Omdia’s latest research forecasts that the game subscriptions market will generate over $27 billion in revenue by 2028, as it expands both in terms of value and importance. $19 billion will be spent on game subscriptions in 2024, marking a second consecutive year of double-digit growth in revenues, following the post-pandemic decline in 2022.
The newly updated Game Subscriptions and Cloud Gaming Market Forecast from Omdia analyzes the global game subscriptions landscape, covering 43 markets. Subscriptions are categorized into three main segments: Games library services, which allow users to access a rotating collection of games (accounting for $8 billion in 2024), in-game/single-game subscriptions tied to individual titles ($7.4 billion), and platform access subscriptions, which primarily offer online functionalities ($3.7 billion). A further eight sub-categories, eight companies, and ten services are included in the forecast.
Microsoft and Sony continue to dominate the games library services segment, with a combined total of 82 million subscriptions in 2024. Cloud gaming, a particularly high-profile component of the subscriptions market, is forecast to generate $3.7 billion in 2024, expanding to $5.8 billion by 2028. However, this will be primarily driven by hybrid services such as Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PlayStation Plus Premium, with cloud-only platforms like Amazon Luna+ capturing a modest 3% share of the total subscription revenue by 2028.
The total number of paid game subscriptions is projected to reach 168 million by the close of 2024, growing to 203 million by 2028, excluding in-game subscriptions. Meanwhile, the $27 billion spent on game subscriptions in 2028 will represent 14% of the total global spend on games.
“Subscriptions have become a crucial part of the business strategy for leading game companies, offering consumers value through exclusive content and multi-platform accessibility,” said George Jijiashvili, Senior Principal Analyst at Omdia. “However, while subscriptions offer a convenient and cost-effective option for players, sustaining the development of blockbuster titles within this model presents significant financial hurdles. We anticipate that subscriptions will continue to grow as a complementary revenue stream, rather than displacing other monetization methods in the industry.”
