What you need to know
- EA, Ubisoft, and other companies offer their own subscription services.
- Square Enix also wants to offer one down the line.
- However, there are significant hurdles in terms of investment and technology at the moment.
At E3 2019, Ubisoft unveiled "Uplay+," a subscription service for PC and Google Stadia, that gives you access to many of the company's games for $15 a month. Over the past year, EA and other companies have also announced plans for their own streaming and subscription services, and it looks like Square Enix will be the latest company to enter the ring.
In an interview between Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda and GamesIndustry, the Square Enix head said that the company eventually wanted to offer its own subscription service.
We are exploring at present both possibilities. And we do already provide games for Microsoft's game pass. But at the end of the day, the direction that we're thinking about is having a channel of our own... But at the same time that would require significant preparations and investment. We'd also have to consider whether or not it will work well solely including our own catalog titles. At present, as I say, we are offering our games on multiple subscription services, including Microsoft's. But eventually, I do think that we need to get to the point where we have enough insight that we can build our own service.
It's unclear what the timeline is, but hopefully Square Enix's Xbox Game Pass support won't end. If everyone offers a subscription service, none of them will be able to survive because of the fragmentation and split revenue. At some point the abundance may be shunned by the market.
How many subscription services do you have at the moment? Would you subscribe to one from every major publisher? Or do you want games to be part of Xbox Game Pass? Let us know.
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