Whether Sony Likes It Or Not, Game Pass Makes The New PS Plus Look Underwhelming

Sony appears to be pursuing its own strategy distinct from Microsoft Game Pass, but consumers are going to compare the value regardless.

[zsquaresoff]

It's an addition to an already existing service with some extra features. This is not a standalone service like Game pass is in comparison to Xbox Live.

Can't speak for everyone but I am very happy that I will be able to legacy and next gen titles from PS1 all the way to PS5.

[Atom666]

It's the combination of two preexisting, standalone services though, isn't it? I know I'm in the minority on this, but I have subbed only to Now for almost 2 years now (it's been at a great pricepoint too).

I was able to avoid paying for another online fee and cancel my sub to PS+. But Sony is now combining Plus and Now. If I really wanted to just stick with Now, I'll have to buy their upgraded package. It's not a huge deal, but it kind of sucks.

It is the same as if MS made Game Pass Ultimate the only way to get Game Pass.

It's understandable and a fair enough deal.
Generally, the value proposition is there, but it really is just their way of leveraging the more successful Plus service to improve recurring revenue.

As far as comparisons to GP, that is inevitable. Both have value to me. But some of Jim Ryan's PR comments ring hollow when we're only a short bit away from one of their flag ship titles, MLB, hitting a subscription service day one.

That's definitely a unique situation, but when Jim feeds into the "loss of quality" line, but one of their games is going to GP day one a week later, you got to laugh.

[lodossrage]

MLB is the exception, not the rule.

MLB has control over that and they're the ones telling them to produce the game on xbox as well as make that gamepass deal. It was either that or Sony losses the rights to make official baseball games.

[Atom666]

@ Lodossrage

Everyone understands that.

But again, as Jim Ryan is talking about the reasons why day and date won't work, we're literally looking at one of their titles listed in the ''coming soon" section of their competitor's service.

It's pretty funny. Hard to take Jim too seriously there.

[S2Killinit]

I believe them when they say their level of quality single player story driven games would be effected if they were put on a subscription. I mean the truth is in the pudding with this is it not? The single player AAA story driven games would quickly die out because all that effort and funding would not be worthwhile because people would be done with it in a matter of 15-45 hours max. Live service games would generate 100s of hours plus microtransactions income. Its really quite simple to understand. The AAA single player needs to be protected. Im all for it. I want my story driven games.

[Atom666]

@S2killinit

Meh, preventing day and date doesn't protect those games as much as it just protects their current margins.

Sony doesn't want to risk shaking up their ecosystem too much. It's understandable, but the PR speak is kind of eye-rolling.

But if we're looking at maybe 3 AAA SP titles a year, why not make a Premium Ultra tier? Say $20 a month? No promotional discounts.

There is a $$ number where it makes sense for everyone. I still think Sony gets there eventually, and I wouldn't buy into to PR spin too much.

[darthv72]

I know what you mean Atom. I said in a different thread that Sony should have kept the existing Now the way it is and make that the basic plan. It gives you streaming of PS2/3/4 and downloads of PS2/4 games. and online multiplayer for those games was no extra cost.

The Premium side would have all of that AND online multiplayer for retail games (not yet in the service) as well as expanded library for streaming and download of PS1, PSP and PS5 games (though 5 games looked to be coming to Now anyways). And (min) 2 free games a month as well as new game trials.

They didnt need that middle tier crap as people either would go with the basic for $10 or the premium for $7 more.

[Kosic]

But game pass is an addition to Xbox live gold...?

[Joe913]

I agree, I feel like it's more Sony's response to backward compatibility than to game pass IMO at least with the top tier. I wish people stop comparing the two and not sure why Sony is not doing day-in-date games how can you be mad at them. That business model would kill Sony and it will hurt MS at some point. I am sorry but GP sucks right now MS is not putting out enough content for day in date to be worth anything. Now in 3 to 5 years when the studios they just bought is putting out content, we will see, will the games be dumbed down to make GP affordable for MS cause having all those studios making 100+ million dollar games and pretty much giving them away they will need a lot of subs. Even though I am a Sony fan I own stock in both companies so it benefits me for them both to do well, I am just afraid GP is not sustainable MS have craploads of money but if Xbox was its own company it would be out of business a long time ago let's not pretend this is not losing MS lots of money and it will be only a matter of time if subs don't pick up that shareholders will begin to complain just like when they did the CEO change and a lot if them wanted MS to get rid of the XBOX brand all altogether.

