Subscriptions News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

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Electronic Arts is raising the price of its EA Play subscription service.

Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke has said the company won’t be putting any of its games on subscription services.

Ubisoft's director of subscriptions Philippe Tremblay has said that for all the growth of videogame subscription services in the past few years, players are still accustomed to "having and owning their games". Accordingly, he feels his task is to help you grow "comfortable" with the idea that the game you're playing might be taken offline as part of the release schedule, with Tremblay pointing out that you can still resume your save file when the game is next available.

Ubisoft sees “tremendous opportunity for growth” in subscription services, if consumers can get used to not owning games like they have with music, movies and TV content.

As revealed by the recent Insomniac leaks, one thing Sony is quite concerned about going forward is the viability and competitiveness of their PlayStation Plus service, which they believe could be one of the things most affected by Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. So, how does Sony plan to fortify PS Plus against Microsoft and the growing threat from Game Pass? Thus far, Sony has resisted the Game Pass approach of putting first-party titles on PS Plus on Day 1, and it seems that’s not going to change. That said, according to new documents unearthed from the Insomniac leak, they do have some other plans.

The ESA has commissioned a new survey for what younger gamers want, and the results are once again, very surprising.

Video game related gifts top kids’ Christmas wishlists, with gaming subscriptions the most sought-after products.

A report by the Entertainment Software Association has found that 72% of children in the US want games-related products for Christmas, but only 22% have asked for physical games.

GameMaker, a series of cross-platform engines for game developers, has ditched its subscription model for non-commercial purposes, hobbyists and indie developers.

It’s not every day that you see a big discount on movie and TV streaming services, many of which have gone up in price over the past couple years. Hulu, Max, and Paramount Plus are each running Black Friday deals right now to entice new and returning subscribers to join. We’ve outlined details on all the discounts being offered below.

YoYo Games' popular 2D engine, GameMaker, is now free for non-commercial on all non-console platforms.

Black Friday season is once again upon us, folks, but before you sigh with a deep-seated sense of dread, there's good news afoot. From now until November 30th, we've shaved 20% off the price of our annual RPS supporter memberships, which means you can pick up 12 months of ad-free browsing (and exclusive articles and game keys if you pick our Premium tier) on the cheap. All you need to do is head on over to our sign-up page and pick the subscription that suits you best.

Roblox, the popular online gaming platform, has unveiled a feature that allows developers to introduce subscription-based services within their experiences. The announcement, made through an official forum post, marks a significant step in the company's ongoing efforts to empower developers and enhance their revenue streams.

Crunchyroll, the popular Sony-owned anime streaming service, is doing a Netflix and offering mobile games as part of its subscriptions starting today, 7th November.

For years, Microsoft employees have enjoyed a perk that gives them free subscriptions to Game Pass Ultimate, and that benefit was on track to be discontinued until Xbox boss Phil Spencer stepped in and saved the day.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer wasn't aware of the changes and is now looking into it.

Following the massive pandemic-induced boom experienced in 2020 and 2021 (+26.3% and +9.8%, respectively), when consumers turned to gaming en masse while forced at home, the games industry inevitably declined by around 5% last year when everyone was once again free to pursue other hobbies. This year, global revenue numbers will return to growth, but developers and publishers should get used to a reduced annual growth rate.

Meta Platforms Inc. will offer users in Europe ad-free access to Facebook and Instagram for a subscription fee. 

Apple is once again raising the prices of its subscription services, including Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and more. For now, this hike has only gone into effect in the US and select international regions like the UK, where new subscribers will be immediately treated to the new prices. The company didn't disclose a reason for the price hike, but seeing as it's set to reveal its fourth-quarter earnings later this week, we can assume Apple plans to bump up revenue numbers in the future. 9to5Mac was the first to report on these price changes, with an Apple statement noting that it will continue to deliver the best content on the platform.

Starfield contributed to the single most successful day in Xbox Game Pass's history. 

In September, Roblox, the popular social gaming platform, introduced in-experience subscriptions for developers. The idea was for developers to get a new revenue stream through this, and for Roblox to earn a platform fee. Of course, the subscribers would also get freebies and special items in their favorite experiences. Now, to really lure in the developers, Roblox has deployed a new offer, where it will only charge half the platform fee from developers who integrate subscriptions before December 15, 2023.

By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.

EA has confirmed that The Sims 5, currently under development at Maxis as Project Rene, will be “free to download” in the newest Behind The Sims video released for the game. Essentially, this means that players will be able to jump into the game and play around without having to make any purchases or pay for any subscriptions. This confirms an earlier job listing that suggested that the game would be “free to join”.

If you want to extend your PS Plus membership to any one of the service's three tiers (Essential, Extra, Premium), then today is your last chance to do so before Sony's controversial price increase comes into effect. 12-month subscriptions are increasing by as much as £20 / $40 tomorrow, making today the last opportunity to stack your subscription to cover the years ahead.

Sony has announced that subscription prices of its PlayStation Plus service will increase in a matter of days, with all three tiers getting various — but not insignificant — price hikes.

PlayStation Plus is getting a price hike soon. Sony has confirmed plans to raise the prices for its PS Plus yearly subscriptions, starting September 6, across all three tiers. The news was buried underneath their monthly blog post, which lists the new free games coming to the service. As D-day nears, the base PS Plus Essential plan will cost $79.99 (about Rs. 6,611) for a 12-month subscription, going up from the current $60 (about Rs. 4,959) price tag. Due to regional pricing, however, Indian prices should be significantly lower — currently, a yearly plan of PS Plus Essential costs Rs. 2,999 in the country. The increase hasn't been announced in INR, so to get a good estimate, I think it'd be best to compare it to the Japanese cost, which will soon rise to JPY 6,800 (about Rs. 3,850).

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Sony has announced a global price increase for PlayStation Plus' 12-month subscription plans across all tiers of its service, with the changes coming into effect on 6th September.

Ad-free Disney Plus viewing options are getting more expensive alongside a password sharing crackdown and price hikes for Hulu and ESPN Plus.

Microsoft is being investigated by the European Commission for possible anticompetitive behavior.

Roblox developers will eventually be able to create subscriptions within their experiences to "establish a recurring economic relationship" with their users.

Roblox announced plans to build tools for developers to create subscriptions within their experiences.