Video game developers set for cash influx as tech firms compete for deals

At the centre of the contest are Microsoft and Sony, followed by less gaming-centric companies such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix who have all launched subscription services in an attempt to entice gamers on to their platforms.

Microsoft has spent four years building up its flagship subscription, Xbox Game Pass, which offers unlimited access to more than 100 games for its Xbox family of consoles for a £10.99 monthly fee. In March, Sony announced plans to compete directly with Game Pass with a raft of changes to its PlayStation Plus service, which will eventually launch with 700 titles for £13.49 a month (or £99.99 a year), though largely focused on older titles.

The competition has resulted in an influx of cash to the industry. Microsoft, the second richest company in the world, has been on an acquisition spree, buying the Call of Duty and Warcraft publisher Activision Blizzard, the Skyrim developer Bethesda and nine independent studios since 2017 alone. Amazon and Apple, the fourth and first richest companies in the world, have similarly deep pockets. Sony, with a market cap an order of magnitude smaller than the tech titans, has struggled to keep up, merging with the Halo and Destiny developer Bungie earlier this year.

Even those who have stayed independent have welcomed the new model, in which game developers paid a significant sum upfront to put their games on the services, greatly reducing the risk of launching a new title on to digital storefronts where it can sink without a trace.