Looks like I’m in the minority, but I subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online. My wife and I enjoy the extra Mario kart courses and I personally enjoy the N64 virtual console.

The data suggests some gamers are partially treating the service to trial or even rent a game they might be interested in, before unsubscribing.

This is me. I often subscribe when there’s a discount, go through some games I’m not interested in buying but want to play anyways. Xbox game pass specifically has a lot of great indies that can be finished relatively quickly.

I subscribed earlier this year for a month, might resubscribe for a month again later this year.

I think enough people have been exposed to enough subscription services that customers have started taking inventory of what they’re paying per month that they didn’t used to do, which means often signing up for a month and then quitting. I’m simultaneously surprised and not surprised that the access to online multiplayer only accounts for about 30% of the reason people subscribe to these things, but then those same customers doing that same accounting of their personal finances have probably done the math to realize that, long term, it’s cheaper to just play games online on PC, which is leading to consoles performing the way they’re performing lately.

I actually just cancelled my GamePass last night. I rarely use it, as I spend most of my time gaming on steam, and I own almost all the games I want to play.

I don’t pay for any video streaming services. I pay for gamepass because sometimes I want to try out something crazy I’ve never played before and it’s great for that.

Xbox gamepass: for my kids, but they’re not really using it, so I may cancel it for good.

Ps plus: for me, I prefer PlayStation over Xbox and I love all the classic PlayStation games on it.

NSO: cloud saves, that’s pretty much it, but I just cancelled it today because I just don’t use it and neither do the kids.

I love the game boy games on the switch so here I am

PS+ I want to play online, I like getting the free games, I need cloud storage for saves.

I’m also on PC and realize two of those three are free. I’m willing to pay on PS because the couch experience is so, so, so much better than PC could ever be, no matter how many times PC creeps screech at me that I’m wrong.

It’s still crazy to me that this somehow became normal. I’m not paying rent for a fucking video game. Hell I’m not even paying in general, least of all for Ubisoft or some other Activision-Blizzard-EA shlock.

Churn is inevitable with any subscription service.

The trick is creating just enough value and exclusive content/services that you feel like you’re gonna miss out if you leave. But not too much.

I haven’t seen any incentive to stay with any specific game subscription service via exclusive content or services. But I do see plenty of attempts to lock people into services with shitty tactics. Like forcing save data to the cloud. Good luck moving that saved file to your own personal copy of the game. Or multiple tiered service options with features/games locked behind more expensive options.

It’s all manipulative and anti consumer.

I had GamePass for a few years and just canceled last month. I barely used it anymore except for Minecraft and Halo Infinite and don’t play those anymore. I might even own Minecraft and have forgotten.

But then I signed back up for Nintendo Online because my girlfriend and her son just got Switches and we play Animal Crossing together. But it’s not as much as GamePass so not that big of a deal.

But I’m sick of subscriptions for shit I don’t even use. Everything nowadays has to be a subscription for no reason. Nintendo doesn’t even provide anything of valuable for theirs since I can’t even talk over it. I’m just paying for what used to be free on their past consoles.

It grinds my gears that sony software locked the ability to backup saves locally on the PS5 making a PS plus subscription the only way to have a backup of save games. I don’t play multiplayer and don’t play the monthly free games either so I have to pay a premium for the rest of my life to get a basic functionality that was present in ps4 but got nerfed for some dubious reasons in ps5. The recent ps plus price hike was the last straw so I ditched my PS and got into PC gaming and loving it so far.

Me. I work in video games, and I have kids.

I subscribe to game pass ultimate.

It lets me game on my tv, instead of the Xbox, plus my ADD and a whole bunch of ever changing games is just glorious.

Plus they usually run a sale when they take it off gamepass so you can get it cheap if you like it.

It’s sega channel revamped

I have the Nintendo one, originally for animal crossing and now it’s more because my 2 year old likes Super Mario 64 and I do not want to set her up on a PC to emulate it quite yet. Switch is a lot easier on her tiny baby hands, plus handhelds are more intuitive.

My stepdad has Xboxs thing, which works for him anyway. Given he’s retired and has time but not a lot of money, it’s a better bang for his buck (plus he’s not exactly planning on living forever).