There's been a long-running debate amongst gaming communities about subscription services and their sustainability within the industry, especially with the likes of Xbox Game Pass flatlining on console in recent years. Despite some growth over on PC and Cloud, the core XGP has definitely slowed down recently, and Circana's Mat Piscatella has now provided an interesting comment on the future of these sorts of services.
Now, it's important to note that Piscatella / Circana focuses on US stats only, but nevertheless, the analyst says that spending on subscription services in that region has "been basically flat" since the COVID-era boom of 2020-21 - adding that only the recent addition of Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass has given subs a small boost.
As you can see in the above post, Piscatella also goes on to claim that, ultimately, subscription services aren't the future of gaming as we perhaps once envisaged. However, note the emphasis on "THE" in that quote, with the analyst adding that they can continue to be a vital part of the industry alongside full game purchases and other revenue streams.
While commenting on the economics of these subscription services is always tough because of how guarded the big platform holders can be on this sort of thing, we can comment on the quality of them from a user point-of-view. And, Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription has been absolutely amazing lately - delivering banger after banger in a busy start to 2025 for the service.