Video game access models evolving fast
Sony is joining Microsoft in the rapidly expanding subscription video game race, writes Tim Biggs.
As Microsoft continues to expand its Game Pass service and Sony prepares to launch its new PlayStation Plus subscription in Australia next week, paying for video games could soon be similar to paying for Spotify or Netflix.
Game Pass and PlayStation Plus give players access to an evolving library of hundreds of games to download on-demand for a monthly fee, from new blockbusters and offbeat indies to retro classics.
And it is not just the two console stalwarts in the game either – Apple continues to grow its Arcade service across its mobile devices and computers, and Netflix has begun including access to mobile games in its regular subscription.
Sony blockbusters like Ghost of Tsushima will be on PlayStation Plus but new games it releases won’t join the service right away.
Ron Curry, chief executive of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA), said the rise of subscriptions was good for consumers who did not want to pay up to A$110 (NZ$121) per game and it was good for local developers too.
‘‘People have embraced the whole notion of subscription services, for books, for music, in Netflix and those sorts of services.
‘‘So I think it is only natural they will say: I have other entertainment mediums that I engage with, and games is one of those. Why shouldn’t I be doing that?’’ Curry said.
‘‘And it might help people experience a new genre, or a new developer, or a new style of gameplay, which is really healthy, particularly for upcoming developers,’’ he said.
According to the IGEA, Australians spent A$162 million (NZ$178m) on games subscriptions last year. The global games industry made about A$250 billion from about 3 billion gamers last year, according to NewZoo.
Game Pass is available on Xbox consoles, PC, and soon on Samsung smart TVs via streaming. It is the most established offering in the games subscription space, with 25 million subscribers worldwide after five years.
For A$11 a month players can access hundreds of games on Xbox consoles or their PC, including new Microsoft-published games as they release. Or for A$16 a month they can play across consoles and PC, as well as streaming games from the cloud.
Soon Microsoft will also add the ability for subscribers to stream games they own from outside the Game Pass library. It also plans to pay smaller developers to create playable demos for its upcoming games.
The new PlayStation Plus has no cloud component in Australia, although it does internationally.
Launched this week for A$19 a month or A$135 a year, it gives access to a library of hundreds of games for PS4 or PS5.
There is also a deluxe tier, where for A$22 a month or A$155 a year players get that same library plus additional perks, including dozens of original and remastered games from the PS1, PS2 and PlayStation Portable systems, and limited time trials of new games. PlayStation Plus will offer a library of hundreds of games from next week.
Sony does not include its own games on the service when they launch, meaning dedicated players still need to pay full price if they want to play new blockbuster titles straight away.
Games not owned or published by Microsoft or Sony tend to move in and out of subscriptions, or need to be bought outright.
Many gamers have expressed concerns about effectively leasing access to these games through subscriptions, with no recourse if one of their favourites gets removed from the service.
But while dedicated gamers may like to seek out very specific titles, subscriptions could appeal to a much wider base who just flick through the catalogue to find something to play.
Thomas Keene, a long-time console gamer from Melbourne, said Game Pass now made up a big part of their play. Some friends used the service exclusively and did not buy games at all, they said.
‘‘I can afford 15 bucks a month for dozens of games, trying new things I might not love and games I know I enjoy. But I can’t afford 50-80 bucks for a single game, let alone more than one,’’ they said.
‘‘It still gives me anxiety, especially about not really owning my favourite games. But knowing that so many, especially ones Microsoft owns, are not going to disappear any time soon helps.’’
Keene also has a PS4 that has not been getting as much love since Game Pass, but they said PlayStation Plus could be a good excuse to go back and play some games they missed.
‘‘I would love to have both [Game Pass and PlayStation Plus] in theory but, based on the prices, I would have to strategically alternate services.’’
Valerie Valentine, also from Melbourne, prefers to play on PC.
She said she liked that subscription services made games more accessible to people who might not otherwise have played them but would like to see more options that let players keep ownership of games.
‘‘I don’t like the idea of paying for temporary access. It is like renting from Blockbuster with extra steps. And companies being able to remove games from subscription lists, the same way Netflix can remove shows, seems a bit off to me,’’ she said.
‘‘But, overall, I like [subscription services]. I don’t think they are the future we necessarily want or need but it is the one we are gonna get.’’
More contentious than the idea of a subscription future is the idea of a streaming future. Microsoft and Sony have each positioned streaming as a way to expand their offering to people who might not want to invest in gaming hardware.
Games are played on remote servers, with the sound and vision beamed to players’ phones or computers over the internet.
Samsung recently announced its 2022 TVs will work with any Bluetooth game controller to stream games from multiple services, including Game Pass, meaning, for example, owners could play the latest Halo without a console or PC. PlayStation fans could even use their Sony controller to play Xbox games through their TV.
Valentine said she was not interested in streaming games like she might stream films.
‘‘There is a fundamental difference. Games are interactive and we notice the inherent lag from streaming. Local multiplayer has to become online multiplayer and you can’t buffer games the same way as you can movies,’’ she said.
In a recent conversation about Xbox’s plan for the next 20 years, Microsoft’s chief executive of gaming, Phil Spencer, stressed that things such as Game Pass and cloud streaming were only designed to make up some of the options players have.
Xbox games appear in subscriptions but can also be purchased individually, on consoles as well as PCs, through Microsoft’s own stores as well as the likes of Steam.
‘‘We are building a platform that can reach billions of players, whether it is on console, whether it is on PC. Whether it is through Xbox cloud streaming in a web browser, in an app, or on a device that is dedicated to playing games,’’ he said.