Apple Arcade will reportedly cost $5 a month when it launches this fall

By Emily Price August 19, 2019

Update 9/10: It looks like the rumors were right — Apple just officially announced that Apple Arcade will offer more than 100 games for $5 a month.

When Apple releases Apple Arcade to the public, it will likely come with a $5-a-month price tag.

The price was discovered by 9to5 Mac in the APIs used by the App Store app. According to a promotional message found in that code, Apple Arcade will be $4.99 per month, after a customer completes a one-month free trial.

The Apple Aracde service will also be available to everyone in a Family Sharing account, which means that low price tag will potentially allow six people to use the service. The service will offer support for traditional gaming controllers, such as those used on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Apple Arcade was announced in March 2019. The service will allow gamers to access a library of games for a monthly fee and then play those games across iOS, Mac, and Apple TV. Apple has said that the flat fee will cover the cost of the game in total, with no ads or additional in-app purchases. Downloading games from the service will work similarly to how users currently download games from the App Store.

Also similar to the App Store, games will have age, rating, genre rating, and size listed, so gamers will have some concept of what they’re getting into before they start that download.

The service is expected to have more than 100 games available, including a number of titles exclusive to the platform. That “download” mention is an important one. Unlike many other gaming services that stream they content, Apple will allow users to download games so they can be played offline as well.

And the downloads have started. Apple is currently running an internal access program for the gaming service that it is charging employees 49 cents a month to access.

The employee testing program has a note that the testing program ends with the launch of iOS 13, which suggests Apple Arcade might launch along with the new mobile operating system.

Apple has yet to make an official announcement as to when the Apple Arcade service will launch to the public. Apple has reportedly budgeted more than $500 million to acquire games for the upcoming platform.

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Emily is a freelance writer based in San Francisco. Her book "Productivity Hacks: 500+ Easy Ways to Accomplish More at…

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