[Vits]

I mean they do appeal to different audiences on the basis of being available on different platforms. The only thing that really bothered me about the new Sony service was the fact that they still keep PS3 as a cloud service and somehow lost games. At least on launch, it's going to be 340 titles coming from PS3, PS1, PS2 and PSP whereas PSNOW had 375 PS3 games not that long ago.

[TheGreatGazoo30]

One additional thing that bothers me is they're selling trials as a value to the service. So paying for game trials is something gamers should be happy about?

[thesoftware730]

I was thinking the same thing..extended demos are a selling point?

Let's not forget Cloud service is not free on PS..

[S2Killinit]

Im actually very excited for that because it means I can try games before buying them. It would allow for the single player story driven games to survive while giving me the option to try everything out before buying. Its the perfect compromise that mitigates not getting first party AAA single player games on day one. I think its the perfect balance. Try out anything you like, buy the ones you want.

[Majin-vegeta]

The game trials is no different rhan what EA play does.Which allows you 10 hours of gameplay from a new title

[TheGreatGazoo30]

I'm not saying trials are bad, I'm saying locking them behind a pay wall is a straight FU to gamers.

[gamer7804]

Most of the games that are 3d I’d want to go back and play are on ps3. 3d games on ps2 and ps1 don’t age well. No day one and no ps3 downloadable games makes this a non starter for me. That’s fine I’ll just keep the standard psplus

[StarkR3ality]

Listen I'm glad they're combining the 2 services. Having 2 on 1 platform isn't ideal. Saying that the offering is literally that, playstation now and ps plus put together with no added benefits.

Everyone was expecting a bit more I think. If they said that they were allowing PS3 downloads instead of streaming only, that would help sell it a bit better for me personally.

The whole 1st party exclusives not being day and date.. I think that's purely Sony showing they don't have as deep a pockets as Microsoft. If they continue mostly stellar 1st party output, and stay away from the MT bullshit they showed in GT7, that will be fine for me.

If they start down the path of offering MT's in thier £70 games, that'll be it for me, can't defend that and Xbox will be the better platform.

[crazyCoconuts]

Now that MS has all those new studios that will be outputting more games per year, I gotta think something has to give with the GamePass day one policy. They paid billions of dollars just to give their games away at no extra cost to GamePass customers? I hope it doesn't change because I can snipe new games for $1 trial on PC, but the free lunch won't last forever

[lucian229]

fairly sure when MS acquired the other studios before ya xbox boys said the same thing...yet nothing still came from it. Getting the other companies it got now means nothing till i see something.

[ABizzel1]

I think everyone was expecting this, but everyone wanted more than PS+ combined with PSNow, but it's moreso PS+ combined with PSNOW++. The service is a 7/10 IMO as someone who took the dive into PSNow and can speak on it from experience instead of fake outrage it's a solid service for what it is, the main issue is the library lacks many KEY games / franchises that should be there, lack of PS5 content, lack of PS2 content (only 16 games), no PS1 content, and PS3 streaming only. The updated PS+ seems to fix all these issues except PS3 streaming. Also, you get trophies for PS2 games currently so trophy hunters might be able to go visit old classics for trophies, and as long as they improve the library of instant games and have the majority of first-party games from PS1 - PS4 Day 1 it will be fine.

However, there are things that should have been there DAY 1:

Downloadable PS3 Games
Considering the PS5 is more than powerful enough to emulate PS3 hardware and should and could have been something Sony was working on for years now once they knew the specs for PS5 and saw that PS3 emulation worked well on Ryzen.

AT LEAST enhanced resolutions (2x / 4x / 9x for PS1 - PS4 games)
While doubling framerates would be amazing, it's more important in this case that these older games get 2x / 4x / or 9x resolution increases since many of us are playing games on 4KTVs now and some of these older games are at incredibly low resolutions which are not ideal, especially on larger displays.

Monthly pricing / middle tier
The annual price is completely fair ($60/yr. and $120/yr.), but the monthly pricing is AWFUL, and the middle tier is almost pointless. It should have been two tiers basic PS+ and PS+ Premium $10/mo. and $15/mo.

More "Free" PS+ games for the higher tier
This was one of the biggest wasted opportunities they should have had. If people are paying more, then offer them more. If PS+ Essential has "2 Free Games" then the Premium tier should have "4 Free Games". 1 PS5, 1 PS4, 1 PSVR or PSVR2, 1 Classic/Indie/etc...

Confirmation for potential Day 1 from 2nd / 3rd party
They tested it out with PSNow, so a simply confirmation that there will be Day 1 content for things like MLB The Show, Back 4 Blood, Outriders, or indies like STRAY / etc.... would have gone a long way to adding perceived value. This is one of the MAIN reasons the service is currently being side-eyed. They don't need Day 1 God of War, Uncharted, etc... because the Game Trails will take care of that, but let us know if the GaaS games will launch in here, and 2nd / 3rd party games.

