I'm someone returning to online poker after an absence of 5-6 years. I used to play Rush/Zoom 6max and was a small winner at 25nl. I've played maybe 300K hands from 2nl up to 25nl. Before quitting I remember getting a bit tired of cash games and wanted to transition into sngs (I really like the hyper/super turbo ones which finish quickly). Due to some personal problems at the time I left poker but am ready to get back into the game.

Before throwing money on a site I'm going to purchase some training videos and try to get caught up with the current state of the game. In light of Stars basically gutting their reward program I'm curious if there is any point investing time and money into learning Spin & Go's these days?

Are the Spins profitable with rakeback being lowered so much or am I better off going with cash games on a site like Party Poker?

IMO much better off with cash games on a site that offers a fair rakeback (such as party like you said) , spin n gos are super high variance, high rake , less room to grow (as the more you move up the more spin stables you run into / regs) since a lot of old / bored SNG regs moved to spins. Cash always has a future be it online table selecting different sites or playing live

Spin & gos probably have one of the softest fields, second only to mtts.
High variance tends to keep regulars away. Give Spins a shot and see how you like them.

Cash games do not always have a future. Cash games will die online within the next 10 years. Nobody who is grinding online cash for a living will still be around in 10 years time. High stakes online NLHE is like a ghost town and mid stakes is already quite sparse.

Live cash poker is super alive and thriving in many many places. The game might not always be NL , but live poker will be around and very profitable for a looong time to come

Only problem is not living near a decent live poker area.

Im in the same boat, makes me annoyed because of US regulations, something perfectly legal and harmless to 98% of the population has to be such a chore to enjoy.

As to Spin & Gos....holy FFFF i hate them, the variance in them is unreal and not only do you HAVE to get good multipliers, you have to WIN them....

For me, my style doesnt do well with them, but maybe to others, they will easily embrace the push/fold charts. Also, WPN doesn't offer a HuD for their spin n gos, maybe party does (?) and stars definitely does.

If you are serious about your bankroll management and don't tilt easily then go for Spin n Go. Variation is crazy, 100 BI below EV will be regular but field is extremely soft and if you manage to keep control you can make big money.

Spins are very soft comparatively speaking, but if you've played 300k hands lifetime I expect you're incapable of handling the variance.

Totally this for me.

The thing is I have full time employment and wouldn't need any income from poker to pay bills. Any deposits to a poker site is with disposable income.

Poker is not the easy money you think it is. You will be putting in far more effort than your real job and making a fraction of the money.

In that case your volume in spins will be so low they'll be intolerably frustrating.