By Todd Russell
… and still focusing on multiplayer online games. Even some exclusives!
Been awhile since last checking in with the cloud streaming service Apple Arcade. October 2022, to be more precise, but here at PGM: Apple Arcade Adds New James Bond Game Cypher 007 September 29, 2023.
Apple have continued to license and add 2-4 or so games every single month to the service, via Apple Wiki (https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Apple_Arcade_games)
They have been removing some older games, as licenses expire, which is a common practice for all cloud game streaming services.
Still am not crazy about having to own some sort of Apple device to play Apple Arcade, be it a Mac computer, iPhne, iMac tablet or the Apple TV 4K+, the latter of which I bought in July 2022, but it’s how Apple rolls. They want you in their ecosystem, sort of the way AOL used to do things in their walled garden approach in the 90s. Hey, it’s worked for Apple, in a big way over the last 20-something plus years, so more power to ’em. I don’t have to like it.
Got an offer from Best Buy online to check out “up to” 2 months free of Apple Arcade and jumped on it, featuring the service again on our (No) Blue Monday episode #10 live Twitch stream on 2/17/2025.
To date, I’ve not spent any money on the Apple Arcade service, but did enjoy playing several games the first time around. Would this be the trial that had me grabbing my wallet? Let’s see …
First, the price hasn’t increased too much since last checking in. You can subscribe for the year to Apple Arcade for $49.99. That’s reasonable compared to PS+ and Game Pass that get up around three times that for their top versions. Or you can go $6.99/month for Apple Arcade, for a more expensive month-to-month version. For those that go the Apple One bundling route, you can get Apple Arcade included as well.