Those 5 things would have made this announcement go over as a success instead of all of the meh / mid reviews, and the first 4 of those things were easily within their ability to make happen they just didn't attempt to do it.

[StarkR3ality]

Agreed for the most part, the PS3 streaming solution just isn't good enough, stadia has shown that streaming isn't quite there yet.

It's a decent change, but not enough to rival game pass, I'll have both but my main machine will still be Series X

[darthv72]

I was actually surprised to find that all of those PS1 games, they digitized for the PS store, were never part of the service from the beginning. It was only PS3 and select PS2 and then later on PS4 games. And if people recall, gaikai was streaming only and Sony didnt enable downloads until PS4 games came onto the scene because by that time all support for the PS3 and select Bravia TV's was shutdown.

The PS2 games with trophies arent exactly PS2 originals but instead specialized reprogrammed PS2 classics that were hand picked for the service to run on the PS4. Not going to lie, its kind of like what MS did with recompiling XB and 360 games to run on the XBO but with those you can use you own discs to validate and then download the updated version. Why Sony doesnt just offer that with PS1 and PS2 games that will be in the service...?

PS3 emulation has come a long way on the PC through RPCS3 and it isnt perfect but its much better than it was. IBM has their own CELL emulation as well so Sony has resources at their disposal to make a fully functioning PS3 emulator at least for the PS5. They are practically shipping an emulator with each PS1 and PS2 titles on the service where as if they got a proper PS3 emulator running then they could enable disc support for PS1 2 & 3 games to play natively on a PS5.

The reason they don't put in the effort like MS did is $$. Ryan said nobody wants to play old games and he would rather sell you access to them instead of give it to you. That is a sign of market leadership and why MS was giving things away. The one who is behind will stop at nothing to try and get attention. As it is, I like MS being behind though... I get lots of free stuff (that technically isnt free). Sony is at least adding morte stuff to Now+ than was there before. PS1, PSP and PS5 is coming to it, although PS5 coming was sort of a given since we are in the age of the PS5. But PS1 and PSP are nice additions that still puzzle me as to why they never were to begin with.

Does anyone remember all the PS1 and PSP games for purchase on the PS Store as well as given away on PS+ back in the day? I still have several on my PS3.

[thesoftware730]

Great summary, I agree with almost all of what you said.

I also have first hand experience with PSnow and Did not hate it, though it was solid. That is the reason I was expecting more from and enhance PS+.

And I have been saying the same thing about the middle tier, totally pointless, with nonsense monthly pricing. They had the opportunity to take some thunder from GP, but instead it will only be known as a lesser sub service and practically have little to no effect on the competition.

Oh well, I like sub services so its possible that I'll do 1 year depending on the PS5 offering, I played all the big guns already and don't care much for basic un-enhanced PS1 and PS2 games, and hard pass on PS3 streaming.

[ABizzel1]

@darth

Yes, they were called PS Classics back then and there were over 200 of them back on the PS3. Hopefully that library is what they use for this new service.

PS2 needs a HUGE boost to its current offering.

PS3 is solid just missing some key titles.

PS4 needs to have all first party-games there except current-selling cross-gen, and needs way more support from 3rd party AAA games.

PS5 should have launch titles (Demon's Souls / especially with the Elden Ring hype), PS4 remakes for PS5 (like Ghost of Tsushima), more niche games like Returnal / MLB, and good 3rd party support.

If the library is good, then they at least have the most important thing taken care of and can add features / benefits later.

[Kakashi Hatake]

It's not just about "deep pockets". Call me when Hellblade 2 has the quality TLOU2 had. Xbox fans don't get that MS is the one playing catch up, not Sony. MS exclusives doesn't have the quality top tier Sony ones have. Why should Sony just HBO Max their games when they sell? They can put the game on the service once it makes what's needed for an improved sequel.

[StarkR3ality]

Bad example games wise as I actually think the first hell blade is better than Last of us 2 (That is my opinion though ofc).

I agree with the fact that Sony 1st party output has far exceeded Xbox's, not as much this gen so far as on average Xbox has had better reviewed games, but once the big hitters for Sony come out it'll be the same story as last gen.

[LoveSpuds]

Honestly, Sony have been up front and explained that simply cannot continue to invest in games they way they have been and then give them away for practically nothing on a streaming service.

To me, I am more than happy with Sony putting quality over pumping out more mediocre content. I can't count how many times I've seen the expression 'it's a good gamepass title' in message boards. Sums it up, pretty much.

