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Apple Arcade will launch on Sept. 19 for $4.99 per month

Apple's new game service finally has a price.

Eli Blumenthal Senior Editor
Eli Blumenthal is a senior editor at CNET with a particular focus on covering the latest in the ever-changing worlds of telecom, streaming and sports. He previously worked as a technology reporter at USA Today.
Expertise 5G, mobile networks, wireless carriers, phones, tablets, streaming devices, streaming platforms, mobile and console gaming
Eli Blumenthal
2 min read
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Arcade, on Mac, iPad and iPhone.

Apple

Apple Arcade will launch on Sept. 19 for $4.99 a month, the company announced Tuesday at its iPhone event in California. The launch details came as Apple unveiled three new iPhone 11 models

The new gaming service, which will let subscribers play over 100 games across an iPhone , iPad , Apple TV or Mac, was previously announced in June at Apple's spring event, where it also debuted the new Apple TV Plus streaming video service and News Plus news and magazine offering. 

As with News Plus, there is also a one-month free trial. 

Players will be able to start on one device and continue playing on another, with Apple also touting that Arcade will allow you to play games even when you're offline, with progress resyncing once you reconnect to the internet. With iOS 13, Apple will support PS4 and Xbox One controllers, so you can play with either on-screen or physical controls. 

As with TV Plus and News Plus, Apple Arcade won't have ads and will allow subscriptions to be shared with up to six family members. 

Apple has signed up an assortment of game publishers for its new offering, with titles ranging from established brands like Lego , Frogger and Sonic to those from smaller indie developers. There is similarly a wide assortment of games aimed at reaching a broad range of players, from quick casual games to more immersive, graphics-heavy stories similar to what might be found on consoles. 

Games available on Arcade won't be available on other mobile platforms, limiting the addition of popular third-party titles such as Candy Crush, Minecraft and Super Mario Run

Watch this: Apple shows off new games for its Arcade subscription service

Apple's new service comes as a number of companies redesign their efforts for mobile gaming . Google is notably launching its own cloud-based game platform called Stadia in November that will work on Android, Chromebooks, the Chrome browser and Chromecast

Microsoft , meanwhile, has been teasing its own Project xCloud that will bring Xbox games to iOS and Android, with an October launch allowing gamers to stream games from Xbox Ones they own to play on other devices. The company plans to eventually let players stream directly from the internet with having to be near their own Xbox.

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