Apple Arcade is now ready to burst onto the scene, with the Cupertino giant’s take on a gaming subscription service set to launch next week on 19th September in 150 countries. It’s also turning up with a low and potentially quite appealing price.
Announced earlier this year, Apple Arcade will cost $4.99/£4.99 per month – following a one month free trial – giving access to a catalogue of over 100 new and exclusive games for the service. Apple say that the games won’t be on “any other mobile platform or subscription service”, meaning that many of the games will also be able to appear on console and PC, just not in another subscription like Game Pass. That price allows you to play these games without limit, pay them offline, and share them with up to six family members through Family Sharing.
The 19th September date will see Apple Arcade arrive on iPhone and iPod Touch alongside the launch of iOS 13 for those devices. For iPad, you’ll have to wait until 30th September and the launch of the newly branched off iPadOS, which is also when it will come to Apple TV with tvOS 13. Finally, Mac owners will have to wait until October and the launch of macOS Catalina.
A number of games have been revealed, including some mightily appealing series revivals like ChuChu Rocket! Universe and spin offs like Exit the Gungeon. Here’s the list from Apple:
- “Ballistic Baseball” – Gameloft, is an action-packed arcade baseball game that captures the intense battle between pitcher and batter in live head-to-head multiplayer matches.
- “ChuChu Rocket! Universe” explodes as Sega launches the beloved ChuChus into a universe of strange and wonderful planets with over 100 mind-bending puzzles.
- In “Exit the Gungeon” from Devolver, players must escape a collapsing hell dungeon as increasingly perilous obstacles and opponents stand in their way.
- “Overland” from Finji, is a post-apocalyptic road trip adventure where players fight dangerous creatures, rescue stranded travellers and scavenge for supplies to survive.
- “PAC-MAN PARTY ROYALE” from Bandai Namco, is a brand-new arcade experience featuring a four-player Battle Mode where the last PAC-MAN standing wins.
- In “Projection: First Light” from Blowfish, players follow the adventures of Greta, a girl living in a mythological shadow puppet world as she embarks on a journey of self-enlightenment, helped by legendary heroes from ancient cultures along the way.
- In “Rayman Mini” from Ubisoft, Rayman has been reduced to the size of an ant! Players use insects, mushrooms and plants to run through the world as quickly as possible or try over and over again to achieve the perfect score.
- In “Shantae and the Seven Sirens” from WayForward, players explore a vast sunken city and battle the Seven Sirens in the Half-Genie’s most thrilling adventure yet.
- “Skate City” from Snowman brings the heart and soul of street skating to life with multi-touch controls as city streets become the ultimate skater playground.
- In “Sneaky Sasquatch” from RAC7, players live the life of a Sasquatch and do regular, everyday Sasquatch stuff like sneaking around in disguise, raiding coolers and picnic baskets, playing golf and more.
- “Steven Universe: Unleash the Light,” is an original Cartoon Network game, co-written by Rebecca Sugar, where players pick their favourite characters, choose which Gems are in their party, unlock awesome new abilities and equip alternate costumes in the ultimate mobile role-playing game (RPG).
- “Super Impossible Road” from Rogue Games, is a futuristic, high-speed racing game where players master hairpin turns on courses that twist and coil over beautiful galactic backdrops.
- “The Bradwell Conspiracy” from Bossa, is a beautifully stylised conspiracy adventure thriller with a humorous twist.
- In “The Enchanted World” from Noodlecake, players help a young fairy piece together a magical world torn apart by dark forces.
- “Various Daylife” from Square Enix, is a brand-new RPG from the creators of “Bravely Default” and “Octopath Traveler.” In the year 211 of the Imperial Era, players explore a newly discovered continent while living life to the fullest in the city of Erebia.
Though many will see mobile gaming as being inferior to playing on home console, thanks to touch controls or (shudder) the Siri Remote, Apple Arcade and the latest Apple OS’s are looking to address that with support for Xbox Wireless Controllers with Bluetooth, the DualShock 4 as well as the range of MFi game controllers.
Source: Apple
MrYd
Isn’t “any other mobile platform or subscription service” suitably vague to not apply to all the existing subscription services?
Does the word “mobile” apply just to “platform”, or does it apply to “platform or subscription service”? You’re assuming the first option, and Apple are probably happy with that.
Not that anyone really wants a bunch of mobile games on Game Pass or PS Now or whatever, but there’s a definite art to using ambiguous language to make your exclusivity sound more exclusive than it really is.
Stefan L
I think it’s fairly clearly written to mean two separate things. So Xbox One release is fine, but part of Xbox Game Pass? Not allowed.
It’s easy enough to confirm this by looking at a few games. The Bradwell Conspiracy, for example, is coming to Steam, PS4, Xbox One and Switch as well as being on Apple Arcade. Similar for Beyond a Steel Sky, which is Apple Arcade, PC, and Console.