Plex Launches Plex Arcade With Retro Games to Play

[MacRumors]

Streaming media platform Plex today announced the launch of a new Plex Arcade feature that makes dozens of retro games available to stream from Plex.

Retro arcade games can be played on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Chrome, and Android devices. Setup requires a Plex Media server on Windows or macOS, and any Bluetooth or USB game controller is compatible. Plex says that it recommends a Sony DualShock 4 or Xbox One controller for the best performance.

For the new gaming feature, Plex has partnered with Parsec to ensure low-latency streaming and Atari, to provide classic gaming titles like Centipede, Lunar Lander, Food Fight, Desert Falcon, Missile Command, Gravitar, and more.

Along with these built-in games, Plex Arcade supports user-owned ROMs and has metadata for a wide range of retro cartridge based systems like Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and Arcade, with support for more titles coming in the future.

Plex Arcade is priced at $2.99 per month for those that are Plex Pass subscribers, and $4.99 per month for those that do not have a Plex Pass. Plex Passes cost $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year, but a lifetime pass is also available for $119.99. Plex is also offering a seven day free trial for those who want to test the service before subscribing.

Plex has an FAQ with additional information about Plex Arcade.

Article Link: Plex Launches Plex Arcade With Retro Games to Play

 

[ArPe]

Retroarch and OpenEmu are free.

 

[macsplusmacs]

Retroarch and OpenEmu are free.

My time isn't.

Looks like fun to try out for a couple of months.

 

[aaronhead14]

Absolutely absurd that Plex Pass owners/subscribers have to pay additional fee for this. Ridiculous.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Absolutely absurd that Plex Pass owners/subscribers have to pay additional fee for this. Ridiculous.

Because many people bought a $75 lifetime pass and Plex has to play parsec a monthly fee to offer this service. Do you think everything should be free? You paid $75 and got exactly what Plex was. More more more

 

[nutmac]

$35.88/year on top of Plex Pass for a collection of late 70s/early 80s games? Apple Arcade costs only $14.11/year more.

At the very least, it should be free for those paying monthly or yearly Plex Pass.

 

[nexx27]

Hilarious video!

"That's what I'm talking about... Motherf..." lol

 

[smith4925]

This is to drive Plex Server and that's it. In order to play this you have to have Plex server. For that reason I'm out.

 

[GizmoDVD]

$35.88/year on top of Plex Pass for a collection of late 70s/early 80s games? Apple Arcade costs only $14.11/year more.

At the very least, it should be free for those paying monthly or yearly Plex Pass.

You can add your own ROMS...that's the selling point. Not a few dozen Atari games

and again, Plex has to pay Parsec for this. Why would it be free?

 

[LeeW]

a collection of late 70s/early 80s games? Apple Arcade costs only $14.11/year more.

To be fair, those 70s/80s games are largely better than what Apple Arcade offers.

 

[donikatz]

Nice idea. Easy onboarding for those who don't want to mess around with emus. Might be worth toying with for a minute. Can't see it gaining a whole lot of traction, but I'm sure every new revenue stream helps.

 

[Derek Knight]

You can add your own ROMS...that's the selling point. Not a few dozen Atari games

and again, Plex has to pay Parsec for this. Why would it be free?

Yes this! This is a clever way to get your ROMs hosted. On its own the content doesnt justify the price. Oh, but add some ROMs and this is pretty cool.

 

[hot-gril]

I'm sure users will 100% legally obtain their "user-owned" ROMs, as they do all their movies stored on Plex

 

[pdaholic]

This article is giving me a hankering for some Donkey Kong.

 

[hot-gril]

My time isn't.

Looks like fun to try out for a couple of months.

OpenEmu is the one emu app that "just works," the rest are indeed a time sink. It's Mac-only, so you know they focused on proper Mac support. Like, setting up OpenEmu probably takes less time than setting up Plex.

 

[snowatom]

Was so excited to read this, and then I saw it doesn’t support Plex on NAS or Linux. Well, then my money stays in my pocket, for now....

 

[Mrjetsondc]

I feel like I didn’t understand a word of this article and the tech it is describing.

Man I’m getting old.

Pepperidge Farms remembers the days of just blowing into a Nintendo game for five minutes, getting a good cardio workout, and then playing Double Dragon for hours.

 

[tgwaste]

Absolutely absurd that Plex Pass owners/subscribers have to pay additional fee for this. Ridiculous.

Agreed.

Because many people bought a $75 lifetime pass and Plex has to play parsec a monthly fee to offer this service. Do you think everything should be free? You paid $75 and got exactly what Plex was. More more more

Yes... My Lifetime Plex Pass should make EVERYTHING related to Plex. FREE.

 

[mhilferty108]

Just tried adding a bunch of Genesis ROMs, met with core mapping errors.

Parsec also seems to be an issue.

 

[4jasontv]

Because many people bought a $75 lifetime pass and Plex has to play parsec a monthly fee to offer this service. Do you think everything should be free? You paid $75 and got exactly what Plex was. More more more

Lifetime means you get all updates and new features free. It's why people paid for it. Of course you own the software at the point of payment. The lifetime was prepaying for future releases.

 

[kostthem]

I am wondering if Apple is going to remove the Plex app from the store (because of the streaming retro games mainly).

 

[Jimmdean]

I recommend giving openEmu a try before paying for this...

 

[GizmoDVD]

Agreed.

Yes... My Lifetime Plex Pass should make EVERYTHING related to Plex. FREE.

You got exactly what you got when you paid. Adding new services doesn’t just mean free free free.

The reality is, Plex needs to make additional income as your $75 fee means nothing To then anymore. Expect them to go bye bye if they can’t get additional funding.

 

[Eorlas]

$35.88/year on top of Plex Pass for a collection of late 70s/early 80s games? Apple Arcade costs only $14.11/year more.

At the very least, it should be free for those paying monthly or yearly Plex Pass.

apple arcade is not ever going to provide you access to features like this.

one can also accomplish this for free without much effort (IMO, even for those approaching emulators for the first time.)

plex is just taking the legwork out

 

[Doug0915]

Absolutely absurd that Plex Pass owners/subscribers have to pay additional fee for this. Ridiculous.

Yea, I'm getting really pissed at everybody trying to get me to sign up for $2-15 dollar a month subscriptions for everything from software licenses to TV.

NO. I'm a plex pass subscriber and I'm not signing up for another $3 bucks a month