Few come as wise and as wisdomous as Shuehei Yoshida. The former Sony employee has weighed in on how subscription-based services are changing the gaming landscape. He’s talked about how detrimental they could be to the future of gaming if they’re not managed carefully.
It’s no secret that Xbox Game Pass has become one of Microsoft’s biggest money-making areas. The service allows players to pay a monthly fee and receive a large selection of games in exchange—including day-one Xbox exclusives. The approach is well-liked, but Shuehei Yoshida has given justification as to why it’s not all rainbows and roses.
PlayStation Plus Subscription Model is “Healthier” Than Xbox Game Pass, Says Yoshida
In an interview with Game Developer, Yoshida discussed how developers who are cozy with these services have an advantage, and how “It will become harder for third-party studios and indies to cross that divide.”
He explained: “If the only way for people to play games is through subscriptions, that’s really dangerous, because what [type] of games can be created will be dictated by the owner of the subscription services. That’s really, really risky because there always must always be fresh new ideas tried by small developers that create the next wave of development. But if the big companies dictate what games can be created, I don’t think that will advance the industry.“
Yoshida acknowledges there’s an inherent bias when discussing Game Pass and PlayStation Plus (because of his long-time PlayStation association). But he believes PlayStation Plus is “healthier” because Sony isn’t giving away first-party games for free immediately.
The former president says subscription models need “to allow people to spend money to buy the new games”. He adds: “After a couple of years there won’t be many people willing to buy those games at that initial price, so they’ll be added to the subscription service and there’ll be more people to try [those products] in time for the next game in the franchise to come out.”
Is Shuhei Yoshida right? Are subscription models putting a stranglehold on game development? Has PlayStation Plus done it better compared to Xbox Game Pass? Head to the Insider Gaming forum and share your thoughts on this.
If you want more news, check out Hideo Kojima teasing lots of cameos for Death Stranding 2, and take a sneaky look at the Switch 2 start-up screen ahead of its launch.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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