| | |
RealNetworks Starts Game Subscription Service
RealNetworks has launched a new subscription service that delivers video games over the Internet as the digital media leader seeks to diversify to offset slower growth elsewhere.
The new service, called GamePass, will allow users of RealNetworks' online game delivery service to download one game per month for a monthly fee of $6.95 and to buy additional games at a discount. Subscribers to RealNetworks' RealOne core media delivery service can join the game delivery program for $4.95, the company said.
RealNetworks has been trying to move beyond selling systems software to companies that want to broadcast music and video over the Internet and the players for users to receive such content on their personal computers. The company said more than 700,000 people have bought games from its download service, which is now called RealOne Arcade and offers more than 230 game titles.
RealNetworks' shares tumbled 27.5 percent after the company warned that it will post a second-quarter loss, and a research report suggested that its lead over rival Microsoft Corp.'s media player was narrower than once thought. In response, Chief Executive Rob Glaser said RealNetworks is not losing market share and has a healthy and growing consumer business. RealNetworks did not indicate what sort of effect it expects the new GamePass service to have on sales.
Anthony Leamer, a RealNetworks product manager, said the company priced the service so that users could get games from the Internet at a reasonable cost and structured it so that any titles acquired could be kept permanently, even if the subscription is canceled.
Leamer said RealNetworks sees RealOne Arcade eventually moving beyond the PC and onto other gaming platforms like video game consoles and handheld gaming devices. "But the infrastructure isn't there yet," he added. "Until that changes, we'll continue to focus on the PC."
SOURCE: Reuters
299
|
|
|
|
