Report Overview

Subscription game services: moving beyond core gamers

Subscription game services will finally allow platform owners and developers to deliver truly accessible gaming experiences for all, across devices, at a lower entry price point, and curated to ensure consumer safety—both in terms of cost transparency and content types

Consumer comfort with subscriptions should be embraced by the games industry and has already started in mobile. Apple’s Arcade subscription is the test case, providing focused all you can eat games that minimise exposure to violent gameplay, and the ‘free to play’ wild west

Core gamers remain the most vital and profitable games customer segment, but they have been overserved and are an obstacle to broadening the reach of games. Now is the time to move beyond this group, to restructure, expand, and normalise the games market in the next decade

Contents

The so-called ‘core gamer’—why they matter and why they shouldn’t

Game subscriptions and digital distribution—streaming not required

Converting console gamers to subscription, when they’re mostly subscribers anyway

• Subscriptions—making game production less risky and more innovative

The lessons (so far) from Apple Arcade

2020 the year for subscription?

List of charts/tables

Figure 1: Price for selected games by retail channel (£)

Figure 2: Take-up of subscription services (millions)