During the “It’s Show Time” event back in March, Apple showed off different subscription services, including Apple Arcade. This new effort is similar in scope to things like Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, offering a library of titles to those who pay a monthly subscription to access them. And it turns out that the games in Apple Arcade will boast an exclusivity to the digital storefront, but only for a limited time.

According to the Financial Times, Apple is spending millions of dollars to incentivize developers to release their titles through Apple Arcade. According to unnamed sources, Apple’s budget on the back-end of the subscription service is upwards of $500 million. There will be more than 100 games available in Apple Arcade when it launches later this year, and it’s likely that library will rotate over a set period of time.

Interestingly, there will be an exclusivity period for Apple Arcade, and the report stresses that these games won’t appear on Android or other subscription services down the road. However, at an unknown later date, these titles can make the jump to home video game consoles, including Microsoft’s Xbox, Sony’s PlayStation, and Nintendo’s Switch. They can also launch on PC as well.

When Apple announced the Arcade service, it did so by confirming it would launch before the end of 2019. However, we do not know how much it will cost just yet. (Microsoft’s Game Pass costs $9.99 per month.) The service will host titles from developers like Disney, Konami, Cartoon Network, Lego, and many others. Here’s a quick video for Apple Arcade:

Our Take

This is good news for the developers, as it means they’re launching on one of the most popular platforms for games to start, but then can expand to the home at some point after. Of course, we don’t know how long that exclusivity period stretches for, but at least the games aren’t completely locked down.

[via FT]