Apple Arcade might just be bigger than PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass

Apple Arcade
(Image credit: Apple)

Apple's gaming subscription service Apple Arcade reportedly has "nine-figure subscribers", making it twice as big as PlayStation Plus and four times bigger than Xbox Game Pass.

As reported by iMore, Apple Arcade might have subscribers in the "nine-figures" bracket. This comes from Miles Jacobson, of Football Manager developer Sports Interactive, who recently shared this fact during the launch of Football Manager 2023 Touch. Jacobson didn't elaborate on this any further so the specifics of this big number remain unknown.

"I'm told nine-figure subscribers, I have no idea if those numbers are right or not," Jacobson said during a press event for the newly launched game. If this figure is accurate, it would mean that Apple Arcade is twice as big as PlayStation's subscription service PS Plus (45.4 million subscribers as of September 2022), and four times bigger than Xbox Game Pass (25 million subscribers as of January 2022.) 

Although surprising when compared to gaming giants such as PlayStation and Xbox, it's also not too hard to believe considering that a lot of people own Apple products that support the subscription service, such as iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, and more. Especially since a lot of people who would choose to play games on their Apple devices may not own any other console or a PC, so rely on the likes of Apple Arcade to play all their games. 

Either that or everyone who gets offered a free trial of Apple Arcade when they buy a new phone has forgotten to cancel it.

If you've now just remembered that you have an active subscription, take a look at our best Apple Arcade games list to help you decide what to play next. 

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.