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Video game subscription services

Bowsette Plus-Ultra

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The news about different "tiers" of the Playstation Plus subscription seems to have brought fresh attention to the idea of game subscription services, the sort where a prospective player pays a monthly fee in exchange for access to a catalogue of video games. The downside, of course, is that these games are tied to that subscription and that access to them is lost unless the user re-subscribes or purchases the titles individually.

I'm sure a fair number of Switch owners here are subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online and thus have access to the subscription library of classic titles there, but what do you guys think of services like Xbox Game Pass and Playstation Plus and Ubisoft Plus, and EA Play.
 

VikzeLink

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I think it's a "sneaky greed move" from the big game companies, as they profit more from you not owning any games, but rather keep paying them to be able to play (which becomes less and less worth it for you the less time you've got to play).

All of them are already trying to phase out physical copies, because that saves them a lot of money (printing less games and cutting out the middleman), so of course they also would like it if no one actually owned any games, but rather kept paying them for the access to play those games instead
 

Jimmu

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The subscription model works so well because there are so many people paying for it who don't even use it and it makes for a more predictable flow of cash each and every month. As a consumer it can be convenient but in many cases older people who are better able to pay for it also don't have as much time to make the most use of it and in some cases would be better off just buying individual titles they want. Also the move away from physical copies is concerning as if you never own something when the servers are eventually turned off in the future you may lose the ability to play some or many of the games you had been accessing through these services.
 
Jimmy brings up a great point about never truly owning games and losing them potentially forever when the subscription service ends. Although I dislike Nintendo closing the 3DS and Wii U eShops in the near future, I'll still have the games I downloaded on my system. That won't be true of the Nintendo Switch Online games once that service eventually becomes defunct. Also, a lot of companies are sneaky with automatic renewal. Only recently have the Big 3 changed their policy on this because they would have been sued by the European Union otherwise.
 

Bowsette Plus-Ultra

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Jimmy brings up a great point about never truly owning games and losing them potentially forever when the subscription service ends. Although I dislike Nintendo closing the 3DS and Wii U eShops in the near future, I'll still have the games I downloaded on my system. That won't be true of the Nintendo Switch Online games once that service eventually becomes defunct. Also, a lot of companies are sneaky with automatic renewal. Only recently have the Big 3 changed their policy on this because they would have been sued by the European Union otherwise.

I've grown to largely view stuff like Game Pass as a glorified demo service. I don't really play games through it under the assumption that I'll finish them. It's become a try before I buy sort of thing.
 

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