Gaming as a subscription

: analysis of portuguese gaming consumers perspectives on access-based gaming subscriptions

Abstract

Gaming subscriptions have grown immensely since the gaming industry became more digital, and access-based subscriptions are no exception. With the entrance and rebranding of companies in the Portuguese gaming subscription market, it is now essential to study the consumers’ perspectives. This dissertation aims to do just that by looking at drivers, barriers, and willingness to pay for these services. First, a literature review was created to discover the initial hypothesis, followed by ten individual interviews to seek if they were confirmed and to discover potential new ones. Subsequently, an online survey was created that gathered 225 valid answers and confirmed some of the hypotheses thought before hand. Findings showed that the main drivers for the service are the number of games, service quality and usage frequency, while the main barrier are the division of games between subscriptions. Furthermore, the average willingness to pay for these services is 7,80 euros per month, higher than somecurrently available services and more than the average spent in gaming in Europe. Differences in opinions were also found between who has the subscription and who does not. To conclude, strategies were created and thought to improve the adoption of access-based gaming subscriptions and the competitiveness of players in the market.

Date of Award	31 Jan 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Miguel Rita (Supervisor)