Plex announces retro gaming subscription service Plex Arcade

Plex has partnered with Atari to bring classic games to its app platform and will allow users to host their own game ROMs via a paid subscription service.

Popular content hosting platform Plex is opening its doors to a new form of entertainment — games. You'll need to meet a few requirements before beginning to game with Plex Arcade.

Have a Windows or macOS computer to host content
Must have compatible graphics cards from NVIDIA, Intel, or AMD
Have a Plex account and pay for Plex Arcade
Linked your Plex to an account on Parsec

The requirements for the host seem to exclude M1-based Macs currently. AppleInsider has requested confirmation from Plex on the matter. Initial attempts from our staff show that the M1 processor is not compatible with the service.

The Plex Arcade service comes with a pre-installed set of games from Atari. Users who want more games can install ROMs on their Plex host. Plex says cartridge-based systems from Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and Arcade will work for now. Plex hopes to bring support for more games in the future. For now, if your game does not show up in the library, it's not compatible.

After adding the Plex Arcade subscription and optionally adding your personal ROM library, you'll be able to stream those games anywhere. The Plex app on Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, or other devices will support game streaming. If you use Plex in a browser, you can only stream games from Chrome or Chromium based browsers.

Remote streaming is available from some devices. Devices running tvOS, iOS, or iPadOS cannot stream remotely and must be played on the Plex Host network.

Supported controllers include any available for the device you're using. So Dualshock 4 and Xbox controllers will work on iOS and iPadOS devices.

You can get the Plex Arcade subscription for $2.99 per month if you're already a Plex Pass holder. Otherwise the subscription costs $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year. A lifetime pass is also available for $119.99.

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5 Comments

22july2013 3736 comments · 11 Years

About 3 years ago

I wonder how many more future products or services will fail to work on M1 Macs.

fastasleep 6451 comments · 14 Years

AppleInsider said:

Popular content hosting platform Plex is opening its doors to a new form of entertainment -- games. You'll need to meet a few requirements before beginning to game with Plex Arcade.
Have a Windows or macOS computer to host content
Must have compatible graphics cards from NVIDIA, Intel, or AMD
Have a Plex account and pay for Plex Arcade
Linked your Plex to an account on Parsec
The requirements for the host seem to exclude M1-based Macs currently. AppleInsider has requested confirmation from Plex on the matter. Initial attempts from our staff show that the M1 processor is not compatible with the service.

The docs say hosting is only available on Windows. There are Mac requirements for connecting to other hosts, but not for hosting itself.

https://support.parsec.app/hc/en-us/articles/115002702391-Hardware-Requirements-For-Connecting-To-Another-Computer-With-Parsec

razorpit 1793 comments · 17 Years

22july2013 said:

I wonder how many more future products or services will fail to work on M1 Macs.

Less and less as time goes on. As easy as it seems to build for the M1 developers who have had things in the pipeline aren't going to take the time to investigate before launch. They are going to launch what they have to get it out there then circle back and look in to the M1 platform. At least that's what I would do if I were working on something.

Wesley Hilliard 263 comments · 4 Years

fastasleep said:
The docs say hosting is only available on Windows. There are Mac requirements for connecting to other hosts, but not for hosting itself.
That is for Parsec. You need a Parsec account to run Plex Arcade, but do not use Parsec itself.

Plex Arcade hosts games on Plex and will act as a host on macOS or Windows.

Wesley Hilliard said:

fastasleep said:
The docs say hosting is only available on Windows. There are Mac requirements for connecting to other hosts, but not for hosting itself.
That is for Parsec. You need a Parsec account to run Plex Arcade, but do not use Parsec itself.

Plex Arcade hosts games on Plex and will act as a host on macOS or Windows.

Ah, I think I get it. Thanks.

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