For fans of old-school Atari games, Plex’s new streaming service may be of interest. While Plex is typically known for streaming other media, like movies, music, and television shows from your personal computer, it is now attempting to move into the game streaming market with Plex Arcade. However, this one is not focused on steaming new, current-generation games like Google Stadia and GeForce Now services do. Instead, they have partnered with Parsec, a low latency streaming technology, and the infamous retro game developer, Atari, to bring a library of games available to stream.
Right now, there are 27 games available on their service. All of them are Atari games, from classics like Centipede, Missile Command, and, of course, Asteroids, to other titles from the Atari 2600 and 7800. However, if that is not enough, users can also build their own library with other game ROMs and emulators. This will allow users to play games for SNES, Sega Genesis, and more on Plex Arcade.
Currently, there is a 7-day free trial, and after that, it is $2.99 a month for Plex Pass subscribers or $4.99 a month for everyone else. While some are upset about the additional charge for current subscribers, Plex explained it is for the licensing cost due to the Atari games that come included with the service. This service is only available for Windows or Mac users. Users can then stream to a variety of places such as Android devices, TV’s, Google Chrome, iOS devices, and tvOS. Users can also use any controller that is Bluetooth or USB enabled. Though Plex recommends the Sony DualShock 4 or Xbox One controller for the best experience.
However, as this is a new service, Plex is waiting to see what the interest in it is like before continuing to grow the service. Like they have said, “But if you guys drop the ball, it’ll die on the vine like a stomped ass goomba.”