[Surprised Pikachu face.]

Players cancelling their subscriptions to video game services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus are more likely to blame costs today than they were at the start of the year.

That's according to new data shared by Circana's senior director and video game analyst Mat Piscatella, who explained that more people are being pushed out of monthly video game subscriptions due to costs, at least, in the US.

"According to Circana's Future of Insights for Video Games Consumer Survey, cost is becoming a stronger driver of US cancellations to Xbox Game Pass Essential, PS Plus Essential and Nintendo Switch Online," Piscatella said on BlueSky. "Over 40% of those canceling in the US cite cost as a primary driver, higher than seen in Q1."

Piscatella is quick to note this data doesn't indicate that more people are cancelling video game subscriptions. "It has no relation to the number of people canceling," he wrote. It's just that the people who have given up on memberships are more likely to point the finger at costs instead of, let's say, a weak selection of games.

In Circana's latest survey, 50% of people who cancelled their Nintendo Switch Online membership over the last few months chose the option that read, "Couldn't justify the cost of the subscription within my budget but liked the service." That number was 40% earlier in the year. For Xbox Game Pass Essential and PS Plus Essential, 40% of cancellers gave the same reason compared to 37% in Q1.

The news is perhaps unsurprising since almost everything else in the gaming world, from hardware to the games themselves, have only become pricier in recent times. PS Plus saw a price hike just earlier this year, while Xbox Game Pass subscriptions almost doubled until the company reversed course and decoupled Call of Duty from the service. The only one to weather the storm has been Nintendo Switch Online, which has stayed the same price in most regions.

All three major consoles have also been subject to price bumps this year due to vague "market conditions" - or, if you're reading between the lines, AI data centres sucking up memory components and sending costs rocketing for other hardware manufacturers.

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