Gaming Services Are The New Netflix For Millennials

Game streaming services are building up to be the next big race for the dollars of millennials in the future. Services like EA Access and Google Stadia are expected to be hugely popular with gamers around the world, and a new report claims that more American millennials now subscribe to a video game service than subscribe to paid television.

The report claims that 53% of people born between 1983 and 1996 are now paying for gaming services compared to 51% who pay for television. The data comes from accounting and services firm Deloitte. The same firm ran the survey last year and found that 44% of that age group had paid for video game subscriptions compared to 52% having paid TV subscriptions.

Paid TV subscriptions with satellite or cable are being challenged by cord cutters. The move to cord cutting has proven to be a boon for Comcast, which now sees more profits from faster internet speeds that cord cutters need and its arbitrary data caps that charge more when people go over their meager bandwidth allotments. As pay TV subscriptions decline, video games and e-sports are soaring in popularity.

Game services that are specifically cited as among those that millennials pay for include World of Warcraft and League of Legends. EA offers its EA Access game subscriptions service, which only recently launched on the PS4 after being available for Xbox gamers for five years. More game services are coming with Apple allegedly looking to get into the game service subscription market.

Deloitte also noted that more people are filling their time playing games on mobile devices instead of reading and other activities. Deloitte's Kevin Westcott notes that gaming companies are developing more compelling content and interactions with gamers driving the change from paid TV to gaming.