Competition in the Gaming Industry & All-You-Can-Play Services, joint with Johannes Loh.

Work-in-progress. Working paper coming early in 2025.

This paper examines how the introduction of subscription-based platforms impacts the performance of complementors operating within traditional sales channels, such as transaction-based platforms. Using the PC video game industry as our empirical setting – where subscription models emerged later than in other digital content sectors – we analyze how the entry of Microsoft’s Game Pass reshaped market dynamics, particularly the competitive pressures on the established transaction platform, Steam. Our analysis reveals that the effects of Game Pass’s entry are heterogeneous across different types of complementors affiliated with Steam, reflecting variations in their strategic positioning and resources. These findings contribute to the strategic management literature by highlighting the challenges and boundary conditions complementors face in navigating platform-dominated ecosystems. Moreover, we offer broader insights into the implications of subscription-based models for digital competition, complementor strategies, and regulatory considerations, addressing critical issues of competitive adaptation in an increasingly subscription-driven digital economy.