Apple Arcade goes live for macOS Catalina beta users

Apple Arcade
(Image credit: Apple)

Apple has flicked the switch to enable Apple Arcade on the macOS Catalina beta, suggesting a full, public launch of Catalina is just around the corner. If you're running the beta on your Mac, you can get gaming now.

The service costs $4.99 / AU$7.99 / AED 19.99 / £4.99 a month, which covers up to six family members, and you can try it for a month free of charge to see if you like it first.

Apple Arcade has already gone live on iPhones, iPads and Apple TVs, with the roll out of the latest software updates, so if you're invested in the Apple ecosystem you may already be playing some of the exclusive games on offer.

Not all the Apple Arcade games are available on all devices though – MacRumors reports that around two dozen titles are available on macOS, including Sayonara Wild Hearts, Operator 41, Big Time Sports and Card of Darkness.

Catalina coming very soon

Apple Arcade can be found inside the Mac App Store – if you're still on macOS Mojave, then you'll just see a message saying "Welcome to Apple Arcade on Mac!" together with a button to check for updates.

Apple has promised that macOS 10.15 Catalina will be pushed out to users at some point during October, and that point would now appear to be imminent, with Apple Arcade and plenty of other pieces in place.

A couple of days ago Apple released the Gold Master (GM) version of the software to developers – basically the version of the operating system that puts a period at the end of the beta testing stage.

The macOS Catalina roll out could happen any day now, and when it does, you'll be able to dive straight into Apple Arcade on your Mac.

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.