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Game Devs Aren't Sure if Subscription Services Devalue Individual Games, According to
Game developers aren’t sure about whether or not subscription-based gaming services like Google Stadia, Ubisoft’s UPLAY+ or Apple Arcade will lead to individual games being devalued, according to GDC's State of the Industry survey. The annual questionnaire was just conducted earlier this week, revealing that developers are divided on how these services will impact the gaming market going forward.
Now in its eighth year, the State of the Industry survey asked game makers several questions regarding the gaming industry ahead of the 34th annual Game Developers Conference in March. Topics for this year included excitement for the upcoming PS5 and Series X consoles, the state of cross-platform multiplayer, interest in developing VR titles, and the controversy regarding Steam’s 30% standard cut in sales profits.
As reported by Gamasutra, 28% of the developers taking the State of the Industry Survey responded to the question of whether or not subscription services will devalue individual games with “Maybe,” while 27% said “Yes” and 26% answered “No.” 18% were undecided, leaving opinions on game subscription services at a near-even split across the board.
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“A fixed price for a huge list of free games to play might be a good way to give the video game art form some freedom back, so we can make good experiences that don't need to last more than it asks for just to make more money, engage, retain, monetize, and so on,” one developer wrote in favor of the services, as a response to the free-to-play mobile gaming market that they feel could lead to an over-saturation of “clickbaity small experiences.” Another was less optimistic, comparing these new services to music-streaming sites like Spotify and expressing concern for developers getting due payment for their work. “Music artists do not make enough from Spotify, et al, to finance the production of future music... even the top tier artists. Why would games be different?”
While subscription services like Stadia and Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass can be convenient and cost-saving for consumers, these developers have good reason to be cautious. Gamers who play games on the services aren’t paying a full price on the titles as they would for an individual sale, which leads to the developers behind said titles getting less in profit. Some storefronts, like Epic Games, reportedly have offered game developers money to offset these costs in the past. However, this practice could prove problematic in an industry where sales reports can mean life or death to smaller game creators, a fact which has been demonstrated all too often in the form of studio closings and layoffs over the years. Of course, this is all just speculation at this point, but the GDC State of the Industry survey’s findings are something to be considered by publishers and developers going forward.
