Circana: US spending on video game subscriptions flat for years following 2020-21 growth, only boosted by 12% in Q4 thanks to CoD going to Gamepass

jm89

jm89

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Everyone has known for years that subscribing to gaming hit a plateau very quickly

The fact that Microsoft stopped announcing how many Gamepass subs they had after like 2019 is proof enough of this
 
I wouldn't simply say sub services aren't the future. They're just not the immediate future.

Who knows how things could play out of the majority of gamers shift to cloud streaming.

I hope that isn't the future, but I'm not sure many predicted a digital future for music, tv, and movies either, let alone streaming and subscription based.
 
Also, it is actually pretty good that Gamepass and PS Plus / subscriptions in general haven't lost ground since the covid boom. That is at least one way you can spin it
 
DenchDeckard said:
Also, it is actually pretty good that Gamepass and PS Plus / subscriptions in general haven't lost ground since the covid boom. That is at least one way you can spin it
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Not when you are a company like Microsoft, who is now the biggest publisher in the world, putting all their games on gamepass

Microsoft has estimates of reaching 100mil subscribers by 2029. They are costing themselves billions by putting everything on Gamepass over the next few years, in the hopes there will be major growth from the service. Minor or even moderate subscription growth will not be enough to sustain it
 
We all knew this. Game Pass is much more dependent on constant growth, especially with how much money they pour into it to provide "incredible value." If their investment doesn't lead to meaningful growth then it's time to scale back on it. It was obvious why Phil's recent PR was "it's all about options!" a couple weeks ago.
 
Bloody Crow of Cainhurst said:
Which 10 9/10 games do they have at this moment? Be sure not to include anything older than 3 years, since I'm sure you don't consider the PS4 catalog on PS Plus Extra to be a good value
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I still play OG FF7 and Super Metroid, good games are good games period and add value to games subscription services… Lol, i loved the arbitrary 3 years mark you put there to fit your narrative, mental gymnastics in action.
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coachmcguirk91 said:
Not when you are a company like Microsoft, who is now the biggest publisher in the world, putting all their games on gamepass

Microsoft has estimates of reaching 100mil subscribers by 2029. They are costing themselves billions by putting everything on Gamepass over the next few years, in the hopes there will be major growth from the service. Minor or even moderate subscription growth will not be enough to sustain it
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Oh no, I completely agree. This is terrible news for MS but most tech saw a decline vs 2020/21 so to remain flat is not too bad.
 
DaleinCalgary said:
Gamepass made it easy for frustrated Xbox owners to buy a ps5 because you leave nothing behind if you switch.
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It's true. When I sold my series X back in June 2023, I think I had only bought Hogwarts Legacy digitally, so that was the only recent game locked in the ecosystem I was leaving behind.
 
BlackTron said:
That isn't true, they are selling them on PS5 while praying there will be major growth from the service
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I'm not saying Microsoft isn't making profits, but they are still losing out on a shit ton of money by making everything available on Gamepass. Putting COD on gamepass probably cost them at least 500mil alone last year
 
So after a period where everyone was stuck indoors with nothing better to do than pump money into gaming subscriptions (and other digital entertainment), growth stagnated? SHOCKING. It's almost like that temporary surge wasn't indicative of a sustainable trend for gaming.
 
Mat's change in messaging is interesting, seems to be following in line with Phil's comments. I wonder if this is just setting the stage for meager Game Pass quarterly results when Microsoft reports tomorrow.

Game Pass subscriber growth seems to have been fueled by 3-year 1:1 conversion options, VPN cheap codes, rewards programs. and $1 promos. Microsoft is now interested is price increases, and driving more $ out of those staying on their platform. They've turned from winning share to getting profitability about of the service.
 
LordOcidax said:
I still play OG FF7 and Super Metroid, good games are good games period and add value to games subscription services… Lol, i loved the arbitrary 3 years mark you put there to fit your narrative, mental gymnastics in action.
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I was helping your argument with the 3 year cutoff, dummy. Okay, since you think my 3 year mark is arbitrary, would you consider PS Plus Extra a good value because of TLOU1, TLOU2, GoW, GoW:R, Hogwarts Legacy, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Forbidden West, Uncharted 1-4, Lost Legacy, Jedi: Survivor, and Marvel's Spider-Man, and Days Gone being on it? Or would you consider it a ripoff? Even the most ardent Sony stans would consider that list stale because we already played most of those on the PS4.

Also, all the Xbox fans in here seem to be creaming themselves over the Oblivion remaster, but took great outrage with TLOU1 Remake and Horizon Zero Dawn, which were both far superior in quality. Which is it? Are remakes good only when Xbox does it and cashgrabs when Sony does it?
 
