The Rise Of Double-A Video Games

One of the most tectonic shifts in the gaming industry over the last few years has been the surging popularity of subscription services, spearheaded by Microsoft's excellent Xbox Game Pass service - and also to a lesser extent PlayStation Plus.

There's been much hand-wringing in recent times about the commercial viability of Microsoft releasing first-party AAA games day-and-date on the service - something Sony hasn't and probably won't ever do with PS+.

Famously, Microsoft even estimated that they'd have to spend $300 million to get Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on Game Pass at launch - which, evidently, proved to be totally cost-prohibitive as it never happened.

But profit scrutiny aside, Game Pass is an absolute haven for AA games - an incredible repository for smaller scale, more "modest," and quirkier experiences like, say, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, to name just a few.

Countless developers over the years have cited Game Pass as hugely beneficial for their business, because in addition to Microsoft paying for the game's inclusion on their service, it will also lead to some players buying their game outright or additionally purchasing DLC they wouldn't have otherwise.

And for gamers, these typically shorter, more contained titles feel perfect for a monthly subscription - namely that they can actually be comfortably beaten within a month.

Game Pass and PS+ are fantastic services for budget-minded gamers, and ensures that subscribers are exposed to far more AA content than they would be elsewhere.