Gaming has become one of the largest markets in the entertainment industry. With an estimated $98 billion being generated in 5 countries alone according to Newzoo. That is an enormous portion of the entertainment pie. With so many games releasing every year that still hold the same $60 price tag they have for a decade, it can be hard to decide where to put your gaming budget. Thanks to the inevitable switch from hard copy discs to digital downloads, we now have a few services that can optimize your dollar and gaming time.

As we age into grey haired, out of touch gamers that tell the youth of the days where we had to sit on the floor to play due to a 4ft. cord actually attached to the console, we find our adult responsibilities eating away at our precious gaming time. Gone are the days of Halo LAN parties that kept you up to the wee hours of the morning and emptied your dorms vending machines. Now we rush to get the kids to bed so you can squeeze in a few games before the weight of your own eye lids leaves you a pathetic old man snoring on the couch clutching a controller as the character you are controlling is either tapping its foot in a “where did you go” emote, or you have a team of youthful gamers screaming on a headset for you to stop running at a wall and get back to the payload. If this is your life then deciding the game you want to invest your limited time and budget in becomes a paramount decision. I myself have a few games that I payed the full price for on release, with every intention of enjoying, that have still never graced my television screen. Upon realizing this I thought there had to be a better way, so I started exploring subscription plans.

The first plan I tried out was the EA Pass. This has probably the highest value. For only $30 for the year, yes that is correct, $30 a year, you get access to one of the largest and oldest game developers back catalog where you will instantly be given access to over 50 games. Now the brand new releases won’t be available, but for that price tag the access you are given is well worth it. A game you’ve never played is a new game to you right? For the big budget new releases though you are offered two perks. One, you get 10% of all EA titles you choose to buy, and two, you get a free trial of the new releases one week before the game launches. So if you are a “Madden head” and want the freshest version upon release, you can get it 7 days ahead of your friends and at a small discount. If you just like to play a football game once and awhile and you don’t care about having the newest roster available, you can just play last years version for free. The time frame in which they port these games to the vault may vary, but they all eventually make it there, making the EA subscription well worth the $2.50 a month price tag a no brainer.

The second service I currently use given that I play on an XBox One X, is the Xbox Game Pass. Very similar to the EA model, Xbox is able to offer more than double the games, but charges you monthly much like a Netflix subscription. For the $9.99 a month price tag you can not only get access to a wide range of dated games, but Xbox also offers some games the day they launch. Also, you are not only given access to the Xbox version, but many PC versions as well so you can essentially take your game pass anywhere. The wide variety of games gives you plenty of options to explore new RPG’s, multiplayer shooters, your favorite 360 game, or just a classic game you may have missed out on. When your current library gets a bit stale, just browse the catalog for something you may have heard good reviews of and download it. This truly helps you optimize your gaming limitations without wasting money on a game that you may only log a few hours in.

Playstation has a similar model, however I do not own a PS4 as of yet due to having two children under the age of 5. The struggle is real. The Playstation Now model is very similar but offers more games at a higher price tag, $19.99 a month or $99.99 for the year. You can also play these games on your PC. The access to a larger library, which includes PS2 and PS3 games, is good but the price tag may not match well with your available gaming time. That is a formula you will have to figure out yourself.

We all know that there are certain games that come out every year that you will not want to wait for and purchase at launch. If you see the value in it and it brings you joy then go right ahead. That is good for you and the gaming industry itself. There is a new wave coming though. With free-to-play games making a ton of money and seeing success without ever asking for a dollar, and the subscription plans mentioned above, your gaming dollar is going to go much further in the near future. So if you are a parent that loves to game and wants to optimize your time and dollar, a parent with gaming children that fly through games and are always needing something new to play, or just a young person with limited funds and ample time, these game subscriptions offer you a cheaper way to expand your library and give you the gaming options that you truly desire.

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