Apple Arcade: The Best Mobile Gaming Subscription, Even 5 Years Later

7.7/ 10
SCORE

Apple arcade

Advantages

• Huge selection of games; new games every month
• Subscription price for one year is equal to one console game
• Can download and play all games offline
• No ads, upsells or in-game purchases
• One subscription is suitable for you and five other family members

Cons

• Multiplayer modes can be inconsistent
• Not a flagship game
• For Apple devices only

Apple Arcade is an affordable mobile gaming subscription service that lets you play some of the best mobile games with the people closest to you. Apple launched the service in 2019, and in five years it’s polished its service, expanded its catalog, and partnered with some of the world’s best-known game developers.

The servicecosts $7 per month, or $50 per yearand gives you access to a growing library of mobile games that you can play offline and on other Apple devices. Some are even playable on the VisionPro. You can even share your subscription with up to five others, making it a great way to game with your friends or family members of all ages.

Apple has marketed the service as a family-friendly gaming alternative that eschews the in-app purchases typically found in mobile games. And that’s resulted in a library that includes core games like Stardew Valley, exclusives like Hello Kitty Island Adventure, and online shooters like BEAST: Bio Exo Arena Suit Team. And Apple continues to add more games to the library every month, bringing older titles and more Arcade exclusives to subscribers.

All of which is why Apple Arcade is the CNET Editor’s Choice for 2024.

Changing the paradigm for mobile games

Before Apple Arcade, gaming on iOS devices had become a race to the bottom. Virtually all of the most popular games in the App Store were either free or cost 99 cents. These games made most of their money through in-app purchases and add-ons, or by inserting ads.

As this freemium model took hold, it drove out some of the best and most creative games from indie studios and small developers. Many of these games had no ads or in-app purchases and typically cost between $2 and $5 to download. But their audience was eclipsed by the freemium titles. The shame was that there were a lot of beautifully designed games with strong gameplay that fell by the wayside because they didn’t fit the freemium model well.

At the same time, parents were frustrated as their children racked up huge bills through in-app purchases, or were constantly asking permission to buy tokens or add-ons for the games. Or children were exposed to unfamiliar content through advertisements. Above all, these freemium gaming systems were all designed to get children — and adults — addicted to playing these games and then milk them for more money through ongoing purchases.

We can see Arcade as Apple’s attempt to change the landscape on its mobile gaming platform and push it back towards quality titles, often at the expense of freemium games. Make no mistake, Apple is making a lot of money by taking a cut of all those freemium microtransactions. But it’s playing the long game, betting that if it can get quality games to flourish on its platform, it’ll attract a lot of kids, parents, and casual gamers. And since Mobile games and casual games are where most of the growth in gaming is happeningit makes sense that Apple has decided to play a stronger role towards gaming in its vast ecosystem.

The Apple Arcade games catalog

Every gaming platform lives or dies by whether it has games that people actually want to play. The breadth of Apple Arcade’s catalog, bolstered by consistent new releases and updates, is impressive. There are a ton of different kinds of games — mystery games, family games, Puzzle games, nostalgic games and more. They’re all easily downloadable from the Arcade tab in the App Store, and you can start a free one-month trial to make sure there are games you want to play before you commit to paying your monthly fee.

One of the biggest challenges Apple Arcade faced when it first got off the ground was that most of the games were original titles from lesser-known developers. There were a few exceptions, like Frogger in Toy Town, Lego Brawls and Pac-Man Party Royale, but the majority of Apple Arcade games — and the studios making them — were games that most people had never heard of.

But Arcade’s catalog has continued to grow since then, now featuring award-winning games as well as titles from well-known creators. The long-awaited Arcade original Fantasian from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchialong with the award-winning Limbo and exclusive games such as Sonic: Dream Team all an addition to Arcade’s catalog.

The bottom line is that there’s more than enough here to justify the price tag. Keep in mind that most of the games and gameplay are still focused on phones and tablets, so they still play like many of the premium iOS games from before Arcade. Most games now support third-party controllers, which is a relief for tired fingers from all that tapping and dragging.

At launch, there were few console-style games, with the exception of a few notable games such as Shinsekai In Depth And Sayonara Wild Hearts. The popular take-in NBA 2K series was a promising step forward. And Apple’s hardware and software updates over the past year point to bigger and better things. The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, for example, run on the new A17 Bionic chipwhich can support more graphically intensive games.

Apple Arcade is a worthy competitor to Nintendo for family gaming

Since launch, Apple has improved its biggest caveat: social multiplayer gameplay. But the service has plenty of multiplayer options to choose from. For example, Lego Star Wars Castaways — the first online social Lego Star Wars game — and TMNT Splintered Fate both offer a fun multiplayer experience.

In the run-up to Arcade’s launch, CNET’s editors, many of whom have long history covering the games industry, viewed it as a threat to the most popular gaming system of the past few years, the Nintendo Switch. That’s because both are aimed at families and casual gamers. One of the most frustrating aspects of the Switch for families is that each Switch owner needs their own copy of the game in order to play multiplayer games.

One of the best features of Apple Arcade is still that one subscription covers you and up to five other members of a family or friend group. That means it’s potentially much more appealing for families to game together. With the addition of more multiplayer games with social features, gaming with friends and family on Apple Arcade could become more accessible and commonplace.

It could help connect more people for multiplayer matches and could signal that your Apple device is built for gaming, too.

Apple Arcade is a great gaming service that puts hundreds of games at your fingertips and adds new games every month to keep you entertained. The fact that you can download a ton of games and play them on a relatively inexpensive device like Apple’s 10th generation iPad makes this a great deal for many people and families. It’s limited to Apple devices, but if you’re a family that already uses iPhones and iPads, you’ll find it an easy introduction to a lot of different types of games and can probably save you some money.