Apple Arcade offers easy sign-ups, installations through Mac App Store

Mac users will discover an already familiar usability experience when Apple Arcade goes live, with a trial of the service and the currently-available six titles revealing not only that they can be downloaded and installed through the macOS App Store, but also the quality of games the service will offer.

Expected to launch at around the same time as iOS 13 becomes available, Apple Arcade stands to offer subscribers access to a variety of games in exchange for a monthly fee, currently believed to be $4.99. For the fee, users can expect to have over 100 titles to play from launch, with no in-app purchases nor advertising in any of the games.

The service is currently being trialled by Apple employees in a limited internal "carry test," complete with a free trial and a low $0.49 cost that will end with the service's launch. Apple is also not providing all of the games on offer in the test, with only six available to download and play.

On the Mac running the latest beta of macOS Catalina, 9to5Mac saw how Apple Arcade functions as its own tab within the Mac App Store, complete with a "Try it Free" button at the top to get the user to sign up for the free one-month trial. After clicking the button, users enter their Apple ID password to confirm acceptance of the subscription, then they are allowed to download games from the service.

Downloads happen in a similar fashion to other apps available in the Mac App Store, with "Get" buttons for each listing triggering the installation, as well as video previews and screenshots that accompany other product listings. File sizes vary widely depending on the game, with major titles like Hot Lava consuming multiple gigabytes of storage.

The small number of games on offer are thought to be early access titles in their own right, and are likely to be updated and improved before Apple Arcade's launch. The existing roster ranges from the simplistic-looking platformer Way of the Turtle to the stylistic point-and-click adventure game Down in Bermuda, to more graphical-heavy titles like Hot Lava.

Latest Exclusives

Latest comparisons

6 Comments

ireland 17435 comments · 18 Years

About 5 years ago

These games look less than stellar, but there’s another 94 games we don’t see. Not a gamer, myself, but we’ll have to see the service launch before we go assessing its value/game quality.

Rayz2016 6957 comments · 8 Years

ireland said:

These games look less than stellar, but there’s another 94 games we don’t see. Not a gamer, myself, but we’ll have to see the service launch before we go assessing its value/game quality.

So you start by saying the games look less than stellar, then end with “we should wait and see”?

Try practising what you preach.

mjtomlin 2690 comments · 20 Years

ireland said:

These games look less than stellar, but there’s another 94 games we don’t see. Not a gamer, myself, but we’ll have to see the service launch before we go assessing its value/game quality.

Uhh... You basically did exactly what you said not to do!?

Do the games shown look appealing to me, not really. But as you said, there's 94 others (and more to come).

I'm basically a less than casual gamer, but at $4.99/month there's got to be several titles I'd enjoy playing. And the fact that they're playable on Mac, iPad, iPhone, and AppleTV, makes it much more enticing.

Once everything is released, I'm really hoping Apple offers a bundle deal. I'd be willing to pay $19.99 for all their services; Music, TV, News and Games.

CloudTalkin 916 comments · 5 Years

Rayz2016 said:

ireland said:

These games look less than stellar, but there’s another 94 games we don’t see. Not a gamer, myself, but we’ll have to see the service launch before we go assessing its value/game quality.

So you start by saying the games look less than stellar, then end with “we should wait and see”?

Try practising what you preach.

Just a guess, but I think @ireland is commenting on two different aspects of what is shown from Apple Arcade. He's right, the sample games look less than stellar. To be fair, they are pre-production games. Still, kinda conceptually underwhelming imo. He is also right that we have to -and here's where you lost the plot - see the service (which is entirely different from the games he's criticizing) before assessing it's value. Short version. Sample games look bad. Service to be evaluated later. Different opinions about different things. His intent seems pretty clear if you don't ignore context of the overall quote.

djames4242 654 comments · 14 Years

Has it been mentioned if this $5 covers a family? So far Music and News+ both provide a subscription to the whole family (Music if you pay the extra $5). If this $5 covers the four of us, I'll probably give it a shot. If not, I'll let me son pay for his own access :)