[4] After the complete line-up of songs was announced, "Arcade" was the bookmakers' favourite to win Eurovision, and had remained so until the contest ended.

He worked on the song for over two years, predominantly while collaborating with Wouter Hardy, a former band member with Sharon Kovacs.

The triple metre verses contrast with the 4/4 time signature of the rest of the song, giving it a distinct sound.

[20] Ilse DeLange, runner-up of Eurovision 2014 as a member of The Common Linnets, came across Duncan in The Voice of Holland later that year, where she became his coach, and he regularly shared his songs with her since.

[20][22] On 21 January 2019, Laurence was revealed as its representative for the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, after "Arcade" was internally selected by the Dutch broadcaster.

[32] The performance of the song featured him sitting behind an electric grand piano, with three backing vocalists supporting him offstage.

[33] Surrounding Laurence and his piano, smoke, water and lighting effects, reminiscent of the official music video, accompanied the performance.

[38] The Netherlands finished third in the jury vote, behind North Macedonia and Sweden, and second in the televote, behind Norway,[39] but ended up winning the contest with 492 points.

[47] Editors of the Eurovision fan site Wiwibloggs praised the emotional atmosphere of "Arcade" and gave the song an average score of 9.15 out of 10.

[48] Dan Niazi from ESCXtra, another Eurovision fan site, said he was not prepared for a song "as good and as perfectly produced as Arcade" to represent the Netherlands.

[55] Following its Eurovision victory, "Arcade" reached the weekly charts of 26 European countries, peaking at number one in Belgium, Estonia, Iceland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; it was subsequently certified quadruple platinum in the latter.

Starting in late 2020, "Arcade" went viral on TikTok, resulting in renewed success on various weekly charts, including in the United States, where the song became a sleeper hit.

[62] On 18 May 2021, during the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, Laurence received a Global Platinum certification for over a billion streams of "Arcade" worldwide.

The song was featured three times in the Eurovision Home Concerts series, and covered by all the acts in Armenia's Depi Evratesil selection for the 2020 contest that would be cancelled in a group performance.