In September last year, Google launched Play Pass in the US, a subscription app and game service for Android that’s similar to Apple Arcade, the iPhone and iPad service which launched at almost exactly the same time. Starting today, Play Pass isn’t just for Americans.
Google has announced in a blog post that the service is “coming to Android devices in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom this week”.
If you live in one of these regions, the option to sign up should soon appear within the Play Store app’s menu – at the time of writing, it wasn’t yet available in Australia on two separate Pixel phones we tried, so it appears to be rolling out gradually to difference locales. If you’re keen on trying the service and can’t see it yet, we’d advise checking back in periodically over the next few days.
On top of that wider rollout, Google has added over 150 new apps and games to the existing Play Pass catalog. Whether you’re a new or existing user, you’ll see a wider variety of titles on offer compared with the 350 included apps and games that initially launched last year.
As mentioned earlier, one advantage that Play Pass has over the comparable Apple Arcade service is that it includes certain premium apps as well as games, so if you’re intending on paying for some of these apps anyway, it could be worth the price of a subscription.
There’s also a good deal more gaming titles available on Google’s service when compared with Apple’s. While the latter only adds newly released titles to its library, Play Pass also offers up a number of popular older games, including classics such as Limbo, Terraria and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
For US customers, a new annual subscription for $30 per year will become available at some point in the coming week, which joins the existing $5 per month option. In the UK, you’ll be paying £5 for the month or £30 for the year, while Australians have to fork out AU$8 per month or AU$50 for the year.
For all regions, a one-month trial option is also available, meaning you can check out how the service would work for you before committing.