Video Game Subscription Market Growth Slows: Challenges In Attracting New Subscribers
Video Game Subscription Market Growth Slows: Challenges In Attracting New Subscribers
Recent data from Circana's Games Market Dynamics report indicates a significant slowdown in the growth of video game subscription spending.
The report reveals that, in April 2023, subscription spending in the United States was only 2% higher compared to the same period in 2022.
最近的数据来自 Circana的游戏市场动态报告显示，电子游戏订阅支出的增长显著放缓。
该报告显示，2023年4月，美国的订阅支出仅比2022年同期增长了2％。
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This stagnation in growth has raised concerns about the industry's ability to attract new subscribers beyond the existing console ownership base.
"Finding new subscribers beyond the console ownership base has proven very difficult thus far," Mat Piscatella, Executive Director at Circana, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
However, he added that the major new premium releases in 2023 have performed "exceptionally well" in traditional sales channels. "On the other hand, the big new premium releases in 2023 have done exceptionally well in good ol' fashioned sales, particularly in digital (although Nintendo Company, Ltd. (OTC: NTDOY) 'The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom' has sold HEAPS physically as well)," he tweeted.
The struggle to attract new subscribers is evident in the video game subscription market, especially for Sony Interactive Entertainment's (NYSE:SONY) PlayStation Plus and Microsoft Corporation's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Game Pass.
Sony recently shared that its Premium tier has 8 million subscribers (17% of the total user base) and PS+ Extra has 6.1 million subscribers (13% of users). However, the number of PS Plus subscribers has remained unchanged at 47.4 million since the previous quarter. This indicates a lack of significant growth, with the numbers staying relatively the same since June 2020.
这种增长停滞引发了人们对该行业在现有游戏机所有权基础之外吸引新订户的能力的担忧。
“事实证明，到目前为止，在主机所有权基础之外寻找新订阅者非常困难，” Mat PiscatellaCircana执行董事周三在推特上写道。
但是，他补充说，2023年发布的主要新高端产品在传统销售渠道中表现 “异常出色”。“另一方面，2023年发布的大型新高端产品在老式销量方面表现异常出色，尤其是在数字领域（尽管 任天堂有限公司 （场外交易代码：NTDOY）《塞尔达传说：王国之泪》也以实物形式出售了HEAPS），” 他在推特上说。
在电子游戏订阅市场中，吸引新订阅者的努力显而易见，尤其是 索尼互动娱乐的（纽约证券交易所代码：索尼）PlayStation Plus 和 微软公司的 （纳斯达克股票代码：MSFT）Game Pass。
索尼最近分享说，其高级版拥有800万订阅者（占总用户群的17％），而PS+ Extra拥有610万订阅者（占用户的13％）。但是，自上一季度以来，PS Plus的订阅人数一直保持不变，为4,740万。这表明缺乏显著增长，自2020年6月以来，这一数字相对保持不变。
Meanwhile, Microsoft's Game Pass reached a milestone of 25 million subscribers in January 2022. However, the company has not provided any updated figures since then, leaving the current state of the service uncertain.
同时，微软的游戏通行证在2022年1月达到了2500万订阅者的里程碑。但是，自那时以来，该公司一直没有提供任何最新数据，这使得服务的现状尚不确定。
According to Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, the company doesn't expect Game Pass to become its main source of income and is fine if the service "will stay in that 10-15% of our overall revenue, and it's profitable for us."
根据 菲尔·斯宾塞，微软Xbox部门的负责人，该公司预计Game Pass不会成为其主要收入来源，如果该服务 “保持在我们总收入的10-15％之内，并且为我们带来利润”，那就没问题了。
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Photo: Shutterstock
照片：Shutterstock