DenchDeckard said:
Oh no, I completely agree. This is terrible news for MS but most tech saw a decline vs 2020/21 so to remain flat is not too bad.
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Gamepass didn't completely remain flat. IIRC around a year ago with the multiplat pivot we learnt they had 34 million gamepass subs including 11 million or so Xbox live users who were merged into the gamepass core.

Last reported numbers before the 34 million number was 25 million gamepass subs excluding those live users. So you'd expect the 25 million combined with the 11 million live users to put them over 36 million....but it didn't it put them at 34 million so a decline of 2 million minimum.
 
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Bloody Crow of Cainhurst said:
I was helping your argument with the 3 year cutoff, dummy. Okay, since you think my 3 year mark is arbitrary, would you consider PS Plus Extra a good value because of TLOU1, TLOU2, GoW, GoW:R, Hogwarts Legacy, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Forbidden West, Uncharted 1-4, Lost Legacy, Jedi: Survivor, and Marvel's Spider-Man, and Days Gone being on it? Or would you consider it a ripoff? Even the most ardent Sony stans would consider that list stale because we already played most of those on the PS4.
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Agreed, also, along with the price increase, the reason why I stopped my subscription to ps plus extra. Doesn't make sense, especially when I can buy even 1 new game for its price.

Also, all the Xbox fans in here seem to be creaming themselves over the Oblivion remaster, but took great outrage with TLOU1 Remake and Horizon Zero Dawn, which were both far superior in quality. Which is it? Are remakes good only when Xbox does it and cashgrabs when Sony does it?
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I feel it is wrong to compare horizon or tlou 1 remake to oblivion. Oblivion is a far older game that isn't available on modern consoles, so it's remaster atleast makes sense. Unlike the recent Sony remasters. If Sony has instead remastered games like kill zone, resistance or infamous, I doubt most would complain. Heck a lot of people were excited for the rumoured god of war greek trilogy remasters.


Also for gamepass 9/10 or 10/10 games, blue prince and clair obscur would be good examples. Although personally I am still not keen on gamepass( like ps plus extra) and as such am not subscribed nor will subscribe to it.
 
jm89 said:
Gamepass didn't completely remain flat. IIRC around a year ago with the multiplat pivot we learnt they had 34 million gamepass subs including 11 million or so Xbox live users who were merged into the gamepass core.

Last reported numbers before the 34 million number was 25 million gamepass subs excluding those live users. So you'd expect the 25 million combined with the 11 million live users to put them over 36 million....but it didn't it put them at 34 million so a decline of 2 million minimum.
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Yeah, I imagine PS plus saw an increase after the amazing year PS had last year / peak xmas deals / influx of PS plus members. So, maybe that flattened the overall numbers.
 
Insanemaelstrom said:
Agreed, also, along with the price increase, the reason why I stopped my subscription to ps plus extra. Doesn't make sense, especially when I can buy even 1 new game for its price.


I feel it is wrong to compare horizon or tlou 1 remake to oblivion. Oblivion is a far older game that isn't available on modern consoles, so it's remaster atleast makes sense. Unlike the recent Sony remasters. If Sony has instead remastered games like kill zone, resistance or infamous, I doubt most would complain. Heck a lot of people were excited for the rumoured god of war greek trilogy remasters.


Also for gamepass 9/10 or 10/10 games, blue prince and clair obscur would be good examples. Although personally I am still not keen on gamepass( like ps plus extra) and as such am not subscribed nor will subscribe to it.
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Oblivion OG is available as BC game on Xbox Series and PC. That said, I agree that situation is quite different from Sony's remaster spree.
 
I'd say that's fine, but we gotta have infinite growth plus there's that one company that tried to stake its entire future on a subscription reaching 100 million or something.
 
Am OK with this as long as it remains an option.

A lot more people are choosing to buy games so I guess that's good for industry.

In a year or two they can simply stop putting 3rd party stuff on it and just stick to first party. They have enough studios.

Either ways, glad to be part of booming gamepass, it was crazy, still is.
 
The problem is that for microsoft, gamespass became their entire gaming business, vs ps+ which supplements their business. Sure it canibalizes 'some' long tail sales, but not the majority of all sales. Hence MS's mad scramble, especially after blowing the best part of 100bn on acquisitions.
 
I think people are underestimating the size of the growth of 2020-2021. We got a good 3-5 years of growth all in 6 months thanks to the plandemic.
 
I'm not sure how invested they are in Game Pass these days. Obviously they still are as they're focusing on day 1 releases, standard pushes, etc.

Personally I think it existing and being an option for those with less spending is great. But of course it's not for everyone. In a world where physical games are being phased out, paying a price that's less than half of a full priced digital game sounds much more appealing.
 
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