Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida, in an interview with Game Developer at Gamescom LATAM, has warned developers against relying too heavily on subscription services. According to Yoshida, game subscription services, like Xbox Game Pass, can be “really dangerous”, since these services could start dictating what kinds of games developers would be able to make.
Yoshida expanded on this idea by mentioning that big companies – who typically tend to be averse to funding games that are based on big, risky ideas – would try to steer developers under them to safer genres or gameplay styles to appease a player base that might end up existing primarily on subscription services.
“If the only way for people to play games is through subscriptions that’s really dangerous, because what [type] of games can be created will be dictated by the owner of the subscription services,” said Yoshida.
“That’s really, really risky because there always must always be fresh new ideas tried by small developers that create the next wave of development. But if the big companies dictate what games can be created, I don’t think that will advance the industry.”
Yoshida also believes that Sony’s approach to a subscription service, through some of the higher tiers available for PlayStation Plus, might be “healthier” for developers and the overall industry. While he does acknowledge that his time working for Sony might have biased him a bit in the company’s favour, Yoshida also says that, through PlayStation Plus, Sony avoids over-promising, while also encouraging players to buy games rather than to wait for the games to come to the service.
“I believe the way Sony approached [subscriptions] is healthier. You know, not to overpromise and to allow people to spend money to buy the new games,” Yoshida said. “After a couple of years there won’t be many people willing to buy those games at that initial price, so they’ll be added to the subscription service and there’ll be more people to try [those products] in time for the next game in the franchise to come out.”
When it comes to Sony’s competitors in the console market, Yoshida praises Microsoft for its efforts in bringing backwards compatibility on Xbox Series X/S. “They must have put a lot of engineering effort in to achieve what they have done,” he said. As for Nintendo, Yoshida praises the company’s strategy, as well as the technology behind the Switch and its Joy-Con controllers. “[That’s] so smart,” he said. “It’s in their DNA to cater to the needs of family and friends.”
While Yoshida might have a point about Game Pass, Microsoft has considered it to be quite successful. During an earnings call back in January, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke about the subscription service’s growth, revealing that its subscriber base had grown by more than 30 percent.
“All-up, Game Pass set a new quarterly record for revenue and grew its PC subscriber base by over 30%, as we focus on driving fully paid subscribers across endpoints,” said Nadella in the earnings call, who went on to praise the critical response for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
