Rising costs are becoming a stronger reason for US consumers canceling gaming subscription services, according to Circana’s Future of Insights for Video Games Consumer Survey. More than 40% of consumers who canceled Xbox Game Pass Essential, PlayStation Plus Essential or Nintendo Switch Online cited cost as a primary reason, an increase compared with the first quarter.
Mat Piscatella of Circana shared the findings, noting that cost has become a more significant factor behind cancellations across the three subscription services.
Piscatella also clarified that the figure does not mean more than 40% of all subscribers have canceled their memberships. “Waiting for the comments misreading this as saying that 41% of subscribers have canceled. Which is NOT what this is saying, of course,” he said.
The findings come as gaming subscription services have become an increasingly important part of the console ecosystem. PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online each offer different combinations of online services, game libraries and other benefits in exchange for recurring payments.
Subscription Costs Become A Bigger Factor
PlayStation Plus is divided into Essential, Extra and Premium tiers, with the service providing online multiplayer, monthly games and access to broader game catalogs depending on the subscription level.
Xbox Game Pass operates across Xbox consoles, PC and cloud gaming, with its higher tiers offering access to Microsoft’s first party releases and other games. Nintendo Switch Online focuses on online play, cloud saves and access to libraries of classic Nintendo games, with additional content available through the Expansion Pack.
The Circana findings specifically concern cancellations of the Essential tier of PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online. They indicate that cost is playing a larger role among people who are choosing to end those subscriptions.
The survey does not establish how many subscribers have canceled each service overall. Instead, the more than 40% figure refers to the proportion of people who canceled the listed services who identified cost as one of their primary reasons for doing so.
