A new video games subscription service is aiming to provide a Netflix-like experience for indie games. The service, called Jump, will provide over 60-100 indie games initially when it launches this summer, with more being added on a monthly basis.
A beta is currently running between now and July 24 with a smaller library of 10-20 games. When it finally launches, Jump will cost $9.99 a month and offer unlimited, ad-free playtime for all games in its catalogue. The service will be available for Windows, Mac, Linux, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift. Because games launch directly in the Jump client, players will not need to worry about poor streaming latency.
Jump CEOÂ Anthony Palma said in an interview with IGN that he believes the company created a service beneficial for both gamers and game developers. As revenue for certain games naturally dips off, Jump is a great way to provide a constant stream of revenue and a way to curate content for new players to discover.
“If you think about the parallel to the movie industry, a movie goes on premium sales through theaters and when those sales start to dip off, they look at other avenues and eventually end up at a subscription service, like HBO or Netflix or wherever. That doesn’t exist in gaming right now, and particularly not for indies,” Palma said.
“We work with developers specifically to make sure they’re bringing their game to us in the right time in their life cycle. We want them to run their premium sale cycle on Steam or Xbox or wherever, and once those sales dip off to a certain point, then it’s a better time to bring it over to us.”
Microsoft currently offers a similar service for Xbox called Xbox Game Pass, where players can enjoy a large library of games for $9.99 a month as well, though many of the more prominent titles are AAA. Jump aims to jump into the market (pun intended) by providing better visibility to indie games.
