Don’t worry we won’t have have to worry about subs being dominant. Oh wait you meant subscriptions
Ok but jokes aside in some cases a subscription is necessary. Probably a bad example but Netflix needs to operate servers that I can get behind if it’s reasonably priced
However games and services that offer a subscription that don’t need it, unless I REALLY like it, I think it’s plain bad
And frankly I’m kind of a hypocrite here paying for planetsides “premium” service even though they could keep the lights on without it
I kinda went off on a rant but even it only makes 10% (which to me is definitely a big number but seems smaller than it is) of sales it kind of sends a message that this a way to extract more money from people like me that go “hmm well I like the game I guess I’ll pay $120 or more a year for this yes this a sane financial decision”
TLDR: subscription bad but I’m personally using one :(
It’s 2024 and you can’t buy any individual movie or TV show you want, you have to buy access to literal Netflix or others as a subscription. Op is saying games are heading towards that.
You can buy individual films and TV programmes though, it’s just that most people want them now rather than in a day or two when the DVD arrives in the post
I just looked up one of Netflix’s star movies, Nimona, and yes, I can still buy blu-rays of it.
All mediums have had exceptions where the license holder is a fickle, or ineffective, ass at selling; rare books, games with soundtrack licensing complications, unloved movies. They’re generally exceptions by individual work, not from having signed on to the Great Netflix Prison.
Generally, where there’s demand, they still let you become its permanent owner. (In the topic of anime, they even overcharge for it because it’s such an uncommon choice made by super-fans as a prestige item)
where there’s demand, they still let you become its permanent owner. (
this is not true. in-fact it is seen as a marketing tool for the subscription services. market-forces do not naturally lead to the outcome you are describing.
it is also not the “exception” that something isn’t available, it’s an exception when a subscription service does release a purchasable option.
Indeed it’s getting more and more common that not only will shows/movies be unavailable for purchase, but deleted from the subscriptions too.
Re-enters group reluctantly, 29 minutes after the message, and sighs: “Fine. It’s been almost an hour since the last time. I really am overdo for more”
All I want is a way to rent PC games before I buy them. Gamepass kinda works for that, but I REALLY don’t want yet another subscription service. I suppose I could buy them from Steam and request a refund if I don’t like it, but I hate paying that kind of money up front and downloading a 100 GB game just to turn around and refund it.
I know, right?! I remember downloading a demo (or popping in a demo disc) that let you play like one mission or a set amount of time in a game. In the era of 120 GB downloads why can’t I download like 5 GB of the game and try it first?! The only answer I can come up with is that, much like the charlatans of old, they know a lot of it is shit so they have to grab your money and run.
The games that end up that large are probably all the AAAs with big deadlines that end up released half-finished anyway, I doubt the companies in charge want to justify the extra cost of releasing an optimised demo if they don’t think it’s going to be worth the effort.
A good demo for a good game was minor advertising that was dwarfed by good press. If every player wont shut up about how good the game is, their friends would skip the demo and buy anyway.
A good demo for a bad game was good advertising that bit you later. You got more up front sales, but got harder drop offs once word gets around that the demo was all you had.
A bad demo for a good game stuttered sales. Some people would turn away and maybe never come back, and it took time for word of mouth to tell everyone to skip the demo and just buy the game anyway.
A bad demo for a bad game was shit all around.
In the end, this punnett square made it pretty clear that the best option was to make a really good demo if youre game was shit, or you thought you needed the help finding an audience. but if you knew (or “”“knew”“”) your game was good? The demo was wasted time and effort. Either it was a smaller ad bump you werent upset to cut costs for, or you were slowing sales by accident.
Demos are good for us, but suck for the company making them. So they largely stopped making them.
PS+ set forward a theme of letting people have game trials - you can download and play for a few hours before needing to buy. I think they want that tied to some kind of invested subscription setup just so that people wouldn’t abuse the system.
It’s easier to avoid abuse if every game has demos coded to end after level 1, but as many old analyses have shown, that takes a huge amount of developer resources.
The issue of downloading 100 GB is something that some publishers have tried to solve with cloud gaming. If you’re only mildly interested in a Game Pass game, you can play it on cloud, and then if you enjoyed your first session, download it locally for the next one.
Worth noting that game trials on PS+ are kept behind the highest tier of PS+. Outside of that, there isn’t too much of interest encouraging you to pick up that subscription in my books since the classics Sony’s been putting publishing there aren’t really that good. Streaming PS5 games sounds nice but is highly dependent on your internet connection. Not sure if I’m missing anything.
Yeah that would be great. A single tweet can sound well-informed but I don’t know if this guy is an expert with a pile of data or just a person capable of chatting shit!
Mat Piscatella’s career has spanned the entertainment software industry, including tenure with Warner Bros and Activision. His industry experience ranges from business planning, analysis, and forecasting to operational and strategic planning. A self-proclaimed “game geek,” Piscatella has worked in the industry for close to 15 years.
Video game brands he has worked on include Call of Duty, LEGO, Batman: Arkham, Guitar Hero, DreamWorks, Mortal Kombat, and Marvel. Piscatella regularly works with key industry trade associations and is collaborating with colleagues on new initiatives for NPD. He has extensive experience presenting to and advising senior leadership for the video game industry.
His experience outside of entertainment software include marketing and sales roles for IRI and Banana Boat Suncare. He has an MBA in marketing from San Diego State University, and a BA in political science from California State University, San Bernardino.
Ok…someone help me out here, because I must be reading this wrong.
In the first tweet, Mat says “the idea that subs will become dominant is unsupported by data.” Ok, so subs are not helping the industry.
But then in the second tweet, he says “Subs have been more additive than cannibalistic”–so wait, they’re actually good for the industry?–and they offer more choice, and fearmongering is unnecessary?
It is. But the industry would rather have all of us subscribing because that's a constant profit and they love constant profit. They'd rather have 100% subscribing and 0% buying than 10% subscribing and 100% buying.
I think he’s saying that neither extreme is right. Subscriptions aren’t going to take over the entire market but they will likely continue to play a role going forward.
So my current understanding of this is that he’s telling us, as consumers, not to worry because subscriptions are not taking over the industry like the industry wants it to. It’s working for them, but it’s not taking over.
When McDonald’s started asking “would you like fries with that?” their sales and profits exploded. That really happened.
Now let’s get theoretical. Imagine you were a potato farmer, and your friend was a cattle farmer. You both have an interest in selling as much of your product for the highest price possible.
You might try to promote potatoes, because that’s good for you. “French fries are going to become the main course, and burgers are going to become obsolete.” Well, no, that’s not supported by the data. That doesn’t mean that fries aren’t good for McDonald’s. Sales for both went up. People buying french fries didn’t buy fewer burgers. The effect was additive, not canibalistic.
Of course, does that mean that either is “good” for the industry? Does that mean it’s “good” for consumers? Is it fearmongering to point out the health risks of eating fried potatoes and ground beef every day, or how bad factory feeding people is for the economy?
Subscription gaming isn’t going to replace traditional games. But it has become a significant part of the industry. If that’s good or bad depends on your perspective.
Something not being dominant does not mean that it is cannibalistic or bad for the industry… it just means that it isnt the dominant form of income for them.
Do micro transactions or even battle pass type things count as subscriptions in the data he’s referring to? Or buying subscriptions/passes with in game currency that was purchased with real money?
I think it’d be more appropriate to compare the upfront cost of a game (and the revenue from it) vs additional revenue generated by people who already paid that upfront cost.
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