A new subscription service, Indie Pass, was introduced, which brings access to a catalog of various independently produced games. However, the presentation was met with negative reviews.
None of the gamers are probably looking for another video game subscription service, but one has just been announced, and it comes from Indie.io.
Indie Pass will launch on the 13th of this month as a subscription that gives PC gamers access to a catalog of independently produced games. Players do not get permanent ownership of these games, but can only access them while they have an active subscription.
The subscription price will be $6.99 per month. Indie Pass promises to deliver some indie games to subscribers as soon as they are released, ie. at the same time they go on sale. Various genres will be represented, but the initial lineup of 70 games in the catalog has practically no known titles – they are all mostly low-budget games.
Reactions of players and game producers to the presentation of Indie Pass are not particularly positive. Many people do not see the point of this subscription because these indie games are normally very cheap, and buying them provides more support for developers than playing through a subscription.
Many developers did not like the financial model of Indie Pass. The idea is that Indie Pass developers pays out earnings based on the amount of time players spend with their games. Many developers agree that this initially discredits games that are not designed for long-term play.
The company Indie.io says that it is not their intention to harm the sale of indie games and they do not think that the Indie Pass will contribute to this. Instead, they believe their subscription service will help developers gain visibility for their games.