Much like other industries, subscription services are quickly becoming a key part of the gaming industry. While Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass was by no means the first, it’s the one that has been pushed the most by the platform holder and one that has highlighted the potential future hold it and other services like it will have in the future. However, not everyone is sold just yet on that future.
In an earnings call, Take-Two Interactive President Karl Slatoff spoke about the idea of subscription services. While he thinks they definitely have a place in the industry as a whole, he isn’t so sure that it will be the primary way of distribution for gaming. He points to the way in which consumers actually buy titles, the low entry point of video games, and says subscriptions are going to be more about delivering older catalog titles (thanks to VG24/7 for transcribing the call).
“We’re highly skeptical that subscriptions will be the only way or the primary way that interactive entertainment is distributed,” said Slatoff. “And that’s because of the way people consume it. And the price point for owning a title, which is very reasonable and very, very low, actually, on a per hour basis.
“So I think it’s unlikely that subscription sort of plants from my video game, failed as the primary business model. Subscriptions can play a role in delivering catalog. We’ve supported numerous subscriptions, subscription offerings with catalog titles, I imagine we’ll continue to do so. And in any case, at the end of the day, the consumer will decide and we will be where the consumer is.”
Take-Two Interactive’s CEO has also said similar things about cloud gaming, so it seems like they and Microsoft are on too different tracks about where the future of the industry is headed. Only time will tell who ends up being right in the end, and regardless of how it looks, the games industry is clearly changing rapidly.
