Casual game subscription models

[Phil Steinmeyer]

OK, I'm trying to get a handle on these. Yes, I could go to each portal and plow through their info, but maybe somebody here can fill me in...

IIUC, various sites offer subscription models, but these all amount to 'Pay us a monthly fee (~$8) and you pick one game per month at that discounted rate'. Is that correct?

Is anybody doing 'All you can eat' subscriptions? Are any sites substantially different from the above in how they structure it? If you don't log onto Real in a given month and make your choice, what happens - does it rollover so the next month you can choose two?

[Matthew]

RealArcade's GamePass gives you one free game a month and discounted purchases continually. It's $8/month--as a developer, if someone "buys" your game with their credit the purchase price is essentially $8 (so you'll see whatever royalty based on that price). This can significantly drive down the average purchase price of a new game. Credits don't roll over month-to-month.

Shockwave has an all-you-can-eat system, Shockwave UNLIMITED. Previously it was branded Shockwave GameBlast. It's $5-10/month, depending on monthly/6 month/yearly subscription, and you get unlimited DRM-protected access to their game library. They've publicly stated that developer royalties are based on minutes played--so if a player spends 60 minutes on your title and 60 minutes on other titles that month, you'll see 50% of the royalty.

There are others, although I think the majority are monthly free games and discounts along the same lines as Real's GamePass. People have reported that Real used to include a clause in their contract to prevent this competition, although I doubt it's enforced or even if it's enforcable. I'm not sure if they still try to include this clause.

These subscription plans generally produce higher per-customer income than try-and-buy purchases. Per-user ad income can also be very substantial today.

[Ryan Clark]

I think GameTap (http://www.gametap.com) is also all-you-can-eat, but I guess it's not strictly casual.