Days after Apple rolled out Arcade, Google is out with its own apps and games subscription service. Play Pass is Google’s answer to Apple Arcade and it’s out this week in the US to begin with – Google says it will be bringing Play Pass to additional countries soon. Google’s apps and games subscription service, aka Play Pass, will cost $4.99/month in the US - which is the same as Apple Arcade. 

Google will be offering a 10-day free trial when you sign up for the first time and for a limited period, “you can get Play Pass for only $1.99/month for your first twelve months, then $4.99/month.” Google will also allow subscribers to share their Play Pass subscriptions with up to five family members.  

Google Play Pass Vs Apple Arcade

Google’s Play Pass service will offer Android users a collection of over 350 apps and games without any ads or in-app purchases at launch. “Play Pass offers a high-quality, curated collection of titles from Stardew Valley to Risk, and Facetune to AccuWeather, with new apps and games added every month.” 

There’s a slight difference between what Google’s trying to do here and what Apple is doing with Arcade. Apple’s Arcade offers a collection of over 100 new and exclusive games that will be playable across Apple devices while Google’s Play Pass will be offering existing games, plus apps, with no mention of any exclusives at this point of time. 

Subscription services seem to be all the rage these days. And Google itself has been investing heavily on it. Only recently, it announced Stadia – a game streaming service that will allow gamers to play high-end AAA games across devices over the cloud. Google is promising console-quality gaming (4K at 60fps at launch, and 8K 120fps later) sans an actual console - Google is really touting Stadia as a gaming platform for everyone.

Google Play - good news for developers?

With Android being the largest mobile operating system, it was only about time that, Google launched something like Play Pass. While the service will no doubt go a long way in curbing scammer apps that thrive on in-app click bait content, it will also allow – to some extent – developers to monetize their apps in a better and more streamlined way. In turn, this will also motivate them to build more compelling apps for the Android platform. 

Also Read:  Google Confirms Play Pass Game & App Subscription Service coming Soon