[Obscure_Observer]

"To me, I am more than happy with Sony putting quality over pumping out more mediocre content. I can't count how many times I've seen the expression 'it's a good gamepass title' in message boards. Sums it up, pretty much"

Well, last time I checked:

https://n4g.com/news/246988...

I can´t help but wonder what "quality" you´re referring to. Last year Xbox Studios had the best scored games on Metacritic. All Day One games on Gamepass (Forza Horizon 5, Flight Simulator, AOE IV and Halo Infinite.) while costing less than Sony´s offerings (60$ vs 70$).

This year Sony released HFW (88) and GT7 (87 with the worst userscore in Playstation history. *17*. Ragnarok is also coming this year, and I have no doubts that it´s gonna be an awesome game.

On Xbox side, we still haven´t seen nothing regarding gameplay for Starfield, Redfall and Forza Motorsport, and I can´t wait to hear what lame excuses Sony will make to justify "quality" for pricing its crossgen games at 70$ while Xbox will deliver true next gen games for 60$ with the potential to score even or higher on Metacritic in comparisson with Sony´s games this year.

[BlackTar187]

Halo is almost dead and still suffers from multiple issues. Don't believe me check the stream average users log. It's down below or near games like Squad.

No one is talking about halo or playing it.

[Obscure_Observer]

@BlackTar187

Whatever you say, dude. We´re talking about quality. And while Halo Infinite got the same metascore as Gran Turismo 7, it´s far from GT´s disaster. 80 vs 17 usercore.

Now that Lyan said that Day One games on PS Plus would result in "less quality" games, the said games will be under a microscope and Sony better deliver on quality to justify their most expensive games.

It´s gonna be interesting to watch if Xbox will be able to deliver higher quality games in comparison with Playstation this year while releasing those games day one on Gamepass or retail and digital for 60$ or less.

Interesting times ahead.

[Nacho_Z]

That's one year when Xbox edged it, is it like that every year?

[Traecy]

Both services are mediocre. Gamepass doesn't have current/brand new AAA 1st party bangers or AAA 3rd party releasing on Gamepass every month. The current big games that are on Gamepass are several of months old. Any new games that have landed on the service lately are independent games.

[Redemption-64]

You seemed a bit salty. The only reason MS even got publisher of the year was because they literally and I mean literally purchased some of those studios, they had no involvement in the development of those games, outside coming in and saying we own you now, with these games almost done. Psychonauts 2 is literally a crowd funded game and Sony had more influence on Deathloop than MS. The creative/game director literally thanked Sony for believing in their vision.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

CrossfireX (39 on Metacritic) already ruined Microsoft's publishing average score this year though.

[Kakashi Hatake]

One year, let's see it continue. You really going to try to undermine the fact that Sony has great exclusive quality? They're known for it. Wish we would be honest here.

[Chevalier]

Weird last I checked we're getting consistent 1st and 3rd party games whereas what's actually coming for Xbox?!

You make it seem like Xbox is stringing all these releases together yet it's a bunch of either delayed games or games well off in the horizon.

Just look at Perfect Dark. 34 staff members gone in 12 months when it's already a small team to begin with. Half their core team is gone.
https://www.gamesindustry.b...
https://www.videogameschron...

Or Major games nowhere near close to releasing.
https://comicbook.com/gamin...

All hype and nothing much to show for it. Except what a couple indie games on the horizon? Apparently Redfall is the next to be delayed too. So what's left? Forza and Starfield? Wow. What a huge list bro

As for Metacritic scores you conveniently forgot the lowest rated Xbox published game this year? Crossfire X? Want to talk about charging too much for a garbage product that's it

[Obscure_Observer]

@Redemption-64

"The only reason MS even got publisher of the year was because they literally and I mean literally purchased some of those studios, they had no involvement in the development of those games, outside coming in and saying we own you now, with these games almost done. Psychonauts 2 is literally a crowd funded game"

And you call me salty? XD. You´re have no idea what you´re talking about. You´re just another uninformed person trying to pass as a smart one. Here! From Tim Schafer himself:

"With Psychonauts 2, we could see the end of our budget coming up, and so we had cut a lot of stuff [...] We had cut our boss fights. Now we are able to put those back in, and we're like 'we think people would have noticed if we didn't have those boss fights'. Being able to complete the game in the way that it was meant to be was very important."

https://www.usgamer.net/art...

From Pete Hines himself:

"First, let me say that we’re not making any landmark announcements or changes right now. As we’ve all shared, the expectation is that Bethesda Softworks and our studios will continue as we have in the past, just with more support and resources than we’ve ever had before."

https://bethesda.net/en/art...

