Plex is launching a game subscription service in collaboration with Atari and Parsec

[Conditional-Pancakes]

Plex just announced a new gaming subscription service in collaboration with Atari and Parsec.
In addition to some old-school Atari games, the service will let you add your own emulators and ROMs.
$3 a month if you're a Plex Pass subscriber, and $5 a month if you're not.

Arcade Games - Play Arcade Games Online | Plex

www.plex.tv

Plex is launching a game subscription service filled with Atari games

A nostalgia trip from the ‘70s and ‘80s.

www.theverge.com

Plex, well known as a service for streaming movies, music, and TV shows from your own computer, is now adding another thing you can stream: video games (via Protocol). Plex announced the new service, called Plex Arcade, on its blog and also launched a website for it. The service will cost $3 a month if you're a Plex Pass subscriber, and $5 a month if you're not.

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Instead of focusing on modern console or phone games like its competitors, Plex lets you play Atari games. It's taking the arcade name seriously, as you can play arcade classics from Atari, like Centipede, Super Breakout, and Missile Command, as well as games from the Atari 2600 and 7800. Overall, there are 27 games available on the service.

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Unlike other game subscription services where you can simply sign up from your console and start playing, Plex Arcade has a few requirements. First is a Plex media server running on a Windows or macOS computer. There isn't Linux support because Plex is using Parsec to stream the gameplay.

This means that you'll have to sign up for a Parsec account, if you don't already have one, and log in to it on Plex. There is a bit more freedom when it comes to what you can stream the games to, as Android devices and TVs are supported, as well as Google Chrome and Apple's iOS and tvOS. Plex says you can play with "just about any Bluetooth-enabled controller."

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[Mindwipe]

In addition to some old-school Atari games, the service will let you add your own emulators and ROMs.

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Plex doing it's very best to alienate any relevant publishers then.

Also $5 a month for Missile Command and Centipede? Christ, that's worse than that awful XBox classic arcade service they launched a few years ago and died on its ass because it was literally a hundred times too expensive.

 

[Perkin_Warbeck]

So the games are going to run on Parsec not your plex server? meh.

 

[StrikeJP]

Looks intriguing. But for a monthly price tag, I'd rather use Launchbox for now.

Btw, Parsec is an amazing program. Especially during covid. Highly recommended.

 

[androvsky]

Plex doing it's very best to alienate any relevant publishers then.

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It's Plex, not letting you add your own emulators and ROMs wasn't going to be okay. Even so, they've managed to somehow get movie and music studios on board for streaming partnerships despite the fact you can still stream your own music and videos.

So the games are going to run on Parsec not your plex server? meh.

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It sounds like it runs on your own server but with Parsec libraries. It's a little confusing, but I don't know why the server platforms would be so limited otherwise.

 

[dunkzilla]

Plex has so many fecking useless add ons that i doubt many people use.

 

[killa2max]

Love Plex and glad they are trying new things, but my Plex Server is running on a Linux box. I've heard good things about Parsec performance though, so this could be neat.

 

[Mindwipe]

It's Plex, not letting you add your own emulators and ROMs wasn't going to be okay. Even so, they've managed to somehow get movie and music studios on board for streaming partnerships despite the fact you can still stream your own music and videos.

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I suspect they've been turned down by a lot more studios because of them facilitating piracy.

 

[theAllseeingEYE]

Seems like a pretty poor idea to subscribe to a service with so few games. Especially when you can often buy an Atari compilation for less than the price of the subscription and play them natively on that same PC.

Atari Vault - 100 Games - $2.19 CAD

Atari Vault | Steam PC Game

A new dimension to incredible classics - relive the Golden Age...

www.fanatical.com

 

[Dysun]

A subscription service that's not available remotely. Sounds DOA

 

[Fanto]

There isn't Linux support

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Unfortunate.

I do like the idea, but it's also kind of rough to charge extra for it on top of a Plex Pass sub though.

 

[NoWayOut]

I've been using Plex extensively for years and I support them with the Premium sub, but I have zero interests in this.

 

[Dyle]

Why would anyone want this? It would be a nice bonus for existing subscribers but can't possibly justify its existence as a paid addition

 

[sangreal]

Ugh, more shit I don't want and need to figure out how to hide in plex

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

So... I can pay a subscription to steal games? Cool. I'm sure the publishers will love this!

