Apple has acquired the two-person development team behind the Apple Arcade hit Sneaky Sasquatch, marking the first time the iPhone maker has had an internal game development team. RAC7 co-founders Jesse Ringrose and Jason Ennis will continue working on Sneaky Sasquatch updates. (Digital Trends)

Talking point: Apple has a long history in video games—co-founder Steve Jobs got his start at Atari in the 1970s and the company released the Apple Pippin game system in the 1990s—but it has always been content to let external parties do the heavy lifting of game development. This deal doesn’t necessarily mark a departure from that approach, as Apple described it as a unique set of circumstances. It’s not surprising RAC7 would receive special treatment; Apple named its Splitter Critters the 2017 iPhone Game of the Year, while Sneaky Sasquatch was the 2020 Apple Arcade Game of the Year and has been a standout exclusive for the subscription service since its 2019 launch. Separately, Bloomberg has also reported that Apple is planning to launch a unified gaming app across its devices later this year, with platform-wide features like leaderboards and achievements.