A real game changer
AUSSIE GAMERS ARE DITCHING TRADITIONAL DISCS IN FAVOUR OF DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION FUN
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.
And analysts say Aussie 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.
“This is a big moment,” Hamren says. “We have this confluence of things where we have more studios, more games and new consoles, so you’re really starting to see the thesis that we had with Games Pass way back when we launched it really playing out – which is that it’s good for gamers, it’s good for publishers, and it makes gaming more accessible.”
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.
Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi says the big-name offers are changing the way millions of Australians approached gaming.
Subscriptions to games services more than doubled to reach two million in Australia by June 2020, he said, and that number was expected to rise beyond three million this year as more people adopted a Netflixstyle approach to the way they played.
“The potential for subscription gaming is huge,” Fadaghi says. “It’s considered the crown jewel in subscription entertainment. Three billion people are a potential market for subscription gaming.”
But the promise of all-you-canplay services isn’t just about lowering the price of video games for users, Fadaghi says, but about encouraging them to try new styles of games and titles they aren’t ready to buy outright.
“It’s always been a challenge to introduce games to people in the first place and that’s the nut that subscription services really crack,” he says. “Discovery and engagement statistics go through the roof.”
It’s the opportunity to try games on a whim that has kept former games magazine managing editor Craig Thomler coming back to Sony and Apple’s games offers.
The Canberra entrepreneur says he uses his Apple Arcade subscription to try a wide variety of apps he might not otherwise download, while PlayStation Plus lets him play games from his favourite genres without a big investment.
“It’s a really good way to try games,” he says. “It gives me a way to try games that I was interested in but not interested enough to buy.”
And Hamren says that kind of experiences is one of the biggest advantages of offering games in a subscription platform – helping users find their next favourite pastime.
“We did a survey recently and 90 per cent of our members said they had played a game that they would otherwise not have played. You always hear these stories anecdotally, ‘I never thought I was going to like this genre but it was in Games Pass so I tried it and I was surprised at how much I liked it’,” she says.
“It gives people a greater ability to experiment and try new things.”