In totally unsurprising news, gamers who pay for subscription services spend 45% more within games according to data from market research firm SuperData. Folks subscribed to subscription services like Xbox Game Pass, Origin Access and PlayStation Now are more willing to part with their cash than those who don’t.

Superdata discovered subscribers were twice as likely to spend money on in-game content that non-subscribers. This includes cosmetics, season passes, and battle passes. It makes sense, subscribers will intuitively feel as if they haven’t actually paid for a game compared to non-subscribers and would, therefore, be more willing to drop a few quid on some in-game items.

“The game subscription market heated up immensely in 2018 as game makers sought sources of consistent, recurring revenue,” said Carter Rogers, principal analyst at SuperData. “To increase the appeal of their own subscription offerings, publishers are now offering brand-new titles to paying members.”

Subscription services currently represent a relatively small yet not insignificant 6% of the overall gaming market, although this number is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years.

The truly unsung part of SuperData’s research though is their findings on the market split of the top videogame subscription services. Somehow, Sony has crept in like a thief in the night and made its PlayStation Now game streaming and download service the number one game subscription service in terms of revenue.

From within the videogame bubble, it’s felt as if Microsoft has been earned a lot of praise and interest thanks to Xbox Game Pass, but Microsoft’s service is in a resounding third place compared EA Access and PlayStation Now.

A grand total of $273 million revenue was earned by the top subscription services in Q3 2018. A massive 52% of this came from PlayStation Now, accounting for over half the market. It’s difficult to fathom just how this has happened. The line-up of games is pretty weak compared to Xbox Game Pass, and there’s no access to brand new titles like we see with Origin Access. Evidently being the biggest player in the console market helps a great deal of course, while the streaming capabilities mean you don’t even need a PlayStation console to benefit from PlayStation Now. PS Now is playable on PC and even pre-installed on some Sony TVs.

Do you subscribe to any gaming subscription services? Are we heading towards a Netflix-style gaming future? How would you feel about that?