Gaming

It's a microsoft product, so according to microsoft it absolutely is. It could be the most profitable product on the planet and they'd say it's still underperforming.

Really, if any game in your Steam library has a playtime of over 500 hours, you may be getting enough value from the games you buy that a catalog service actually becomes worse value by comparison.

I fit in this bucket, and so do a few of my friends. I've gotten so used to the Steam gamer lifestyle of waiting for games to go on sale, buying them on sale, and then slowly building up a massive catalog of games that I think I will enjoy gaming. It's very rare that a hot new game will entice me to play it without waiting for a sale, because I know what it feels like to be disappointed in a $70 purchase.

If there is a hot new game that I am interested in, Game Pass might be appealing because it allows me play a new game for cheaper. But I also don't play games very quickly, because I'm busy. A narrative single-player game usually takes me at least two months to get through. If I play that game via PC Game Pass, that's at least $24. Most of the time, I can get a game on sale for $24 or less within 2 years of that game's initial release.

I also think about how, if I go the Game Pass route, I will feel a pressure to play that game quickly, because I feel like the meter is running and I don't want to waste my money. This makes it harder to enjoy the game because I am forced to play it at times that I don't really feel like it. If I instead buy the game on sale, I can pick up and put the game down at my leisure, which just fits my life better. Sometimes waiting for the sale sucks, but I have my backlog to keep me warm.

I feel like, aside from the specificity of video games taking far more time and investment to finish than other media, no to mention the dedication to F2P titles, the news could've really pointed out that it most likely is not turning a profit because no other streaming service does.

Netflix has always operated with billions of debt that only grows, Amazon, Disney+ and Max only exist because they're backed by the biggest corporations in the world, and Spotify pays nickels to its artists.

Which might be another point to consider, that the convenience that users get from subscribing to these services do nothing to actually support the creators behind its titles - see every cancellation, whether its a tv show, movie or game - and while having an ever growing library of media is enticing, having few but objective choices still make far more sense when it comes to gaming.

As an aside I'm not particularly fond of the author brushing the change to digital streaming as inevitable, and going back to buying media being backwards, when we are on the verge of constant media erasure from companies, and with physical ownership - and piracy, in extreme cases - becoming more and more vital. If anything, it is less the technology that got us so far, and more the control that IP holders exercise over digital media, and the ability to delist, control prices and manipulate supply and demand at will.

I think the larger issue here is that you can’t compare music or TV shows to games, at least not in how people interact with them.

TV has always been a subscription model, the only difference with streaming is getting to choose when and what you watch. Games have always ether been pay per play or pay for a copy, with the notable exception of free to play or MMOs that require a subscription. Music is an odd case because it’s split between two models historically, radio and records/CDs.

I generally watch a show or movie once, maybe I’ll rewatch it if I really like it, similar for music. If i loose acces to it because a streaming service drops it, shame, but no big deal. But I’ll often go back and play a game for hundreds of hours, loosing acess to a game is a much bigger deal. People generally put a lot more time and effort in when they play a game, owning it makes more sense in that context. Personally, I don’t buy that many games over all, having access to thousands of titles doesn’t mean much if I’ll only ever play a handful. Something like Game pass is more expensive than the rate i buy new games at and loosing access to a game that i routinely play is a legitimate concern with a streaming model, ether because i stop paying the subscription or they decide to take a title off the service.