The potential for subscription gaming is huge and growing every day. Over 3 billion people are the potential market for subscription gaming.
The promise of all-you-can play services means lower price of video games and being able to try new styles of games and titles without having to buy the game.
2021 Gaming Offers
- Xbox Games Pass Ultimate ($15.95/m): Microsoft’s top game subscription delivers access to more than 100 games across consoles and PCs, including dayone releases, with titles including UFC 4, Tropico 6, Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto V, Gang Beasts, Destiny 2, Banjo Kazooie, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and FIFA 21.
www.xbox.com - Apple Arcade ($7.99/m): There are more than 180 premium games to download from Apple’s new platform including NBA 2K21, Cut the Rope Remastered, Fantasian, The Oregon Trail, SpellTower+, Star Trek Legends, Crossy Road Castle, LEGO Brawls, What the Golf?, and Mini Motorways.
www.apple.com - PlayStation Plus ($11.95/m): July’s three downloadable titles are Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, WWE 2K Battlegrounds, and A Plague Tale: Innocence.
www.playstation.com - Google Play Pass ($7.99/m): Allyou-can-play access to games including OK Golf, Cubistry, Pocket City, Monument Valley, Botanical, Trivia 360, Oculux, Sonic the Hedgehog Classic, Mini Metro, Spaceflight Simulator.
play.google.com
DITCH DISCS FOR DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION
The way we play is changing fast. Forget spending $100 for just one blockbuster on disc, dedicating all your free time to one title, or even queuing outside a games store at midnight for the latest release. Video games are quickly becoming an all-you-can-play buffet of entertainment, with even the biggest, multimillion-dollar productions released to game subscribers on the same day as they land in stores.
Analysts say players are racing to adopt the new approach, with more than three million subscriptions expected to be snapped up this year in what is forecast to become the “crown jewel of subscription entertainment” .
Microsoft cemented the new approach for games in its E3 Expo virtual announcement last month, confirming that 27 of the 30 top tier titles announced at the show would arrive on its subscription platform, Xbox Games Pass, for players to access without making an extra purchase. Those titles will include Forza Horizon 5, Hades, Flight Simulator, Among Us, and the long-awaited Halo Infinite.
Xbox gaming experiences and platforms corporate vice-president Liz Hamren said the big-name game releases showed how confident Microsoft had become that game subscriptions could pay off for gamers and game developers alike after it took a risk on the model in 2017.
And it’s not just Microsoft that is opening the doors to more games for a single fee.
Rival Sony has also committed to adding three major titles to its PlayStation Plus service monthly, while Apple recently expanded its Arcade service to feature more than 180 premium titles, from an Australian reboot of The Oregon Trail to NBA 2K21.
Subscriptions to games services more than doubled and expected to rise even further in 2021.
