Is Subscription Based Entertainment the Future?

For the most part, many of us have become used to the change that has been happening over the past decade or so as many of the biggest forms of entertainment online have made a shift across to a subscription based model rather than a onetime payment model – whether this be from video platforms like Netflix or Prime, through to music on Spotify and Apple, but with the box office news that came at the end of 2020 and the current approaches seen by some developers in gaming too, could subscription based entertainment be the future as a blanket, or will it only remain in some niche space?

The box office certainly looks to be following – Disney have been doing it for some time now with their platform of Disney+ and the exclusivity of their newest movies, and the Warner Bros partnership with HBO Max to bring box office titles directly to streaming thus far has certainly been successful too – although cinemas and theatres are on the verge of reopening their doors once again, it may not be long before other studios jump onto the streaming bandwagon and rather than paying your entry ticket for the silver screen, your subscription service may instead cover the newest releases.

Gaming studios have also tried to make the shift – Whilst subscriptions in gaming haven’t become a mainstream thing, they have been around for a long time with titles like World of Warcraft long requiring monthly payments – and whilst lots of mobile titles don’t require upfront or recurring payment, some of the biggest genres and titles with alternative payment methods like non gamstop casino bitcoin services do require top-ups – the latest push however has been from the big studios own Game Pass or similar, a monthly subscription service that gives players the chance to access the newest games for a limited period of time at a low cost. It’s certainly gaining traction, and whilst likely never will replace permanent sales, could change the way subscription models in the gaming industry are handled.

Music is already firmly in the subscription realm – As the most successful of all the genres to make the change already, music already has the future firmly rooted in subscription as it’s unlikely to ever see change particularly with the huge successes of the likes of Spotify – and now with the introduction and growth of podcasting and other features on these services, there’s likely no possibility that change can be seen here.

For some, the change is certainly welcomed, a small cost to get mostly unlimited access is a price that is willing to be paid particularly to avoid mounting larger costs over time with singular purchases, the other hand are those that are becoming fed-up with accumulated streaming service costs, as being signed up to multiple could start to equal hundreds of dollars per month – whatever side of the fence you’re on, subscription based approaches certainly seem to be the set in stone future, at least for now.