Gaming subscription services represent 4% of the market in North America and Europe

Ampere Analysis revealed a study indicating that game subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online generate $3.7 billion a year compared to almost 81,000 million dollars generated outside this industry. This implies that these services generate 4% of profits of the industry in both North America and Europe.

As expected, who has most influenced this percentage is el servicio Xbox Game Pass Microsoft, which already has 25 million subscribers, thus controlling over 60% of the subscription market. That is why it has forced PlayStation to follow the path, going from indicating that such an offer was unsustainableto offer two types of subscription, although in both it leaves out the new First Party releases, one of the main differences with the Xbox Game Pass service with the “launch on day 1”.

According to industry researcher Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis, it is indicated that subscription services are not yet a risk for the traditional gaming industry. Basically, quite the opposite of what has happened with the film and music industry, where streaming already outperforms any other type of offer (going to the movies, buying movies/CDs, etc).

Gaming subscription services account for just 4% of revenue in the North American and European gaming markets, Harding-Rolls estimates.

They are 3,700 million dollars, compared to almost 81,000 million generated by other expenses in gaming, such as the sale of discs, downloads and game add-ons (DLCs & expansions).

A strong contrast: Streaming services accounted for 83% of US music industry revenue in 2021, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Movie industrywhich is also leaning digital after the pandemic hit the movie theater business, estimates that there are about 1.3 billion subscriptions to streaming video services worldwide, according to the latest report from the Motion Picture Association. .

El disruptivo Xbox Game Pass de Microsoft, launched in 2017, has 25 million subscribers who pay up to $15 a month. It has about 60% of the subscription market, according to Harding-Rolls. Game Pass is an excellent offer for gamers conditioned to pay $60 per title. Subscribers get first-run games from Microsoft and dozens of new or recent third-party games. But, seen another way, it doesn’t have much. It offers just over 500 rotating games, compared to Netflix’s offering of over 3,000 movies for US subscribers.