- According to a report, subscription services are still not growing.
- The services grew by just 1% compared to last year.
- Between 2023 and 2022, these services grew by 2%, showing next to no growth in the last two years.
Subscription services have become a major part of gaming today. Game Pass, PS Plus, and EA Play are a few of the services that are quite popular amongst the masses, but a new report suggests that neither Game Pass nor PS Plus are growing much.
Why it matters: The subscription model is tricky to navigate, and data shows that it might never end up being as popular as it became in the film and television industry.
According to Circana’s Mat Piscatella, the growth of these services has not been able to escape the plateau that was hit last year.
In 2023, the analyst reported a 2% year-on-year growth in major services. While Game Pass and PS Plus continue to ramp up efforts to gain more subscribers, the result has been worse this year.
Matt Piscatella reveals that these services grew by just 1% compared to last year. This is practically no growth, making the situation concerning, especially for Xbox, as it is going all-in on this model.
Meanwhile, premium AAA releases continue to sell much better. While others have predicted Game Pass could reach 200 million subscribers eventually, current data shows otherwise.
These services remain solid options for smaller teams, but it seems their limitations are now clearer than ever. This is precisely why PlayStation and Nintendo have invested in subscriptions as secondary parts of their business.
However, this plateau is not exclusive to subscriptions. For instance, gaming hardware sales across all three console manufacturers have remained relativity consistent over the last two decades.
Therefore, the industry as a whole is gravitating toward alternatives like live service for more revenue.
Perhaps the uncertainty around games and lack of ownership is contributing to the stalled growth of subscriptions.
There is still hope for Game Pass since major releases like Stalker 2 and Hellblade 2 are yet to arrive in 2024, but it remains to be seen if these titles alone will be able to offset the flat growth.
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