Apple held its Show Time event yesterday and one of the announcements that held the stage was about Arcade. No, it’s not Apple’s very own video game studio, even if a lot of people hoped that would be the case. Arcade is actually a subscription game service that will launch with over 100 exclusive titles.
While Arcade is not the App Store, it will be stored within it, and it will be accessed via a separate tab. Don’t confuse the Apple Arcade with the App Store though: while the games you will find on the App Store are free to play, it’s hard to search for the titles that will fit your gaming needs. After all, there’s over 300,000 of them available.
Arcade plans to allow the users to gain access to games that are not very well-known and usually stray away from the mainstream. None of these titles will be available on any other mobile platform or on any other subscription service other than Apple Arcade.
Part of the subscription price for Arcade will go to the creators and will be used to help them develop others.
You won’t have to worry about paying extra for any new content or any DLCs your favorite games might release either because your subscription will cover it all.
In addition to that, the feature will be available offline, allowing you to continue playing your games even on airplanes or on the subway as well as move them to iPads, Macs or Apple TVs.
Even if you do switch to a different device, you’ll still be able to pick up your game from where you left it. A number of games will also offer game controller support.
To give you a little teaser, Apple mentioned that some of the new games will include a brand-new Sonic the Hedgehog, titles from Bossa Studios, Sega, Lego, Konami and games from well-known creators like Hironobu Sakaguchi, Ken Wong and Will Wright.
Apple Arcade will launch sometime this fall and will be available in over 150 countries, with access available for up to six family members. According to the company, the users won’t have to deal with ads within the service or any additional purchases.
For the time being, the company has not released an exact launch date for the service, or a subscription price.
Game developers who are interested and would want to be considered can do so via Apple’s Arcade page.
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