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Earlier this year, Ubisoft told us that one in ten people who subscribe to its Ubisoft+ service are entirely new to Ubisoft's games.

The data suggests some gamers are partially treating the service to trial or even rent a game they might be interested in, before unsubscribing. In October, Ubisoft saw a record number of subscribers who signed up, presumably, for Assassin's Creed Mirage.

The firm didn't share exact figures, and they're unlikely to be significant, but there's some evidence that subscription has unlocked some new customers for Ubisoft, if not necessarily the games industry at large.

It prompted us to get in touch with Newzoo to see if we can understand a bit more about who is subscribing to these services, and why.

According to the data firm's Global Gamer Study, the majority of subscribers are in Western markets (North America, Europe, and Australasia). They're mostly men (62%) and aged between 21 and 35 (42%).

And unsurprisingly, they're gamers. 52% of subscribers consider video games their favourite hobby, with 34% spending more than six hours per week on console games, and 32% spending the same the same amount of time on PC games.

Overall, subscription users were already average spenders of PC and console games (spending roughly $5 to $25 a month on games).

Interestingly, subscription users tend to have a higher income level (43%) compared with non-subscribers (34%). The definition of 'higher income' varies by country, but in the US that's anyone over $100,000 a year.

It suggests that, although value and saving money is clearly a big motivation for subscribers, it isn't the biggest reason why most gamers subscribe to the likes of Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, Nintendo Switch Online and others.

In fact, Newzoo suggests that "the potential cost savings may not be sufficient to justify the subscription for those with lower income values."

Its data says that "discounts or cost savings compared to buying games separately" is no more motivating to low-income gamers (31% cite this as a reason for subscribing) than it is for those on a high-income (also 31%). Low-income gamers are those earning less than $50,000 a year (and again, varies by country).

However, cost-savings/discounts is the joint No.1 motivation for low-income gamers, alongside "enjoying multiplayer features and online gaming." Indeed, that latter reason is the No.2 reason for subscribing for both middle- and higher-income players. (Middle-income gamers are those earning between $50,000 and $100,000).

The No.1 reason for mid- or high-income players when it comes to subscribing to a service is the "convenience of trying out new games instead of buying them individually." 35% of mid-income players and 38% of high-income players cite convenience as a motivator, vs 30% for low-income players.

Most popular reason for subscribing by income level​

Motivation for subscribing	Low Income %	Low Rank	Mid Income %	Mid Rank	High Income %	High Rank
Convenience of trying out new games without purchasing them individually	30%	2%	35%	1	38%	1
Enjoying multiplayer features and online gaming	31%	1*	33%	2	37%	2

Note: Rank is out of 10 reasons in total.

*Tied with “discounts or cost savings” for #1 rank.

Who is subscribing to Game Pass, PS Plus and Nintendo Switch Online, and why?

Earlier this year, Ubisoft told us that one in ten people who subscribe to its Ubisoft+ service are entirely new to Ubi…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[semiconscious]

Earlier this year, Ubisoft told us that one in ten people who subscribe to its Ubisoft+ service are entirely new to Ubisoft's games...

surprised it's not higher. who stands to gain the most from these services? why, someone who hasn't already played a large number of the games on the service, of course. it's what i did with game pass this gen...

 

[Little Chicken]

So Game Pass subscribers are rich and sexy, got it

 

[GHG]

surprised it's not higher. who stands to gain the most from these services? why, someone who hasn't already played a large number of the games on the service, of course. it's what i did with game pass this gen...

Gaming is not a passive activity and it's generally time consuming. Add up the amount of hours it would require to get through most of those games and there's your answer.

Most people who watch a ton of content on Netflix or listen to a lot of music on Spotify do so passively - they have those services on in the background while doing something productive (or whilst in transit). That's simply not possible with gaming and generally most people only play one game at a time.

 

[semiconscious]

Gaming is not a passive activity and it's generally time consuming. Add up the amount of hours it would require to get through most of those games and there's your answer.

Most people who watch a ton of content on Netflix or listen to a lot of music on Spotify do so passively - they have those services on in the background while doing something productive (or whilst in transit). That's simply not possible with gaming and generally most people only play one game at a time.

well, i'm speaking mainly about the triple-a titles, & afa the number of hours involved, if you've been gaming for a while, it's basically just a matter of having played them, one by one, as they were released. personally, in the case of ubisoft, for example, i've either played or passed on most of not all of the triple-a titles they make available. of course, ymmv. but my point was that, for someone new to the catalog? it's absolutely a great deal, more so than for the rest of us...

 

[GHG]

well, i'm speaking mainly about the triple-a titles, & afa the number of hours involved, if you've been gaming for a while, it's basically just a matter of having played them, one by one, as they were released. personally, in the case of ubisoft, for example, i've either played or passed on most of not all of the triple-a titles they make available. of course, ymmv. but my point was that, for someone new to the catalog? it's absolutely a great deal, more so than for the rest of us...

