Apple is reportedly working on a Netflix for games-style subscription service that could shake up the way we consume games on mobile. We’re up for that for a number of different reasons, but none more so than the potential for …
Apple is reportedly working on a Netflix for games-style subscription service that could shake up the way we consume games on mobile. We’re up for that for a number of different reasons, but none more so than the potential for it to disrupt the free to play infestation on mobile.
Every week, a ton of almost identical “RPGs” or “MMORPGs” land on the App Store that are, effectively, just loot boxes disguised as video games. You know the type – you’ve probably played a ton of them, like Summoner’s War, Marvel Strike Force, or Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes.
These games are bad news, and not just because they give mobile games a bad name. How many times have you heard that mobile games are rubbish by ill-informed console gamers that only dive in every now and then to play some free to play guff?
If these same gamers actually stopped to play some of mobile’s top-tier games like last year’s award-winning Florence or Donut County, or perhaps the lesser-known Grimvalor, they’d see the true potential mobile offers. There’s an absolute wealth of literally amazing games, but they all share the same problem: they’re premium.
Though it pains us to say it, the biggest problem facing mobile games right now is mobile gamers ourselves. We’re just so resistant to the idea of spending money on games until they can convince us otherwise. It’s also so much easier to convince you to pour money on a game that you’re already playing than it is for a complete unknown.
So we’ll download the likes of Langrisser Mobile and check them out because they’re free. Then, when we’re hooked, we’ll spend some money on IAPs because, well, it’s just so easy to. Meanwhile, if a game is over a dollar to just try, we’re more likely just to pass it up entirely because, well, all of the other games are free.
Yes – they are free. But that does actually come at a cost, and that price is usually gameplay. When you actually break it down, developers have actually removed meaningful gameplay from these games. The challenge doesn’t stem from your strategy or skill, like in a traditional game, it instead stems from your wallet.
Those of us that pay the most will absolutely smash through these games, because there isn’t a challenge – not really. It’s all about spending money to upgrade your characters until they’re powerful enough to battle the next batch of enemies. Sure, you could grind it out to get there instead (if the game allows it) but we’re talking about months of repetitive gameplay to achieve what you could in a minute from a single IAP. It’s not a game – it’s an exercise in spending money or time.
So when we learned that Apple was working on a subscription service for games, we got a little bit excited. If anything is going to solve the free to play problem on mobile, it’s a subscription service.
We’re already very comfortable paying small sums of money in exchange for a wealth of content – you only have to look at the likes of Spotify or Netflix to see the enormous potential of this model – so it’s not a crazy thought to consider that we might do the same for mobile games.
But how could this kill off mobile’s obsession with free to play games? Well, because it’s an actual viable alternative. Paying five bucks for a single game doesn’t actually scream bargain for those of us that associate mobile games with lazy gacha RPGs and match three puzzlers.
But $10 for hundreds of high quality premium titles? Now that is a bargain, and one that we actually think many mobile gamers will go for. Once they’ve finally had a taste of the awesome premium games on offer, they might not want to go back to the free to play rubbish that infests the App Store.
Not only would that be so much better for us gamers, it would be better for developers too. We’re sure these guys are just as sick of developing games that try and trick us into spending money as we are at playing them. If there was a solution that allowed them to make money from games they were actually passionate about, they’d probably spend more time doing that.
And a subscription service could offer that. If Apple could approach developers with some install numbers for this type of service, they might be more inclined to take the “risk” and make an actual real game with premium standards. Imagine that?
Console gamers or those with only a passing interest might even pay for the service to give them something to do while commuting or waiting for the microwave to ping. If they get a look at some of the best mobile has to offer, it might lose its terrible reputation. That’s something we could all benefit from.
Ultimately, the last few paragraphs paint the best case scenario for this type of service, but at the very least it would provide a viable alternative to the free to play business model. It would also remove that barrier to entry for the best premium games, allowing us to actually play them.
We’d say that’s a win all round.
