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Apple is expanding its game catalog with two titles that have achieved success in very different ways. One has been in the global charts for months, while the other, developed by a single developer from Graz, Austria, has won an award for its accessibility features. Both are released without advertising or in-app purchases.
Apple Arcade's puzzle section is expanding on September 3rd: Block Blast!+ and Art of Fauna: Cozy Animal Puzzle+ are being added to the catalog, as Apple announced in its newsroom. The service has been acquiring well-known titles for months – most recently Madden NFL 27. The Apple Games app, which has managed the catalog since iOS 26, shows where the games can be found on your device.
Key Facts at a Glance
- Block Blast!+ and Art of Fauna: Cozy Animal Puzzle+ launch on September 3rd on Apple Arcade
- Both run without ads and without in-app purchases.
- Art of Fauna comes from the Austrian indie developer Klemens Strasser from Graz.
- On the same day, NFL Retro Bowl '27, Coloring Games for Families+ and Let's Play! Oink Games+ will also be released.
- Three existing titles will receive major content updates in August.
What the two titles offer
Block Blast! is one of the most played puzzle games of all time. The concept is simple: blocks are placed on a grid, completed rows and columns disappear, and combinations score points. The arcade version from Hungry Studio runs without the ad breaks of the free version.
Art of Fauna: Cozy Animal Puzzle+ takes the opposite approach. Instead of focusing on speed, the title emphasizes a slower pace: players assemble natural history illustrations from the 18th and 19th centuries, learning about the depicted animals and about species conservation in the process. The original game was released in early 2025 under the name The Art of Fauna.
A developer from Graz
Art of Fauna is the brainchild of Klemens Strasser, a solo developer from Styria, who previously worked on apps like Fantastical and Cardhop, as well as the Nuki platform. In its announcement, Apple highlights the 2025 App Store Award in the Cultural Influence category.
The second prize is the more remarkable one. At the Apple Design Awards 2025, the game won in the Inclusivity category – for an idea born out of a problem: How do you make a visual puzzle playable for people with visual impairments? Strasser's solution is a two-sided puzzle. One side contains the image, the other the descriptive text. Those who cannot see solve the puzzle using the text side; those who have difficulty reading use the image side.
This means that on September 3rd, a title from the German-speaking world will be added to the catalog, whose core gameplay mechanics were developed with accessibility considerations in mind. Strasser was not among the winners again at the Apple Design Awards 2026 in June.
Dates in August and September
In addition to the two puzzle games, further releases and updates are planned:
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| August 12 | Puffies. receives 28 new packs, including two theme collections. |
| August 20 | Simon's Cat – Blast Time is getting 200 new levels, spread over four weeks. |
| August 26 | Stitch reaches 800 designs and celebrates with an anniversary design. |
| September 3 | Block Blast!+, Art of Fauna: Cozy Animal Puzzle+, NFL Retro Bowl '27, Coloring Games for Families+, Let's Play! Oink Games+ |
How much Apple Arcade costs in this country
Apple Arcade costs €6.99 per month in Germany. Less well-known is the annual subscription for €49.99 – compared to twelve monthly payments, that's around €34 less, or a good 40 percent.
One subscription covers up to six people in a Family Sharing plan. Anyone who buys a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV gets three months free. Arcade Originals play on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro, while titles imported from the App Store only work on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro.
From exclusive catalog to ad-free second version
This compilation shows where the service has gone. Apple now distinguishes between Arcade Originals and acquired App Store titles – and the influx of users is increasingly coming from the latter group. Block Blast!+ is the clearest example: a mass-market title whose Arcade version differs from the original primarily in the absence of advertising and purchase incentives.
For subscribers, this is a compelling argument, especially for games played by children. However, as a unique selling point, it's weaker than the exclusive titles with which the service launched in 2019. We expect this ratio to shift further towards the acquired titles: Of the five new additions on September 3rd, four bear the plus sign in their name, indicating an ad-free version of an existing game.
It's all the more striking, then, that the smallest title in the group boasts the most original idea. Art of Fauna isn't a mass-produced product, but rather the work of a single individual – and that's precisely why it won two Apple Awards.
What else is on the agenda for autumn
Apple hasn't revealed whether more titles will follow this fall. However, the September release date coincides with the expected iPhone event, and in recent years Apple has regularly bundled new Arcade additions at the start of the season. Details about individual games typically appear in the Arcade section of the App Store shortly before release. (Image: Apple)
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