Former PlayStation executive Jim Ryan was often lambasted for his views on PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass models, but data suggests that Sony may have been right all along. The company has maintained its position that the Game Pass model — which sees Microsoft launching first-party games on the service day-one — doesn’t make financial sense.
Spending on subscriptions like PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass have been stalled
According to Circana’s Mat Piscatella, video game subscription spending has been stagnant in the U.S. for the past year. Subscription spending in March 2024 was only up by 1% year-on-year, and has been stalled since April 2023 at least.
Although Circana’s data only covers the U.S., the country is the biggest consumer of video game subscriptions, so things probably aren’t peachy in other countries either.
Microsoft’s own internal documents revealed that launching AAA games on Game Pass is ridiculously expensive — something Sony’s own internal data also backed up when it showed that adding first-party games to PS Plus negatively impacted their sales.
While some small developers originally lauded the idea of putting games on subscriptions, an increasing number of indie devs are now saying that the well of money has since dried up, with subscription owners “undervaluing” their games.
