BlueStacks, which announced two weeks ago that the number of users of its eponymous service has reached 10 million, announced an Android-based gaming console called Gamepop and a subscription gaming service going to it.
BlueStacks is an original company. A little over a year ago, she launched a service that allows you to play Android projects on a PC. In June, it was released for Mac. It is too early to talk about the stunning success of the service, but only in the first quarter of this year the number of its users increased by 4.3 million. Apparently, inspired by the six-digit numbers, BlueStacks decided to go further, on the console, and announced a set-top box.
The announcement is very interesting, because it takes into circulation several trends relevant to the current gaming market at once. Firstly, the very idea of a console running on Android is a trend. It is strange and, as experience with Ouya has shown, not very workable yet, but at the same time, it is clear that this is the future (consoles will decrease in size over time, mobile devices will catch up with them in power, perhaps in ten years the mobile phone itself will become a console dock for playing on which only a gamepad and a TV will be needed).
Secondly, the subscription. The player does not buy games, he buys a subscription for a certain period and downloads absolutely everything that he is interested in. At the moment, subscription is one of the most profitable ways to earn money on mobile content. The problem is that subscription is also one of the least common ways of monetization.
Third, when distributing the console BlueStacks resorted to the operator model of selling devices: you buy a subscription to games, the console is given for free.
Each of the trends is relevant, the only question is whether they will all work together.
The mentioned subscription fee will be $6.99 per month. Having issued it, the user will receive the device itself, the controller and access to all products in the “game library” (Blustacks claims that there are about 500 games in the database at the moment). However, the console will remain shareware only until the end of May.
Blustacks has already signed agreements for the distribution of games with Glu Mobile, Halfbrick and OutFit 7. Yes, game developers will receive income from IAP in full, and earnings from subscriptions will be calculated depending on the “demand”, that is, the actual use of specific games, and split in half between their creators and Bluestacks.