A Bangor Daily News article hinted that a new series of Arthur video games would be released in fall 1999.
[9] In February 1999, The Learning Company announced that it had "signed an exclusive, multi-year contract with Marc Brown to develop and publish interactive software worldwide".
The aim was to utilise Arthur's equity by "broadening his visibility in the interactive software category", specifically within the core curriculum areas.
[15] The New York Times reported that the Broadcast program, which ran in the background as an application called DSS Agent, used to be included on the installation discs of many software titles made by The Learning Company, including the Arthur video games, while Arthur's Reading Race "was billed as a product updater and communications tool"; online privacy groups put it in the category of spyware for this reason.
[29] In 1999, Forbes wrote a piece questioning if wrapping up educational content under the guise of video games featuring children's characters such as Arthur and Dr. Seuss was enough to "entice parents with the promise of easy learning for their kids".
Aktueller Software Markt praised two entries in the series and concluded the review by begging for a German version of the games.
[34] All Game gave it 4/5 stars,[35] while SuperKids wrote that it wasn't the strongest entry in the Living Books product line.