As everywhere, the consumer world of the video game industry is evolving with the possibility of choosing its games à la carte thanks to subscription services. Whether it’s the Xbox Game pass, the PlayStation Plus, which has recently revealed its new formulas, and other cloud games, these catalogs provide access to games that we might not have instinctively thought of. A reflection then emerges: is this mode of consumption saving or destroying for the studios?
Cloud gaming is booming. It is therefore important to know how to distinguish yourself from the competition. Microsoft has understood this well by relying on its experience in the creation of video games and a large community. To offer cloud gaming, you must therefore look beyond the simple potential of offering exclusivities on their platforms.
Microsoft relies heavily on its Game Pass service on Xbox, which provides players with a huge library of more than 400 games for a monthly subscription of less than 10 euros. Phil Spencer, the Xbox boss said that this subscription does not replace “traditional” video game sales. Players still have the choice between subscriptions and transactions.
So let’s take the example of Scarlet Nexus for whom, the Game Pass has really been a significant boost. The action-RPG inspired by Japanese anime, published by Bandai Namco and released in June 2021 has reached two million players in less than a year. One million digital copies have been sold across all platforms to which we can add another million game pass subscribers who have been able to test the game.
Proof of the success of Microsoft’s subscription service which allows players to discover and test nuggets like The Gunk for example. All the same, we can still question the fact that Bandai Namco is pleased to do as much in “purchase” as in “free downloaded game”.
Even if having your game in such a service as Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus or others can be a real bonus for studios and their productions which can have more visibility and income (DLC, micro-transactions), sometimes it does not happen. not going as planned…
This is the case of the Oddworld Inhabitants studio at the origin of the title Oddworld : Soulstorm released on April 6, 2021 on PS4 and PS5, but also in the PlayStation Plus catalog for PS5 players. As part of the Xbox Expansion Pass podcast, Lorne Lanningthe studio creator revealed that the simultaneous release of the PlayStation Plus catalog had a real negative impact on sales of their latest title.
If the title has integrated Sony’s catalog, it is because the studio needed financial assistance to ensure the proper development of the game. The Japanese firm therefore offered a fairly honest agreement for the studio to accept. The studio aimed to sell 50,000 and 100,000 units of the title, rather modest when you consider the numbers that other PlayStation exclusives can reach.
However, due to the pandemic, Oddworld Soulstorm has been postponed from January to April. In the meantime, many players have been able to get their hands on the PS5 and therefore have been able to access the title via PlayStation Plus even before its physical release. More than 4 million downloads, “devastating” for the team according to Lorne Lanning who missed the opportunity to make sales.
It therefore seems logical with this sad example that Sony does not want to make large exclusives such as Horizon available on the day of their release in the catalog.
One thing is certain, marketing continues to evolve, as evidenced by Microsoft’s desire to integrate advertisements into free games.