So much for "Microsoft had no involvement in the development of those games"

Next time, try and educate yourself before spell nonsense.

@Kakashi Hatake

"You really going to try to undermine the fact that Sony has great exclusive quality? They're known for it. Wish we would be honest here."

Good, let´s be honest. Ryan is the one who said that making Day One games on their subscription services would have a negative impact on the said games quality. If that´s the case, I think it´s only realistic to expect Playstation games to to exceed Xbox games in quality, right? Specially considering that PS games are more expensive?

That guy is full of sh!T. I remember all that "we believe in generations" bs talk when Xbox confirmed that MS would support Xbox One consoles till 2022.

How´s things turn out? In 2022 Sony has three crossgen games/sequels while MS is expected to release 2 brand new next gen IPs and a next gen reboot for Forza Motorsport.

Again, I can´t wait to see whatever bs excuses Sony will come up with to justify 70$ and and the lack of Day One first party games on PS Plus in case upcoming Xbox games turn out and get better metascores.

[Chevalier]

"How´s things turn out? In 2022 Sony has three crossgen games/sequels while MS is expected to release 2 brand new next gen IPs and a next gen reboot for Forza Motorsport."

Speak for yourself. What exactly has Xbox released in terms of exclusives this year? Barely any AAA content at all. You seem to think a whole whopping 2 exclusives is a lot. Its not fyi. Playstation already has Tokyo Ghostwire (even if it's an Xbox studio it's not on Xbox yet), Forspoken, sifu then Stray, Little Devil Inside and a bunch of exclusives on the way.

Absolutely idiotic that you mention sequels to some of the best selling Playstation exclusives negatively then what do you mention? Forza. Weird.... that's a sequel so why would the 8th iteration of a game be better than Horizon or GoW?! Can't even keep your own dumb logic straight.

But yeah go ahead and list that Xbox studio game that even broke 10 million units in the last decade or so?! Or even recent games which Xbox studio game even sold 10 million?!

Again why are you bringing up metacritic? Did you already forget the lowest rated Xbox studio published game recently? Crossfire X? In your own words, how are things turning out for you in 2022?! Oh right a bunch of games being delayed and nothing on the horizon. It's absolutely desperate that you literally have to scrape the bottom of the barrel and all you can sadly list off is Forza and 2 new IPs, 1 of which is reportedly going to be delayed.

Whereas while you talk about games that may come out, Playstation literally just releases games continuously, Sifu, Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7, Tokyo Ghostwire. Averaging over a new game release each month. Whereas Xbox has what in comparison? Or right nothing.

[Obscure_Observer]

@Chevalier

"Just look at Perfect Dark. 34 staff members gone in 12 months when it's already a small team to begin with. Half their core team is gone."

It´s a first party studio made from the ground up, genius. It´s not all flowers. To build a beloved franchise from ZERO with a brand new team takes time and no Xbox fans want a rushed product specially a new Perfect Dark. So spare me of your fake concern.

"Apparently Redfall is the next to be delayed too. So what's left? Forza and Starfield? Wow. What a huge list bro"

Do you have information that we don´t about Redfall or are you so desperate and delusional, to the point of making some fabricated FUD BS?

"As for Metacritic scores you conveniently forgot the lowest rated Xbox published game this year? Crossfire X?"

Crossfire X is a third party IP developed by third party studios a.k.a Remedy and Smilegate. Yes, it was published by XGS. But it´s not a first party game, so I don´t give a damn.

FYI, Forza Motorsport is not a sequel. It´s a reboot that will bring the IP back to it´s SIM roots. No Simcade anymore. No crossgen crap. A true next gen racing build from the scratch on a next gen engine. GT7 can´t barely keep up with FM7, so don´t act surprised if the new Forza turn out to be the superior game. Again!

"Whereas Xbox has what in comparison? Or right nothing."

You seem nervous. XD

We´re good. We have a whole E3 to be excited for. And a lot of games too! Hellblade 2, Fable, Avowed, Everwild, Project Mara, State of Decay 3, TES VI, Indiana Jones, Contraband, Project Dragon, Perfect Dark, Starfield, Outer Worlds 2, Project Midnight, Redfall... not to mention new IPs from InXile, The Coalition and Double Fine. And don´t even get me started on the upcoming new games from Activision/Blizzard.

Now, try and guess whose crowd will be E3´s biggest audience? That´s right. The PS crowd. Why? Because most of them are true gamers that love games. And, there the lacks of you that are dying on anxiety to see if the said games will be crap, so you can feel good about yourself. Lol.

