Apple Arcade goes live in macOS Catalina GM ahead of public launch

Developers and public beta testers evaluating the macOS Catalina golden master now have access to Apple Arcade, Apple's cross-platform subscription gaming service that went live on iOS 13 in September.

Mac access to Apple Arcade arrived on Friday, one day after Apple released the macOS Catalina GM to developers for testing.

Similar to a slow rollout to tvOS 13 beta testers last week, Apple appears to be taking Apple Arcade live region by region.

On Mac, the gaming service is accessed through the Mac App Store in a special section called "Arcade." Like its iOS, iPadOS and tvOS counterparts, the macOS version boasts immersive preview screens, game videos, screenshots, synopses and more. A full-pane splash screen currently displays featured content accompanied by a "Try It Free" button that grants users a one-month trial pass to the gaming service.

A separate "welcome" screen provides information about the subscription product and can be found in the Arcade tab of the Mac App Store.

The product launched as part of iOS 13 in September with a handful of original games from some of the world's top studios, as well as select choices from indie developers. Game options on Mac appear to mirror those on iOS, iPadOS and tvOS.

Apple Arcade promises subscribers wide access to more than 100 games from over 35 gaming studios for a monthly fee of $4.99. That price covers all compatible platforms — iOS, iPadOS, tvOS and Mac — as well as support for up to six users through Family Sharing. Wide access to the service on Mac is slated for October.

10 Comments

commentzilla 10 Years · 777 comments

About 5 years ago

This great for the whole family. Finally my kid will have lots of games to play without all that nagging shit about buying coins and crap ads. I want to pay one price for a service or for an entire game, instead of being exposed to the equivalent of a randomware attack to have fun.

noelos 17 Years · 127 comments

So wasn’t Catalina supposed to be going live on October 4? Was there an issue with the GM that mean they pulled it?

AF_Hitt 7 Years · 144 comments

noelos said:

So wasn’t Catalina supposed to be going live on October 4? Was there an issue with the GM that mean they pulled it?

October 4th was never announced by Apple, it was always only speculation on the part of tech blogs. Apple only ever committed to October, they did not set a specific day.

comcastsucks 5 Years · 74 comments

noelos said:

So wasn’t Catalina supposed to be going live on October 4? Was there an issue with the GM that mean they pulled it?

The rumor was from a country's (I forget which) website where it stated it would be available October 4. The problem was that the 4 was actually for a footnote. So either when it got translated someone thought the 4 was the date or the footnote marker was bigger than it should have been.

noelos said:

So wasn’t Catalina supposed to be going live on October 4? Was there an issue with the GM that mean they pulled it?

They just pushed out the GM. Now they are asking developers to submit their apps before the release. I'm guessing late October along with a new 13" MBP with 32GB of RAM.