Blog: games subscriptions

Google’s game streaming service Stadia is shutting down in January 2023, just over three years into its life. What went wrong for such a promising technology with the backing of one of the largest corporations in the world? What does this mean for the future of cloud gaming? Popularity contest The key reason Stadia is being scrapped? User numbers.

It has been a year since Netflix announced its first games studio acquisition. Two days ago, it announced the launch of its own in-house gaming studio based in Finland, bringing a fourth gaming studio into its arsenal.

Last week Microsoft announced a new division of Xbox Game Studios, the “Cloud Gaming Organisation”, designed to help developers create new cloud-native games to be distributed via their Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

Ubisoft has announced that its subscription service Ubisoft+, currently available on PC, will come to Xbox in the future. It will also make its upcoming title Rainbox Six Exploration available on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass from day one.

According to Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter, Sony plans to weave PlayStation Now (its on-demand games streaming offering) into PlayStation Plus (subscription necessary to access multiplayer features, and a small, windowed selection of games).

Apple announced a significant expansion of Apple Arcade last week, including more than 180 new games across three new games categories: ‘Timeless Classics’, ‘App Store Greats’ and ‘New Arcade Exclusives’.

Take-Two Interactive (T2) reported quarterly results, with revenue dipping slightly, but profitability improving. On the call, T2 reiterated scepticism over the future of the games subscription models.

If Fortnite showed us anything, it’s that the future of entertainment is about monetising fandom – not just consumption and access to content. Games are perfectly positioned to help monetise fandom across all entertainment fields.

Despite a price cut, PlayStation remains the most expensive gaming experience: PlayStation has announced a 50% price cut to its games streaming service, PlayStation Now. Though slicing a streaming service price point in half is a bold move which will attract a lot of media attention, the reality is that despite the price reduction the ability to get a complete gaming experience out of Sony remains comparatively expensive: Console (assuming average 4.

As of yesterday, Apple has revealed more detail about its upcoming Arcade. For $4.99 per month, users will have the ability to download and play 100+ exclusive games across Apple devices. While Apple is positioned as a ‘download and play’ proposition, the reality is it will compete against games streaming as well.

Apple has announced that it will launch a games subscription service called Arcade. For a monthly payment (price point to be determined), the service will feature over 100 original games which users will be able to play across iPhones, iPads and Apple TV and pick up wherever they left off.