Video game subscriptions that grant paying customers access to an ever-increasing library of games to be downloaded and played on stationary devices or streamed via built-in cloud functionality have been around in some shape or form for more than a decade. In recent years, Microsoft's Game Pass and PlayStation Plus by Sony emerged as segment leaders. While this type of business model can be cost-efficient for players, companies often make a loss to promote their brand popularity. Now, Sony has decided to increase the annual prices for all its PlayStation Plus tiers effective September 6 by as much as 26 percent.
A similar price increase was announced for the Xbox Game Pass in June, with Game Pass Ultimate encompassing a subscription to selected PC and console titles as well as multiplayer functionality costing $16.99 instead of $14.99 per month. As our chart shows, price hikes are likely implemented due to many gamers' lack of interest in these subscription models.
According to our Statista Consumer Insights surveying gamers in 21 countries, including essential video game markets like China, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany, video game subscriptions are still a niche phenomenon. For example, only 10 percent of Chinese and U.S. gamers have a subscription to PlayStation Plus, similar to the share of Xbox Game Pass users in said countries. Players in so-called emerging markets like India and Brazil are more likely to use a subscription to a gaming service. Still, even in these countries, the highest share of subscription users amounts to only 14 percent for PlayStation Plus in India.
As company statements show, subscription services mainly serve as a promotion tool and an additional way to sell the corresponding consoles. PlayStation Plus, for example, has around 47 million subscribers, only 30 percent of which are paying for the higher-priced Premium and Extra tiers. 70 percent of Plus subscribers only pay for the base level granting access to console multiplayer. Microsoft is known for keeping mum about the specific subscriber numbers for its Game Pass services. The last publicly available figure is from the beginning of 2022, which claimed its subscription services had around 25 million members.
Market research company Circana estimates that out of the $57 billion spent on games, hardware and accessories in the United States in 2022, only around $400 million were connected to video game subscriptions.
