-tech-themed idiom, like "dialing" a number on your "phone" which is actually a tiny touchscreen computer.
I will NOT ADJUST MY SET or TOUCH THAT DIAL!
I'm re-launching Slide to Play as an AOL MovieFone-like service that only works with a rotary telephone.
Well I learn something new every day.
I thought Eli was the founder and owner of this site.