Video games are seduced by the subscription economy
2023 has been a historic year for the world of video games for multiple reasons, many of them related to each other.. Without a doubt, the big news is the purchase of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft, the largest in the history of video games with an outlay of 69 billion dollars.
The commitment of the company led by Satya Nadella cannot be understood without another of the elements that have been definitively consolidated in 2023: cloud gaming and the subscription model that the company has implemented with GamePass, a service through which You can play hundreds of console and computer titles in exchange for a monthly payment and it works on dozens of devices, from televisions to computers.
Increasingly, the world of video games is betting on ways that allow us to avoid the entry barrier that the expense of a high-performance computer or a console can mean for many people..
As has happened with the world of series and movies, more and more users are more comfortable with this subscription model, in which for a modest monthly payment, it allows them to enjoy a wide catalog on demand and does not have the bond that comes with amortizing the cost of a console.
However, it is not a bed of roses. In its 2023 annual report, the consulting firm Newzoo has set as one of next year's challenges for these types of models, baptized as gaming as a service, is to prove that they can be sustainable over time. Microsoft is allocating more than a thousand million dollars annually to secure third-party titles for the platform, an effort only sustainable if user growth is prolonged.
For their part, other companies such as Sony, Xbox's main rival, and several Chinese and PC-focused companies are accelerating their own plans, which may increase competition in the sector..
By location, Spain is in a prominent position when it comes to leading the adoption of these trends, since, according to the market analysis firm Savanta, it is the country with the highest percentage of users willing to try this service, with 44% of respondents open to trying cloud gaming.
RENT
However, this shift towards subscription does not only occur in video games themselves, but the phenomenon has also reached the world of consoles themselves..
Companies like Rentik have started to offer the possibility of, instead of buying a console, renting it for a flexible period of time. From 12.99 euros per month, the company offers the possibility of using a console for a period that can normally reach 24 months, but which, at Christmas, has been extended to 36, an offer that has exhausted the stock. which the company has in some Nintendo Switch and PS5 models.
This modality provides several benefits for video game players. On the one hand, it allows you to rotate between consoles, which makes it possible to play the exclusive titles of each of the platforms and, on the other, it allows you to renew the consoles naturally when one generation of hardware gives way to another.