Video game subscription services are simply too complicated

In this week's newsletter: From Xbox Game Pass to PlayStation Plus, the new mainstream way to play games is costly, contradictory and most of all confusing

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Like everyone, I have come to massively resent the insidious creep of subscription services. I started off with an affordable, shareable Netflix subscription, many years ago. Then came Spotify, then Disney+ when I had children, then Prime Video, all of which I could just about justify. Then my Fitbit started wanting to charge me to unlock features in a device I'd already bought. Google now charges me monthly to store in the cloud the photos I take on my Google phone. I pay yearly for an app that lets me look at guitar tabs. Last week I tried to buy some protein powder and discovered I could only do so if I committed to a minimum three-month supply. Egregious.

As for gaming: I've been a subscriber to Xbox Live, on and off, since 2003. PlayStation Plus came later, and then Nintendo Online, very belatedly, with the arrival of the Switch. I don't play live-service games often, or I'd probably also be handing over the odd 8.99 for battle passes. Into this already fraught situation comes Microsoft, last week, with an update to its video game subscription offer that requires a spreadsheet to understand.