Google Stadia chief Phil Harrison has revealed that publishers will be able to use the streaming service to tout their own individual subscription plans.
As reported by RockPaperShotgun, Harrison broke the news during a YouTube E3 Live Show, where he hinted that publisher-specific subscriptions will be available on top of the recently announced $9.99 Stadia Pro plan.
Harrison stopped short of detailing exactly how publisher subscriptions will work, but the indication that they’ll be a separate offering to the Stadia Pro package implies that Stadia owners will be able to tailor their overall experience by stacking different subscriptions.
“You’ll also see in due course, in relatively short order from now, you’ll see publishers starting to think about their own subscriptions,” said Harrison. “We support that on our platform, and we’ll see some announcements in due course around that.”
Going into slightly more detail, the Stadia boss said he didn’t think the format would be “for every publisher,” but for those like Ubisoft and Bethesda that “have bigger catalogs and more significant line-ups.”
Harrison’s description prompted host Geoff Keighley to draw companions between Stadia’s publisher subscriptions and the way cable owners might purchase HBO Go on top of their current package, and right now that seems like a solid read.
After all, it’s worth remembering that the Stadia Pro subscription plan only grants access to a curated game library, rather than Stadia’s entire catalog, so it stands to reason that some owners might be keen to pay a little extra to gain access to more titles from their favorite publisher.
Still, it’s probably worth taking all of the above with a pinch of salt until we hear something more concrete from Google, as Harrison’s brief comments (while interesting) leave plenty of room for interpretation.
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