[Gardenia]

What Microsoft is trying to do is make the game pass something like Netflix for gaming. Sony is aiming for an extra feature for the people who want it.
Personally I am more interested to see how many PS1 and PS2 games there will be on the PS Plus. If over time hundreds of classics will be available then for me it is worth it.

[Eonjay]

I mean Plus has 700 games on it. Why are people acting like they didn't announce that lol. This is more Netflix than Gamepass IMO. Just the fact that it cost less for a year of Plus and you get over twice the number of games. Why is that being ignored. Isn't this about access to a library of games? Of is it specifically only about Microsoft's games and nothing else? Because Plus isn't gonna have MS first party games in it. And vice versa.

[BlackTar187]

Ms owns the media.

[darthv72]

Maybe its because you are still paying to play something you likely already own. I dont have to pay for any of the XB or 360 games in GP as I already own them. I can pop in a disc at any time and play on my XBO. I also own several digital PS1/PSP games on my PS3/PSP but I cant play those on my PS4/5 unless I buy into the new Now+.

Maybe Sony will let me play them if they can see i already bought them, after they flip the switch of course. They spent a lot of time digitizing those PS1 and PSP games on the PS store and its very likely that majority (if not all) of them will be added to Now+. So i will be keeping an eye on my library but if that day comes and I can't play what i already paid for now that it is available... then I'd have to pay again for something I already own. That's not a good look, especially in the face of XB and how you can use what you already own at no extra cost.

just have to wait and see.

[Kakashi Hatake]

Their BS argument is only day one games count. It's a flawed argument considering most of the value comes from the non day one games. Otherwise, one may as well just buy the game. It's not like MS is releasing AAA games every month. I'm fine buying a quality Sony exclusive and playing games that are 6 months to a year old on the service. Devs have to make their money if we expect a quality increase. Movies make more of an impact releasing in theaters instead of going straight to HBO Max.

[thesoftware730]

Because PSnow already offered as much that's is why..there is nothing really new with that. PSnow was mediocre and so is this..PS5 offering which was inevitable is the only good thing from this.

And according to you and Sony, no one wants old games right? Well here you go, being happy with 700 old ones..and about 650 of them or more have been there and no one really cared.

[Chevalier]

" I dont have to pay for any of the XB or 360 games in GP as I already own them"

You know everyone makes this out to be way bigger than it is. The list that's playable is great, but, its extremely tiny. I have a pretty decent size 360 collection and only 6 or 7 of my games are backward compatible and my single Xbox King of Fighters Neowave game is playable. Plus they're not even expanding that selection anymore.

PS4 back catalog alone is more than Xbox One/360/OG Xbox catalog combined. If we want to talk about supported back catalog.

[lodossrage]

I don't get what the problem is here.

The only was it would be an equal to gamepass is if they put their first party games on there day to date. Which is the only relevant difference between the two. And Sony doesn't have to do that mainly because their first party games sell extremely well. If my product sold, I wouldn't give it away for $1 a month either. And yes, I know that's not the official game pass price, but it's constantly on sale cheaply at that price.

[Nacho_Z]

This is my view too. The door is also open to putting the occasional big first party game on there on release day should they choose to in the future.

[FlavorLav01]

I could see them do this with some of their future MP live service titles.

[Aussiesummer]

Sure looks like a scared limp reactiion from sony.
They couldn't possibly put first parties on there. Oh no. Lame.

[chronoforce]

When you can actually sell 20 million copies of your games as opposed to just attracting the players in you can understand their hesitation. When you take that into consideration. Halo Infinite for example reaching 20 million players is not really much of an accomplishment from Sony's perspective and certainly not the number Sony would be looking at to justify putting their production in at Day one.

[FlavorLav01]

I wouldn’t give my art away for next to free either if I was proud of the quality.

[Chevalier]

To be fair Xbox is trying to claw back into the race it doesn't hurt them very much to offer their 1st party games day 1 because their games sell mediocre at best. So you want to talk limp reaction that's exactly it. Games already weren't selling so increasing the 'value' of the service didn't hurt them.

Whereas putting 1st party games from Playstation onto their service 100% would affect their sales and bottom line. Just look at how many games Sony has produced that have sold 15-20 million copies in the last what 5-7 years? The Last of Us 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4, God Of War, Spiderman, Spiderman Miles Morales, Ghost of Tsushima etc. They're averaging 1 a year. Which Xbox exclusive even sold 10 million in the last decade?! Go ahead and list them off.

