Gaming Subscription Packages!
If the recent weeks have taught us nothing, it’s that the future of gaming is going to lie somewhere inside a subscription package. Well, that seems to be what the industry thinks at least.
In fairness, this is something of an obvious point if you think about it. We do already have a strong system in place as both the Xbox One and PS4 require a ‘subscription’ to play games online.
In recent weeks, however, Microsoft decided to launch their PC specific Xbox Gaming Pass and the future only looks to take that further with Ubisoft and Google (with their Stadia) also wanting in on the action. Yes, it may be blurred lined to compare these to PSPlus or Xbox Live. They are, however, practically the same thing in principle.
In a report via PCGamesN, however, if you needed any proof that there’s money to be made, a recent survey of American gamers has found that at least 30% of them have a current and active subscription package in place. A number significantly higher than many would’ve considered.
Figures
It is a number that seems predominantly based on age, but if you are aged under 35, then at least 53% of you likely already have some form of game subscription package. This is nearly a 10% increase based on a similar survey conducted last year. It is, however, somewhat remarkable to see that across the entire range of all American gamers, as many as 30% are already on board with the idea.
You might think people would be more resistant to this. Apparently, however, we either don’t mind or are sleepwalking into it!
Break Down
You may expect that these numbers are more primarily driven by console owners and you would be correct. Of the subscribers, 63% were console owners. The figure for PC owners was a far less impressive 20%. With Microsoft recently launching their PC specific platform, however, and Ubisoft also set to launch their own ‘PC only’ service in the coming months, that’s a number that’s surely only set to increase.
Yes, like it or not, subscription packages are a clear part of the future of gaming. I guess the only thing to do now is to pick the ones we want!
What do you think? Do you subscribe to any gaming services? If so, which ones? Do you think console gamers will need to do this in the future? – Let us know in the comments!
