Yes, Apple could bail them out. They might need to because, judging by recent WWDCs, they’ve already placed bets on Unity as the game engine of choice for Apple Vision Pro.
After 20 years of thinking "Apple is taking gaming seriously this time!" every 3 years, then getting __excruciatingly__ burned, I've given up. They'll build it before they buy it.
Based on how they've backed off SpriteKit and SceneKit, I really don't think they will try to build a game engine. Bringing on the big game developers requires a cross-platform engine. Like Unity, one that can target Nintendo Switch, Xbox, Playstation, etc. Any money they pour into an effort like that would cannibalize sales on their own devices.
Dunno, maybe you're right. I agree the technology choice is very bizarre, but have you noticed the emphasis on Unity in the last two WWDCs? It's clearly the game engine currently "blessed" by Apple.
I think there's a confluence of factors driving this. Foremost, they need a way for developers to make games, especially in the AR/VR space. SpriteKit and SceneKit have floundered, and RealityKit is not a complete solution to make games, let alone cross-platform games. They can't show any favor to Unreal Engine, even though it's superior, because of their fight with Epic. I wish they would invest more in something like Godot, but Unity has more marketshare (for now).
C# is a great language, and Apple is pragmatic enough to realize the cross-platform potential is much greater than Swift's. From what I've seen, Swift has little traction as a cross-platform tool compared to Mono. Lattner's departure took some wind out of the Swift sails, too.
I think you're taking the Vision Pro more serious than Apple tbh. I doubt that Apple is interested in whether the Vision Pro takes off as a gaming device, or games in general.