Google challenges the Apple Arcade with its own US$4.99/mth Play Pass

"Welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club." ~ Tyler Durden, Fight Club (1999)

Heh. It would seem David Fincher's two-decade-old brawler movie, like many others, has given us quotes that survived into the Internet (read: meme) age. However, like any piece of obsolete software, I feel Tyler Durden's trademark line needs a little update for the modern context, as below.

"Welcome to Tech Giant Fight Club. Even if you don't talk about Tech Giant Fight Club, everyone will do so regardless." 

Case in point, as of yesterday (23 Sep), Google has just released its own app subscription service called the Google Play Pass to seemingly challenge the Apple Arcade at its own game.

No pun intended; for US$4.99 a month, users will have unlimited access to over 350 different Play Store games and applications, some of which include DLCs too (more on this later). On top of that, for the first year, that price will be waived further to a mere $1.99 a month. Talk about affordable. Last but not least, for those who don't like to jump in straight away, Google is also providing a free trial for the first ten days to let users explore the various perks and services. 

Of course, it's not a carbon copy of the Apple Arcade. Not only does the Play Pass include non-gaming apps like Accuweather, but Google has also explained that it deals with developers differently too, making use of in-app "user engagement" metrics to pay them, because unlike the Apple, it doesn't directly fund the development of included titles.

It's also worth noting that the Play Pass seems to mitigate several problems that people associate with apps, namely ads and in-app purchases. Ads are obvious enough; Google removes them if you sign up for the subscription, but IAPs are a practice that, while lucrative, has also led to the downfall of many apps across the board, not just on the Play Store. 

A good example of this is the NBA 2K series, which has been informally classified as "pay-to-play" - arguably the worst label of the lot. Essentially, it means that people have to fork out money for the game itself, and then pay some more just to advance through it. It's expensive, tiresome and most importantly annoying since the franchise is updated every year. But I digress. 

Getting back on topic, the Play Pass seems to have taken a small leaf out of Apple's own Arcade, bypassing some of these metaphorical "pay walls". Several demo subscribers have reported being able to access games and DLC bundles which usually require purchases, but how far does that privilege extend? Does it have anything to do with developer permissions? It's hard to say. 

Speaking of which, what's also "hard to say" is the coincidental timing (or not) of the Play Pass' release. According to a representative from Google, the subscription has already been in the works for a while, but has only recently been tidied - a little curious, but hey, we'll just have to take Google's word for it.

In any case, coincidence or not, one thing's for sure - the elephant is still standing in the room: how will Apple respond?

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