But that's the point, for someone new to the catalogue:

• Most of the games are older and can be had for cheap
• The games are very long/time intensive, which means it can take someone who only has an hour or two per day to play months to get through a single game
• Most people will only play one of those types of games at a time

As an example valhalla can now be had for less than a month of subscription to their service:

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[Quasicat]

I have the NSO family plan so my family and friends can play online (mostly Animal Crossing). I also have Game Pass, but I mainly use it for the cloud service and the occasional game. I’m really excited for this summer where I can play the games I purchased through the cloud.

 

[rm082e]

As an example valhalla can now be had for less than a month of subscription to their service:

I'm currently playing Valhalla. I'm 75 hours in over the course of the last couple of months, and probably have another 15 to go before I finish all the story missions and side quests (not counting the DLCs since I didn't buy them). If I had gotten it through a subscription I would have been wasting money since I don't have enough time to finish games quickly.

 

[Hero of Spielberg]

Yeah, I pretty much subscribe to try out new games. For Nintendo I had forgotten I’d even subscribed

 

[StereoVsn]

NSO is the only one I have. Kids play online Mario Kart, Animal Crossing and some other. Plus they can try out legacy games from SNES, N64, etc… (I also have PC for emulation connected but they just use the Switch versions).

 

[Lupin25]

Can’t consume games like TV/Movies.

Subscriptions in gaming were never going to take off, outside of attaching them to online services, that’s the only requisite benefit.

 

[Crayon]

Yeah it doesn't really add up. If it could somehow stop kids from asking for every game that would be cool. But nothing will ever stop that.

 

[Generic]

I'm currently playing Valhalla. I'm 75 hours in over the course of the last couple of months, and probably have another 15 to go before I finish all the story missions and side quests (not counting the DLCs since I didn't buy them). If I had gotten it through a subscription I would have been wasting money since I don't have enough time to finish games quickly.

I don't play 75+ hours long games in subscription services.

 

[Mr Moose]

I don't play 75+ hours long games in subscription services.

That reminds me, I need to play more of Starfield before sub ends.

 

[Sleepwalker]

Yeah it doesn't really add up. If it could somehow stop kids from asking for every game that would be cool. But nothing will ever stop that.

Parents can stop it by saying no though.

It's better as a kid to be limited to a handful of games tops I think. Make the new game a big occassion.

 

[Beechos]

I sub to both gamepass ult and ps plus prem.
Gamepass really doesnt need an explanation at this point.
I got ps prem on cheap 3 year upgrade but I prob wont renew that after it ends. Don't game enough to pay for 2 subs like that. I do actually prefer ps prem third party offerings more as they have alot of jap games.

 

[EverydayBeast]

For defense of free online gaming, pc is becoming that symbol before PSN was free.

 

[hybrid_birth]

I subscribe to gamepass for the Sarah bond nudes.

 

[Crayon]

Parents can stop it by saying no though.

It's better as a kid to be limited to a handful of games tops I think. Make the new game a big occassion.

I have caught myself telling kids "back in my day..."

"Back in my game we got two games a year. One for christmas and one for your birthday".

 

[Sleepwalker]

I have caught myself telling kids "back in my day..."

"Back in my game we got two games a year. One for christmas and one for your birthday".

I actually grew up a little spoiled and pretty much got games whenever I asked, but I ended up not caring for them at some point.

Anyhow, I'm not a parent so parenting is not something I give much thought to.

 

[Crayon]

I actually grew up a little spoiled and pretty much got games whenever I asked, but I ended up not caring for them at some point.

Anyhow, I'm not a parent so parenting is not something I give much thought to.

I'm not a parent either. I'm actually not sure if telling kids no is still legal in this state.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Gamepass has brought in some ridiculous savings for me recently. Long time since I played back to back 5-6 games on it. All kinda newish.

YMMV.

 

[majorgamer10]

I buy all the subscriptions for status. What else is money for?

 

[rm082e]

Parents can stop it by saying no though.

It's better as a kid to be limited to a handful of games tops I think. Make the new game a big occassion.

I have over 200 games on PSN and almost 400 on Steam. I share my accounts with my son. He's got his own PS5 and PC. It's not often that I hear it, but occasionally he'll say something to the effect of "there's nothing to play".

I have thus far resisted the "Back in my day" speech, but I feel like that Clint Eastwood meme inside.

 

[diffusionx]

I have NSO and PS+ Essential, and the way I see it, for like $100 a year, I don't have to think about playing online or if I want to play a game for "free", like Paper Mario 64 right now. It's just not that much money. I have too many subscriptions like so many people but I do try to keep them in check and cancel when I'm not using them though.

The higher tiers of PS+ are pure trash though.

 

[NickFire]

I'm more inclined to believe this is stealth marketing than a study based on good data. Just no way in hell anyone will convince me that the online paywalls aren't the primary reason people sub to any of these services. I guarantee the number of subs on both services would plummet if they stopped charging to play online.