‘Plex Arcade’ Streams Classic Games to Android, Chrome, TV

Cloud streaming has benefits for games, as we’ve seen with Google Stadia, but it’s not just about high-end and graphically demanding titles. Sometimes it’s just about making the games easy to access. Today, “Plex Arcade” is launched to stream classic video games to Android devices and Android TV, Chrome, etc.

Plex got its start as a way to stream things like music, movies, and TV shows from your home computer or server to any of your favorite devices. With the announcement of Plex Arcade, the streaming server app expands into another major form of media: video games – especially retro games.

Like Stadia, GeForce Now, and other game streaming services, the idea behind Plex Arcade is to stream games from a Plex server to a remote location – or at home – to your device. The underlying technology comes from Parsec – a free remote gaming application – which provides the low latency stream needed for playable games.

For now, Plex Arcade only lets you stream games from a dozen or so consoles, with the emulation aspects handled by the open source LibRetro project. Out of the box, included with your subscription, you also have access to a small library of classic Atari games.

Plex Arcade comes with other restrictions. On the one hand, the server hosting your games must be Windows or macOS based and have a Parsec compatible graphics card. Those hosting Plex from a Linux machine, NAS, or Nvidia Shield TV won’t be able to host games yet.

Also, the gameplay is limited to Android, iOS, Chrome, Apple TV, and Android / Google TV. Likewise, there is no guarantee for which controllers will work or not, with Plex recommending that you use a DualShock 4 or Xbox controller.

If you’ve got all the right gear, Plex Arcade is available for $ 4.99 per month and comes with a one-week free trial of the service.

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