 

[androvsky]

I suspect they've been turned down by a lot more studios because of them facilitating piracy.

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That's not the point of Plex, it was a good app with zero studio support.

So... I can pay a subscription to steal games? Cool. I'm sure the publishers will love this!

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It's Plex.

 

[kiguel182]

Can't you just use Parsec for free with your own ROMs?

The value add of old Atari games seems low.

 

[Mindwipe]

That's not the point of Plex, it was a good app with zero studio support.

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The point of Plex is to stay in business, which they're not going to do with a business model aimed at pirates.

 

[Piccoro]

Is there online multiplayer in some form?

 

[Conditional-Pancakes]

Unfortunate.

I do like the idea, but it's also kind of rough to charge extra for it on top of a Plex Pass sub though.

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Yeah, it's what I think too. I'm already a Plex Pass subscriber, and I need to pay more for this? With this Atari/Parsec partnership I do understand why they're doing it, but I don't want to pay more than I already am for Plex.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

That's not the point of Plex, it was a good app with zero studio support.


It's Plex.

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I know. Plex is basically piracy software. I'm just being facisious about it :p

 

[TechnicPuppet]

Far too expensive

 

[Gowans]

I wonder if this will be blocked on the console apps the same way rainway was.

 

[Eoin]

US$60 a year for 27 Atari games is maybe a new low for game subscription service value proposition

(And sure, there's the ability to add your own emulators and ROMs, but that's only going to appeal to people who have big piles of ROMs lying around and no good way to play them, whoever that might be.)

 

[Adrifi]

DOA

 

[Conditional-Pancakes]

Seems that right now, they're only supporting users adding their own Atari, Sega, Nintendo and Arcade cartridge based games. From their FAQ:

Plex Arcade Frequently Asked Questions | Plex Support

Note: We’ve made the difficult decision to close the doors on Plex Arcade on March 31, 2022. After that date,...

support.plex.tv

Which platforms can be scanned in and show metadata in Plex?

We support showing metadata for a range of retro cartridge based systems such as Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and Arcade, and we plan to support more in the future. If your game doesn't show up in the library it means it is not currently supported.

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[Nuclear Muffin]

Seems that right now, they're only supporting users adding their own Atari, Sega, Nintendo and Arcade cartridge based games. From their FAQ:

Plex Arcade Frequently Asked Questions | Plex Support

Note: We’ve made the difficult decision to close the doors on Plex Arcade on March 31, 2022. After that date,...

support.plex.tv

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Oof! They're really kicking the hornet's nest by adding metadata for Nintendo games...

Wouldn't be surprised if they come down on them like a ton of bricks...

 

[Htown]

makes no goddamn sense to stream atari games

 

[Conditional-Pancakes]

Here's the list of games included at launch:

Arcade
– Avalanche
– Centipede
– Gravitar
– Lunar Lander
– Major Havoc
– Milipede
– Missile Command
– Sky Diver
– Sky Raider
– Super Breakout

Atari 2600
– 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe
– Adventure
– Aquaventure
– Combat
– Hauted House
– Human Canonball
– Outlaw ~ Gunslinger
– Radar Lock
– Solaris

Atari 7800
– Basketbrawl
– Dark Chambers
– Desert Falcon
– Fatal Run
– Food Fight
– Motor Psycho
– Ninja Golf
– Planet Smashers

makes no goddamn sense to stream atari games

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It's a weird service. Adding your own emulators and ROMs seems nice, but even that is very limited at the moment. I really don't know why someone would want to pay for this.

 

[samred]

It's rough so far:

Plex adds game-streaming as paid add-on, completely botches the landing

$4.99/mo service needs to straighten many issues before meriting the cost.

arstechnica.com

Why wait for a rights handler to get my favorite SNES or Game Boy classic titles dumped to a modern platform when Plex can help me serve my own ROMs from my computer to other devices? This sales pitch hints to an instant process, and you'd be fooled into thinking it's that simple when you point your Plex Media Server app to a directory full of your own game ROMs. When I did this, I waited for the scanning process to conclude, and then I found my Plex mobile app had gotten some nifty new tabs: "Arcade," "Game Boy," "Nintendo Entertainment System," "Sega Genesis," "Super Nintendo Entertainment System," and "Nintendo 64." (ROMs from my GameCube, Wii, Xbox, and PlayStation 1 folders did not get picked up.)

