Outer Wilds was no doubt one of 2019?s most talked-about games. Whether you attribute this to healthy work conditions or not, it?s clear the game benefited from being included on Xbox Game Pass, a subscription-based service that offers a large selection of games for a monthly fee. Mobius Digital?s co-creative lead Loan Verneau, who also prides Mobius on ?not crunching,? feels that subscription-based services will have a positive impact on the games industry, as evidenced by Outer Wilds? inclusion on Xbox Game Pass.

We?re on Game Pass for Xbox, and it?s been really awesome because I think it?s brought a lot of players to the game who would not have known about it otherwise. So I think that?s been a big shift. The same way it?s changed the TV and movie worlds, the subscription system is also going to impact the game industry very significantly. We?re starting to see that, and starting to see it maybe unlock the market to weirder things and more original things that would have been more risky beforehand.
The PlayStation ecosystem features its own subscription service in PlayStation Now, which offers hundreds of games available to stream/download on PS4 and PC. This service is expected to play a larger role with the release of the PS5 later this year, as subscription-based models become more popular.

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