Apple Arcade launched back in 2019 with an exciting idea: full-featured, retail-quality games for a low monthly fee.
Apple could finally bring the full force of their App Store to an exclusive group of games and keep these apps exclusive by locking them into a contract with the developers, if the developers want to, that is.
In exchange, the games are featured right there on the front of the App Store, giving them a huge boost in visibility, and Apple also contributes to the development costs for the games, which is a huge deal.
It actually worked so well that a week later, Google replied with their own version called Google Play Pass. Google Play Pass basically replaces the high-quality apps and games offered by Apple Arcade with an expansive selection of dusty app relics, but some now offer ad-free and free of in-app purchase versions.
Apple Arcade launched with 53 games, with many notable titles. Sayonara Wild Hearts, a console-quality title, released the same day as its console counterpart. Oceanhorn 2, a sequel to the beloved Zelda-like original, went on to shed its exclusivity as the game was released for the Nintendo Switch. Grindstone, a colored creature puzzler by the creators of Critter Crunch, went on to receive high accolades across the board.
With so many games at such high-quality, it’s easy to see why investing in the service is worth your time and money. Exclusives are the name of the game here, and some titles you still can’t find elsewhere.
If you’re someone who has an entire family of Apple iOS products: iPhone, iPad, and AppleTV, you can play the games on all three devices for the same price! Apple even gives access to the games to five other members of your family group, as well.
There are over 100 games available for the service now, and every week more titles are added. What’s nice is there’s no obligation to keep your subscription, as you can cancel at any time.
That means if you see games that you’ve been dying to play on a different system on Apple Arcade, you can pay for a month, beat the games, and save that much money in the process by not having to pay console prices for the same game.
What’s also nice about the Apple Arcade library is a lot of the titles included support game controllers. Both Playstation 4 and Xbox wireless controllers work with the supported Apple Arcade devices, so if you’ve already got one of those lying around, you’re in luck.
There’s plenty to play and lots to love about what Apple is offering here with this veritable all-you-can-play buffet. For such a low price, it’s easy to pay for a month and catch up on what you’ve missed, or simply subscribe each month and see what’s new when it’s released.
Apple Arcade is available on most (newer) iOS devices for $4.99 and they even offer a free one-month trial for first-time subscribers. Visit their official site to see what all is offered.