US Spending On Video Game Subscriptions “Flat” Since 2021, Analyst Warns Premium Services Are “Not The Future Of Gaming”
In delivering a crushing blow to the greedy dreams of the industry’s higher-ups, new research has uncovered that American spending on various video game subscription services has completely stagnated, with the amount of players actually willing to pay for them having gone “flat” over the last four years.
This fascinating financial tidbit was first shared to the public on April 27th, courtesy of Mat Piscatella, the Executive Director of Video Games at noted market research firm Circana.
Following the news that PlayStation Plus will be removing 22 games from their free library in June, the eight-year industry revealed that the frustration felt by many towards Sony’s wanton handling of their subscription service was not the outlier sentiment among players of all stripes, but rather the norm.
“US spending on video game subscriptions had been basically flat for years following 2020-21 growth, only boosted by 12% in Q4 thanks to CoD going to Game Pass,” Piscatella revealed via his personal BlueSky account. “Subscriptions are certainly not THE future of gaming (although they can continue to be part of it).”
In response to Piscatella’s reveal, numerous fans began pouring out to share their thoughts on the information.
One such user pushed back against the news, declaring “As a consumer I’m more than happy to pay a subscription rather than £70-£80 a game,” to which the analyst noted that the reader was in a very specific subset of costumers for whom money was not really a concern when it came to video games.
“If you have any idea or care in the slightest what a schmuck like me has to say you are absolutely in the super enthusiast price insensitive gamer segment so sure, I absolutely believe you,” said Piscatella.
Pressed by another as to whether Microsoft’s Game Pass “is successful enough for Xbox to continue making consoles?”, their question prompted by the company’s recent stumbles regarding the brand, Piscatella opined, “I don’t think that the latter relies on the former.”
More directly asked whether this meant “subscription services are basically hitting a saturation point”, and if so whether “wonder if “that saturation point is earlier than the respective platforms thought”, Piscatella confirmed, “That’s what the US data is suggesting, at least so far.”
“Can’t say it’s the same in other territories,” he addedd. “And sure, probably on the 2nd point. I mean, we are seeing manufacturers shift focus a bit away from pushing subs.”
Expanding on Piscatella’s info, Tweak Town Senior Gaming Editor Derek Strickland compiled data on how many subscribers each of the Big Three’s proprietary services – Nintendo Online, PlayStation Plus, and Xbox Game Pass, respectively – had between 2018-2022, the latter year being the last time either of them publicly reported such figures.
According to his resulting graph, this five-year period saw Nintendo’s subscriber base jump by 33 million users (with a particular explosion happening in 2020, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic), PlayStation’s by 12.5 million, and Xbox by 19 million.
However, as of 2022, all three have seen their numbers remain roughly unchanged, with Xbox being the sole exception with an additional 4 million subscribers between Q2 and Q3.
Back in December 2023, Xbox Chief Financial Officer Tim Stuart had high praise for both Game Pass and the overall subscription model subscription model Game Pass, explaining to attendees of a Wells Fargo’s annual leadership summit, “As you think about content and services as our north star, it really smooths things out.”
“You’re still going to have a holiday bump, you’re still going to have consoles that we sell, and customers that spend in those time periods, but even things like Game Pass…we announced 25 million Game Pass subscribers, obviously it’s grown since then,” he said. “Game Pass is millions and millions of subscribers month in and month out, which for me I love because it’s a sort of paid annuity as opposed to you betting on those big game launches every quarter or every year. Game Pass helps us smooth it out as well.”
However, to Piscatella’s information, recent years have seen Game Pass face a fair share of criticism, with common frustrations ranging from the overall ‘lack of ownership’ inherent in digital purchases to the unclear and spotty way the platform measures a given title’s success (as seen with the saga of Hi-Fi Rush).
With so much uncertainty surrounding the day-to-day futures of these services, it’s little wonder that more players aren’t rushing to adopt them.
NEXT: Rockstar Games Officially Delays ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’, Next Series Entry Now Slated For May 2026
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