Yesterday, Google launched its new subscription service dubbed Google Play Pass. This new service grants members the pass to a library of apps at a one-off monthly price. At the time of writing, the service is only available to consumers in the US, but it will surely roll out to other regions soon.
The search engine giant earlier revealed that Google Play Pass would cost subscribers $4.99 just like Arcade. However, the company is offering the subscription for only $1.99 for the first year. Now, you can take advantage of a free ten-day trial. Once you have a subscription, you can share with your family – it supports up to five users.
Play Pass is here to rival Apple Arcade, which was launched earlier. The new service is actually a better deal compared to Apple’s game subscription service. While Apple’s Arcade is all about games, the new Google Play Pass brings you games and other apps including health and fitness apps.
“Games are super important, but we’re going beyond that,” Austin Shoemaker, a group product manager at Google, Said. “It doesn’t just appeal to hardcore gamers.”
Besides popular games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Play Pass has Accuweather, a weather app and Pic Stitch, a photography app. Now, with the stone rolling, expect a more extensive library of apps, whether you are a gamer, or you are just about the lifestyle apps.
Play Pass launched with around 350 apps only. To know which apps are on Play Pass, go to the bottom of the page on the Play Store app and tap Play Pass. Then, select an app, and you will see at the top whether it’s part of the service or not.
From the available apps, and more content that Google promised, this is the ultimate service for Android users. The three apps mentioned above, for example, will set you back $18, but with a $5 Play Pass subscription, they are all available free.
Google further revealed that Play Pass is featuring apps available at their Play Store platform only – this is where Arcade may beat Google. Apple promised that it would be adding games not available on iOS, or other platforms. But this only appeals to gamers as Arcade is all about games only.
Indeed, Google is making a push into the gaming industry. In November, the tech giant will be unleashing its much-awaited cloud gaming service, Google Stadia. So far, Google has confirmed that several AA titles will be coming to Stadia. And the icing on the cake is that the service allows hardcore gamers to stream in 4K resolution at 60fps.
