The Apple company in collaboration with Big Fish games announced that soon it will launch the first project in the App Store that will allow users to pay subscriptions for games. The idea is simple: those from Big Fish Games will make a special application for iPad that will be available based on a monthly subscription that will cost $6.99 and will give iPad owners access to several dozen applications from their own portfolio. Users will be able to play any available game for as long as they want, but only from within that application and only as long as they have an active subscription.
Big Fish Games, a Seattle-based game publisher, won approval from Apple to become the first to offer users access to dozens of titles for $6.99 a month. Until now, games have only been available one at a time, requiring users to download individual applications. It took longer than usual to be approved... they needed to be convinced there's a reason to charge customers every monthnth
The idea seems interesting and will probably generate interest, but the bad part is that to play we have to be connected to a Wi-Fi network because the games are loaded from the Big Fish Games servers and are not downloaded to our iDevices. The idea of games played via streaming is not new, but the iOS platform is only now arriving and this whole idea of game subscriptions could be successful. I don't know how many people will be interested in Big Fish Games, but if EA Games, Gameloft, and other big developers will take over the model, then there will definitely be millions of people who can't wait for the opportunity to play anything for a few months for a single payment date.
The bad part is that if you don't buy the game you don't benefit from updates and if you don't pay the monthly subscription you don't have access to anything. What do you think, would you pay a monthly sum of money to have access to several dozen games but only through the Internet?
