There's going to be a free trial for Apple's video game subscription service, Apple Arcade, when it launches, after which, users will be asked to pay $5 a month to continue enjoying the benefits, new reports reveal.
Apple Arcade will be available to all iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, and Mac users. The price point was revealed by 9to5Mac, coming across it in a promotional message buried in an App Store API.
Apple Arcade Price
Apple has yet to announce an official pricing scheme for the service in question, which means this might change by the time the new iPhones are announced this coming September. There's reason to believe this is an introductory offer, but Apple hasn't really used this tactic much before, as The Verge notes.
Apple Arcade Perks
As for the free trial, customers will get an entire month's worth, allowing them access to a library of more than 100 titles playable across nearly every Apple device. They'll be able to enjoy the service's continuity feature, as well, wherein they can play a game on, say, an iPhone, halt, then continue their progress on another device, say, a Mac. Apple confirmed before that titles in Apple Arcade will be rid of in-app purchases and subscriptions, ads, and they will support family sharing for up to six people.
Apple Arcade marks Apple's first experiment with a subscription-based gaming service. It's the first major company with a major games marketplace to offer such a service, beating Google's Play Store to the punch. It's safe to assume customers will warm up to this new scheme, as it will save them a lot of money in the long run.
Apple is presently performing an early access test of Apple Arcade with its own employees, perhaps in an attempt to test the robustness of the service before it launches to customers this fall. During the test period, employees pay just 49 cents a month and also have access to the free trial.
The company is expected to launch Apple Arcade on Sept. 10, during its release event for the new batch of iPhones. The service adopts a play-as-much-as-you-want model, and will include titles that are new and completely exclusive to Apple. It's not yet clear just what kind of games are in store, but $5 seems like a reasonable asking price for a fledgling service, not to mention cheaper than other streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, or Netflix. As always, make sure to check back with Tech Times as we learn more.