When you're sales were literally the worst selling Forza, worst selling Gears, worst selling Halo games and all your franchises are on a steep decline in sales its really easy to add to your service when they're already underperforming anyways. Xbox already was limping into this generation so they didn't really have any good alternatives especially when they're not releasing much.

[CrimsonWing69]

The only thing that makes this for me is the access to legacy games. Not sure that’s worth $18 a month, but we’ll see.

[darthv72]

seeing as each ps1 game will include its own emulation wrapper (downloaded, not streamed), why dont they just let you use your physical disc to validate ownership and then it downloads the digital version? I like the way MS does it... at no extra cost.

[CrimsonWing69]

I think that’s a great idea.

My biggest fear is they handle this like the Switch Virtual Console. What I really wish is for them to make all PS1 and PS2 games accessible that were on the PS3 PSN store. I mean they were going to close it down anyways so why not?

[darthv72]

^^agreed. the only caveat would be if the PS4/5 optical drives are not compatible with CD media, then they would not be able to validate the discs (for PS1 and some PS2 games anyways) but DVD media should be able to be validated and then the digital PS2 game begins downloading. It shouldnt be that hard to do but maybe Sony just doesnt want to give this stuff away like MS?

[SonyStyled]

The PS4 doesn’t have a CD optical drive. It might not even have a DVD drive either. PS5 I would imagine the same but I don’t know for certain

[crazyCoconuts]

Even the premium PS Plus plan is $60 a year cheaper than the comparable combo of Gold + GamePass. So at least it's priced better.

[CrimsonWing69]

Yea, but I guess paying, what a couple dollars more a month gives you access to EA's vault (so most EA games) and Day 1 first party games? Also, the offerings on Gamepass aren't shabby, I mean, Guardians of the Galaxy is on there and that's not an old game. There's one hell of a selection on top of getting new games Day 1.

What we really need to see is the library Sony has to offer. I'm in it for the legacy game selection. I'm hoping I can play a bunch of Capcom and Squaresoft games from PS1 on this.

[crazyCoconuts]

I agree the value of GamePass is awesome right now. It's like $5/month more though

[Kakashi Hatake]

This is a flawed argument. MS isn't releasing a lot of "Day One" games anyway so the value rests on the other games. If one doesn't personally care for those games then it's a moot point.

[darthv72]

@kakashi, MS arent the only ones to have day 1 on GP. They promote day 1 games in general. Nobody said it was ONLY their games.

[Profchaos]

Yeah it's not perfect but it's better than nothing.
As someone who has used gamepass but primarily games on PS the lack of day 1 titles on ps plus is a downer however the quality of those titles between Xbox and PS are leagues apart halo and gears are still good games but they don't hit the heights of God of war or the Last of us.

Really that comes down to funding Xbox loses money on these day 1 titles to play the long game and it was an easy decision for ms as they were not selling well gears 4 and halo 5 were the last pre gamepass exclusives and arguably the worst reviewed and performing games so a shake up was needed.

Sony doesn't see the point since the quality is high enough to get some nice sales without making them free

[Kaze88]

We do not even know what the title line up is yet for the Sony service. Yes day one release is superb for MS game pass, but Sony does not have such deep pockets. If the line up for Sony's service is even good, it will have value for people, specially if they have a ps only. For me PC game pass was "underwhelming" to say the least since I already owned all the good titles it had to offer and there were not so many of them either. Somehow I expected the line up being bigger than what it was. Maybe after their recent buy outs it might be value even for me, but let's see the quality of their offerings first. Quantity means shit, if the games are shit.

[GamingSinceForever]

These journalists and unrealistic gamers are upset that MS couldn’t force Sony’s hand with the day one giveaways. It simply makes zero financial sense for Sony to do that. They stand to make more selling 10M copies of HFW than to give it away on the subscription service.

[TiredGamer]

Microsoft had little to lose by going all-in on Day 1 exclusives in a subscription model. They had to do something to shake up their business model. Until recently, the MS first party portfolio was skinny. On the other hand, Sony has much to lose by going all-in with that kind of model - it makes sense for them to approach this very cautiously. MS and Playstation are not equal in development philosophy or their exclusive portfolio. Make no mistake that if subscriptions become the main source of revenue for either company, the AAA games will suffer or thin out completely. It's about the economics.

[Aloymetal]

''These journalists and unrealistic gamers are upset that MS couldn’t force Sony’s hand with the day one giveaways.''

This a 120%, it's all by design, MS wants PlayStation to copy gamepass, force them with Hemorrhaging money just like xbox does to windows. I'm so glad Sony didn't follow suit, I want them to keep doing what they've been doing for the last 27 yrs, great AAA exclusive games, goty contender games and new IP's. Leave that rinse and repeat crap to MS.