Excitedly, I tried booting games from each of those platforms on my smartphone, only to get an endlessly looping "loading" animation on a black screen. Confused, I went into the Windows interface to see if I could boot the games there, at which point I was met with an error message: "The core mapping file is missing a core for [console name]." Good thing I did this on my Windows rig, since this at least pointed me to the problem; the lack of verbose warnings on Plex's smartphone app seems like a glaring omission at this early stage in the service's life.
I looked through the service's FAQ and felt confused, so I reached out to Plex representatives, who pointed me to a sub-FAQ about emulators. As it turns out, while Plex Arcade is smart enough to recognize ROMs and immediately silo them into respective "platform" tabs, it otherwise forces users to procure their own emulation cores—specifically ones built for the RetroArch interface. Plex goes so far as to suggest that users download RetroArch outright and use its automatic core-update system, then drag-and-drop those core DLL files into Plex's interface (and this includes exposing the "AppData" folder that Windows hides by default, which Plex doesn't clarify for brand-new users). Then you have to manually edit an XML file and use precise metadata tags to tell Plex Arcade that you indeed downloaded those cores. (A single typo could nuke the whole file.)

Like, why can't you do all of that, Plex?

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[Deleted member 17210]

It's cool to see Atari 7800 games get re-released but not like this. Just let me buy compilations or individual games. Why does so much stuff aimed at Atari/Intellivision fans in recent times have to put behind stupid services or unnecessary consoles like Amico that no one will buy?

 

[Kalor]

It's cool to see Atari 7800 games get re-released but not like this. Just let me buy compilations or individual games. Why does so much stuff aimed at Atari/Intellivision fans in recent times have to put behind stupid services or unnecessary consoles like Amico that no one will buy?

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Both companies, but Atari in particular, are just chasing whatever trends they can find in the hope that one of them takes off. Which hasn't happened so far.

 

[E_i]

 

[Eoin]

It's rough so far:

Plex adds game-streaming as paid add-on, completely botches the landing

$4.99/mo service needs to straighten many issues before meriting the cost.

arstechnica.com

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This service sounds nonsensical. Poor documentation, broken button mapping, laggy input, the need to edit XML files...it's amazing that someone thought this was in a good enough state to launch.

 

[canderous]

Someone is developing a plex plugin that will do the same thing and more on android clients

Reddit - Dive into anything

reddit.com

Will be interesting to see how it turns out I guess.

 

[Delusibeta]

I like Plex, but this is abysmal value compared to Steam In Home Streaming and a copy of Atari Vault and/or Retroarch.

 

[mute]

I know. Plex is basically piracy software. I'm just being facisious about it :p

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...how?

If Plex is piracy software so is DLNA and that is supported by Sony, MS, TV manufacturers, etc

 

[pswii60]

I thought Atari games were terribly dated (and a bit naff) even as a kid in the 80s. But certainly still intrigued by this nevertheless.

 

[LazyLain]

I used to love Plex (even paid for a lifetime Plex Pass), but I've stopped using it since the last few years have made it clear that they're struggling to find ways to make money and are focusing more on that than improving the core software.

 

[Carn]

I've been using Plex extensively for years and I support them with the Premium sub, but I have zero interests in this.

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This. Idd rather have them focus on the core features but I guess those don't bring in the cash these days :/ I'm almost willing to pay for a Plex 'Light' if they continue down on this path.

 

[Conditional-Pancakes]

It's rough so far:

Plex adds game-streaming as paid add-on, completely botches the landing

$4.99/mo service needs to straighten many issues before meriting the cost.

arstechnica.com

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Great article. It does sound very rough...

I agree very much with the first comment under the article saying that Plex seems to be developing a lot of "features" that nobody wants to pay for, nobody asked for, and nobody will use. And these features come at the cost of consistently ignoring bugs and valid requests from their users.

I love Plex. I use it everyday and am a Plex Pass subscriber. But they really need to refocus on the features people love and are actually using.

 

[Deleted member 12323]

Due to the partnership and licensing fees involved with the project, Plex Arcade will not be a free addition.

Instead, it will be offered as a separate subscription for $2.99 per month for existing Plex Pass subscribers

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pass

 

[Teamocil]

there's no many things wrong here. an additional cost for plex pass subscribers? doesn't run on linux?

I was willing to give it a shot, but my plex server runs in docker on Unraid, and I'm not going to change that just for this. sorry Plex