Apple Arcade Games crashing directly on MacBook Pro 2017 (Big Sur)

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4 points

Apple Arcade Games crashing directly on MacBook Pro 2017 (Big Sur)

Hi all,

When I try to launch any Apple Arcade game it pops up in the dock but stops immediately. Sometimes it says 'The application "xxxxxxxx" can't be opened'.

When I check my consul I see a Coalition Cache Hit:

com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: Coalition Cache Hit: app<application.com.cornfox.oceanhorn2macOS.922291.922297(501)> [671]
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (application.com.cornfox.oceanhorn2macOS.922291.922297[7402]): Service exited due to SIGCONT
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: Coalition Cache Hit: app<application.com.cornfox.oceanhorn2macOS.922291.922297(501)> [671]
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (application.com.cornfox.oceanhorn2macOS.922291.922297[7403]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by OH2[7403]

I've already completely reinstalled my Mac and installed everything without a backup (except iCloud), but still the same issue. The weird thing is that if I create an extra account on my laptop without anything installed and only the game downloaded it works. That was the trigger to do a reinstall, but currently running into the same issue. Anyone experiencing the same issue and have a solution?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Dec 29, 2020 10:21 PM

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Answer 1

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MaikelV Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 13, 2021 1:08 AM in response to MaikelV

Okay, so after some more debugging and testing i got my issue fixed.

Not sure if the Company Portal and the Microsoft Defender ATP is triggering the issue but after configuring them it started crashing games.

Tried several things like reinstalling MacOS (including disk erase), creating a new profile and so on. This has solved my issue partially since it worked for a short moment, but after i reconfigured everything it started crashing again.

What works if it crashes is clearing the caches folder, then the games can be started again.

For people having the same issue try this:

Deleting caches with the finder:

Open the finder
Press the following keys: Shift + CMD + G
Open the path: ~/Library/Caches
Remove all those files in there (What i haven't tried is deleting only the Gamekit folder, after deleting everything i see that this has been created after starting Apple Arcade games. Maybe only removing this folder is already enough)
Now reopen the game, first time starting it gives the error again but then starts normally

Hope this helps other people who are having the same issue as myself.

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Answer 2

MaikelV Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 31, 2020 1:55 AM in response to MaikelV

Some additional information:

After creating a new profile it works as expected. So i tried to initialise each app that i use and found out that the Microsoft Intune Company Portal is causing this issue. So when you loggin and enroll the Mac, the Arcade games stop from working. This could be due to a company policy, but when i un-enroll the mac, remove all profiles, and uninstall the company portal it still does not work.

So it looks that the company portal does something that causes the crashes, but i have no idea how to fix this issue. I would have expected that when you remove all profiles that the arcade games should start working again.

Someone having the same issue? Should this be reported to Apple or is Microsoft the one to contact in this case?

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

272,773 points

Feb 6, 2021 1:35 PM in response to eboux

Spotted the same thing with a couple of apps I'd downloaded on my M1 MacBook Air the other day. Bob up and down and then nothing, still show as get in the store. Other Apple Arcade apps have installed properly, but it looks like some aren't installing correctly.

tt2

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Answer 4

Feb 19, 2021 2:38 PM in response to MaikelV

This is brilliant, thank you. I've never been able to run Apple Arcade games on my Mac unless I created a new user. And I didn't want to do that. And I didn't know what was causing it until now. But you are right. It's Microsoft Company Portal. Sadly, that is an application that I can't do without.

I didn't delete the whole of ~/Library/Caches. I just deleted the folder ~/Library/Caches/CompanyPortalCache. Everything in there was dated as "last modified in 2038". Everything works fine now. Am completely amazed. Thank you.

It is early days, but my corp Microsoft app access via Company Portal still seems to work too. Time will tell if Company Portal and Apple Arcade can continue to coexist side by side.

Thanks again!

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Answer 5

MaikelV Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 21, 2021 10:34 PM in response to Superleccy

Hi Superleccy,

Glad to here hear it solved your issue as well. In my case it is fixed until i open the Company Portal and login again, but clearing the cache folders works and after that i am able to open arcade games again :). So remember that reopening the company portal can kill arcade again and you need to to the trick with the cache folders.

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Answer 6

Feb 22, 2021 1:20 AM in response to MaikelV

Interesting MaikeIV! I have opened Company Portal a few times and everything is still ok... so far at least. What version of Company Portal are you on? I'm on 2.12.210101 which looks like a relatively recent update.

Thank you so much again. This issue had been bugging me for months and you're the only person on the Internet who's actually found the route cause.

(PS: I've just realised the thread is titled Big Sur. I'm actually still on Catalina here. I'm holding-off the Big Sur upgrade until some other apps become compatible).

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Answer 7

turingtest2

Level 10

272,773 points

Dec 31, 2020 8:24 AM in response to MaikelV

I'd send feedback to both companies, but ultimately it will likely be Microsoft that needs to change their code to fix it.

tt2

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Answer 8

MaikelV Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 13, 2021 1:10 AM in response to MaikelV

.

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Answer 9

eboux

Level 1

4 points

Feb 6, 2021 11:51 AM in response to MaikelV

I've just tried this and it doesn't work for me. There is no message or any kind of error, the apps just start and disappear in a second. I can see them in the force to quit menu.

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Answer 10

eboux

Level 1

4 points

Feb 6, 2021 12:04 PM in response to eboux

I forgot to precise : the weird thing is the fact than the App Store ask me to download the game, not running it. It downloads it and at the end, the same button to get it, not playing it

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Apple Arcade Games crashing directly on MacBook Pro 2017 (Big Sur)

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