Gaming subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus have proven successful by copying the procedures of streaming services in the TV and movie industry. However, streaming services like HBO Max are undergoing some essential changes that are not consumer-friendly, so could this predict the future of gaming services?
Warner Bros., owner of the HBO Max streaming service, has merged with Discovery and is accepting new leadership that wants to drastically overhaul the service, leaving fans unhappy. Many original HBO Max shows are canceled, as well as movies that were all done, such as Scoob!: A Holiday Haunt and the batgirl movie that DC fans have been waiting for. All in the name of tax write-offs and cost savings. Netflix faces similar challenges when trying to mince original content to cut costs, exposing a problem of profitability for late-stage streaming platforms.
Xbox has always taken a consumer-friendly approach to its service, but with the current trajectory of streaming services, that could soon change. Game Pass left a lot of money on the table while building a fan base. Free one-month trials, $1 deals, and the bundling of PC Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold for the service have proven tempting ways to keep the price of admission as low as possible.
That’s just the savings when signing up for the service. Once they become a member, players will have access to new Xbox exclusives and select high-profile indie titles on day one to excite the player on a monthly basis. EA’s proprietary game subscription service, EA Play, is also included with a Game Pass subscription. Xbox has gone all in on Game Pass despite the potential lost dollars, which has gone way beyond their closest competitor.
PlayStation Plus has been much more conservative in comparison. The exclusive titles don’t come to the service on day one, and the range of high-quality releases generally falls short when compared to Game Pass. What it does have on Xbox is a collection of classic games, spanning more consoles than Xbox’s backwards compatibility. It also offers free trials of many high-profile titles to help players make more conscientious purchasing decisions.
Xbox has more money than PlayStation, so it can support its services better than PlayStation, but even Xbox may not be financially sustainable for long. Netflix is considered the genesis and old king of the streaming platforms, but even it couldn’t afford to continue funding new shows and directorial passion projects for dwindling audiences. Netflix’s solution to losing profits is to raise prices and make customers pay more for a service with less original content than before. If the streaming service model struggles to support the most successful of them all, it won’t be able to sustain the game industry for long.
With the cost of developing video games rising alongside inflation, the gaming industry is becoming too expensive not to be cut back. While these services are great at the moment for consumers to buy a bevy of must-play games on the cheap, gaming services like Game Pass and PlayStation Plus will be forced to pull out their most acclaimed features to meet the world’s financial realities. HBO Max and Netflix have questioned the long-term sustainability of subscription-based entertainment services, which is very worrying for a game industry that already has much higher entry costs than TV or film.
Gaming services have created stronger communities than gaming has ever seen, lowering prices to play and introducing new games to players who would otherwise never have tried them. It would be a shame to see this get corrupted. Currently, gaming services are still booming and not at their breaking point like Netflix, so there is still time for these companies to learn from their mistakes now to avoid the same fate. It is best for players to enjoy the offerings these services offer now before they may disappear.
Game services prove to be extremely generous in what they offer the player, and no one would want that to be taken from them. While entertainment-based subscription services are taking a huge hit in quality, hopefully the situation with Netflix and HBO Max can be seen as a warning to the gaming industry rather than a foreshadowing of its demise.
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