Apple and Google have just started a public test—one that impacts the everyday lives of a number of users; particularly, anybody who is fond of mobile games.
Apple rolled out Arcade on September 19 2019, for a price tag of monthly $5 for limitless access on its store to over 100 mobile games. The firm invested a reported $500 Million to purchase high-profile games such as Where Cards Fall, Skate City, Assemble with Care, Grindstone, Overland, and Sayonara Wild Hearts. This indicates Apple paid creators upfront for their titles, even before some of them were developed. Think of it as the Netflix structure of content purchase.
Google rolled out its own subscription service, Play Pass, on September 23, 2019. Play Pass hosts Android titles instead of iOS, and it did not launch with the same fanfare as Apple Arcade. While Apple had a series of new titles and exclusives go live together with Arcade, Google rolled out Play Pass with a generic commitment of access to “a number of awesome apps and games ” for monthly $5.
Paying to purchase games was not, and is not, fraction of Google’s plan. Rather, it pays Play Pass creators after their games go on sale, deciding their value with a method algorithm that calculates how much time users spend in-app.
On a related note, subscription platforms have taken over movies and music, and now they are coming to apps and games as well. In August we heard that Google was in the final phases of trying its new app subscription service for Android dubbed as Play Pass, its corresponding for Apple Arcade. Earlier, the service was officially rolled out in the US and you can enroll now for limitless access to a series of apps and games.Play Pass is a cheap way to access Android games or apps without having to buy each one separately.
