What Does the Rise of Free Sites and Subscription Services Mean for the Gaming Industry?


The gaming industry has entered a highly exciting era in which it’s easier than ever for people to access their favorite offerings without having to pay much for them. Subscription services, free sites, and freemium games are all giving players ways to play at little to no cost.

This new model is shaking up the industry, and it begs the question as to how studios will market their games in the future. It could spell the end of series release models for major franchises, which may turn to other options such as regular updates.

Every Area of the Gaming Industry Now Has Free or Cheap Services

No matter what type of gaming you’re into, you’re likely to find that there are cheap or free ways to enjoy it. This is especially true in the mobile market, which has grown into a $90 billion industry according to Android Police. Indeed, this offshoot of the gaming industry generates more revenue than the PC and console market combined. On mobile, players have access to freemium games, along with subscription services like Apple Arcade.


Online casino games are also hugely popular among modern players, and the sweepstakes casinos listed at Casinotopsonline.com, for example, show how many options there are to enjoy these titles for free. These sites have their own in-house currency that players can use on the games. They can win more of it and level up through the rankings, but there is also the opportunity to win cash prizes. This provides an added incentive, and these offers can often be lucrative because so many sites are competing for players.

Studios May Have to Alter the Way They Release Games

Before the online casino and mobile industries started to blow up, gamers rarely had access to free games. Indeed, the best they could have hoped for in the days before the internet was short game demos released in magazines. Major console and PC studios may now need to rethink the way they release games, as they are catering to an audience that has been conditioned to expect freebies on almost every platform.

Services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Now mean that console players can pay subscription fees to get access to a vast range of games. This means that studios may need to alter their release models as they may no longer be able to sell as many units as before.

GamesIndustry.biz believes that subscriptions are the future, but there is still a lot of disagreement about how the picture could look. One theory is that this model could spell the end of annual releases in franchises, and developers may turn to update existing games instead.

The gaming industry is now entering unchartered territory, where there could soon be an end to gamers spending money on individual titles. Free sites and subscriptions are starting to rule the roost and could be the future of the industry.


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