Plex has partnered with Atari to bring classic games to their app platform and will allow users to maintain their own game ROMs through a paid membership service.
Popular content hosting platform Plex is opening its doors to a new form of entertainment – games. You must meet a few requirements before starting a game with Plex Arcade.
- Have a Windows or macOS computer to store content
- Must have compatible graphics cards from NVIDIA, Intel, or AMD
- Have a Plex account and pay for Plex Arcade
- Connect your Plex to a Parsec account
The requirements for the guest seem to be shutting out M1-based Macs right now. AppleInsider has requested confirmation from Plex on the matter. Initial efforts from our staff indicate that the M1 processor is not compatible with the service.
The Plex Arcade game comes with a pre-installed set of games from Atari. Users who want to install more games can install ROMs on their Plex host. Plex says cartridge-based systems from Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and Arcade will work for now. Plex hopes to support more games in the future. For now, if your game doesn’t show up in the library, it’s not compatible.
Once you have added a Plex Arcade subscription and optionally added your personal ROM library, you will be able to stream these games anywhere. The Plex app on Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, or other devices will support game streaming. If you use Plex in a browser, you can only stream games from Chrome or Chromium based browsers.
Remote streaming is available from some devices. Devices running tvOS, iOS, or iPadOS cannot stream remotely and must be played on the Plex Host network.
Supported controllers include any that are available for the device you are using. So Dualshock 4 and Xbox controllers will work on iOS and iPadOS devices.
You can get a Plex Arcade subscription for $ 2.99 per month if you are already a Plex Pass keeper. Alternatively the subscription costs $ 4.99 per month or $ 39.99 per year. A lifetime pass is also available for $ 119.99.