On-Demand Games

Are you ready for on-demand Doom? According to Reuters, Comcast, the biggest cable provider in America, will begin offering PC games via its on-demand system. For an extra $14.95 per month, subscribers will get unlimited access to over 60 games initially, with new games added every month; specific titles have not been announced.

Comcast deserves props for courting the gamer nation. The company is also behind G4 – the MTV-style video game network.
But how will gamers respond to this? Hard to say - depends on what games are coming and when. Certainly the “hardcore“ players will want to purchase games as they hit the shelves. Maybe there’s an opportunity here in parlor games - backgammon, chess, and the like. Similar pay-to-play services are already on tap through services such as Yahoo, MSN, and Pogo. Still, most of these players are doing it for free.