PlayStation boss Jim Ran believes that game subscription services will never become as dominant as Spotify in the music industry and Netflix in the movie industry. The XGP subscription service launched by the PlayStation competitor now has more than 25 million members and its influence is growing, but Sony’s Jim Ryan told foreign media GI.biz that he does not believe that subscription services in the gaming industry will eventually become like movies and The music industry dominates like that.
He said: Subscription services have clearly grown over the past few years. Our PS Plus subscription membership has grown from zero in 2010 to 48 million now. We expect our subscription numbers to grow further.
But the gaming medium is so different from music and linear entertainment that I don’t think we’ll see subscription services on the same level as Spotify and Netflix.
Instead, Ryan believes players will continue to embrace instant-service games like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone. Under Ryan’s leadership, SIE has begun investing in online games, such as its $3.6 billion acquisition of Destiny developer Bungie.
He said: There have been some instant service games these days that have proven to be very successful, and I’m not just talking about consoles here, these instant service games are subscription services themselves.
They are very carefully crafted to meet the needs of the players, the players They’re going to put in a lot of time on whatever game they like. The phenomenon of instant service gaming has, in large part, driven the tremendous growth we’ve seen in the gaming industry over the past 10 years.
I think this trend will continue, and if you’re looking for a model in our entertainment category that supports enduring user addiction, then there’s no question that instant service games are a better fit than subscription services.