What is your opinion on gaming subscription services?

[Runa216]

Honestly, this is one thing I just fundamentally hate. Like, I don't think it's a bad deal or a bad option...for other people...but I'd never buy into one myself. There are a bunch of reasons why I don't like game subscriptions of any kind, and any one of them would be enough to keep me from buying in.

1 - I already own a sizeable library. I know this isn't the case for most people and many people sell their old games once they're done with them, but this is not the case for me. I have a massive library with a backlog over 100 games. I could never buy another game in my life and I'd likely never run out of things to do.

2 - Furthermore, I'm a collector. When I buy games, I do not get rid of them. Twice in my life I sold games and I regretted it ever since. I sold some SNES games when I Was a kid (For a Genesis) including TMNT: turtles in Time and Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. Bad decision. Second time was some DS games so I could buy Left 4 Dead on Xbox 360. Nowadays, I have an entire room in my house dedicated to gaming and as such I'm happy going back to my old consoles and playing my old as well as new games.

3 - Given the above two points, I tend to also prefer physical media for the most part. I have been replacing much of my collection with digital for the convenience of it all, but I will not get rid of my games or fully replace them.

4 - Given the first two points once more, I also want to play these games on my own time. I tend to pick up and play, then go away for months at a time and owning a subscription service is counterintuitive to that. I also don't buy MMO subs for the same reason. The moment any of this goes on a timer or there's a chance I won't always have access to it, playing it becomes work. a job. an obligation. the second that playing a game is something do on someone else's time, it stops being fun to me. (I rarely play coop games, either for this same reason.)

5 - I don't get to chose what games are on there, which means I'd have to buy a handful of games either way. Plus, as per point 4, if any game I'm playing is being pulled or won't be on there 100% of the time, it stops being something I do for fun and becomes an obligation.

There are more smaller points to consider but those are the big ones for me. All of this combines to make the idea of a game subscription counter to basically everything I like about gaming. Sure, the cost to value ratio is absolutely better than buying a dozen games a year full price, but cost isn't really a factor to me most of the time and I care a lot more about the collecting aspects and the ownership than the access. I like having shelves stocked full of games and movies. I like having a room in my house dedicated to JUST games. I like having a backlog and owning various versions of games. I like having collectors editions and steelbooks and neat little goodies. I like collecting.

I like gaming, but since it's an interactive medium the engagement is wholly different than movies or TV shows. I have no problem watching Netflix or disney+ or whatever...but I don't think that's at all the same as GamePass. I can put a movie on in the background or think nothing of it, but with games it's a more interactive experience and thus requires my time and effort. If that time and effort is put on a clock or in any ways out of my control, it stops being entertainment and starts being work.

So while I absolutely do feel that the dollar value proposition for game services is fantastic, it doesn't fulfil any of the things I like about game collecting and this it's the opposite of what I want in my medium. I have less than zero interest in any of these subscription models and I don't see that changing any time soon.