[Charlieboy333]

It's the upset journalists/xbox fanboys who were hoping Sony would copy Microsoft because that would give them the vaidation that what Microsoft is doing with gamepass is 'the future' and they were right. But Sony said 'nope' that aint gonna work and deep down all these fanboys know it's not gonna work. The slide in quality and talent is starting to show on xbox.

[Lexreborn2]

Lol no it doesn’t, ps plus is just combining 2 services in 1 but adding more games. If you have a default portfolio of 700+ games how does that come off underwhelming?

And it’s still cheaper, is it underwhelming purely because day 1 exclusives aren’t a thing? Just to confirm there hasn’t been that many day 1 exclusives and most of the day 1 games that’s dropped have been a mess at launch.

Most of its value has come from older 3rd party titles that weren’t expected and the spare indie game that’s really good. Hasn’t been much different then when PS plus or (when gwg was decent) GWG would drop that decent indie for the months release.

The spins for gamepass gotta stop. We get it, it’s a decent service that has good moments. But by far is it not the best available or out there. I still pay roughly 130 bucks a year for humble bundle which lets me keep the games and has its own trove.

There are plenty of options

[aaronaton]

Glad to see SONY wanting to keep physical alive + the right for the developer to fully capitalise on their hard work and investment....unlike MS

[ReadyPlayer22]

Microsoft isn't the one making you pay for backwards compatibility. Yeah, physical alive. Lmao, what a joke

[Chevalier]

Really that pathetically small Xbox, 360 selection which isn't being expanded on anymore and Xbox One games is so much backward compatibility. Seriously PS4 library alone absolutely by the numbers outnumber those 3 generations COMBINED. Guess how much it cost to play my PS4 library on PS5? Zero. It's free. Playstation also physical sales more than double Xbox sales too. Get your FACTS straight.

Xbox is significantly more about digital sales, just look at Series S all digital and Gamepass sales. Microsoft own report even pointed out a significant drop off in 3rd party games sales on Xbox. That's straight from their own reports so it's ironic your trying to suggest the opposite is true. Playstation absolutely dominates physical game sales and currently has more backward compatible games is FACT

[rippermcrip]

The only advantage GP has is "day 1 first party". Sony has all other advantages. The catalog is much bigger.

Microsoft's first party titles have suffered in quality the past few years. Is that because of GP or just the usually Microsoft isn't really good at making games on their own? They ruined Halo after getting it from Bungie. They made Gears worse.

I don't think Sony wants to water down their titles to make that an option. Sony every single year has GOTY winners or major contenders. Quite often several of them. Microsoft has not seen that in a long time.

[MadLad]

Yup.
And for cheaper.

[Eonjay]

Its not underwhelming... its got 700 games. Do we even get to look at it before the media trys to beat it up lol.

[thesoftware730]

New PS plus is ok, with some oddities, compare it to GP, and that's where it really starts looking 1/2 baked.

New PS plus:
Paid cloud saves.
stupid mid-tier
Premium is monthly more expensive than GP
PS3 game streaming
No day 1 Sony exclusives($70), even though the price point is similar or more expensive than GP.

Sony could make some adjustments by June or announce something else to make it more attractive; as it stands is nothing to write home about.

[Eonjay]

First it has over 700 games. That right there is the crux. Also Premium yearly is cheaper than GP Ultimate. You called the 400 games in mid tier stupid. Thas already more than all of Gamepass. Cloud saves have always been a part of PSplus. In fact you get cloud saves without PSPlus but Plus just gives you more space. PS3 is streaming... thats better than not having them at all.

[John_McClane]

You do not get cloud saves without ps+, as far as I know.

[thesoftware730]

"Also Premium yearly is cheaper than GP Ultimate"

That's why I said Monthly.

"First it has over 700 games".

PSnow already offered that amount of games, I think it was something like 800 games, 300 downloadable..nothing new here.

" You called the 400 games in mid tier stupid. That's already more than all of Gamepass".

See my above response, Sony' should have done two tiers, the basic and the premium the price difference is $20 yearly and $2 monthly, way to Nickle and dime people. Why not just make the premium the price of the "Extra" $99 annually, especially since they are behind the curb subscription wise compared to GP.

"Cloud saves have always been a part of PSplus. In fact you get cloud saves without PSPlus but Plus just gives you more space".

False, Sony locked cloud save behind PS +, no other way to get it. To top it off its limited. MS has 100% free cloud saves.

"PS3 is streaming... thats better than not having them at all".
LOL, I get it to settle for less for your money, you know it is possible for them to make them downloadable right?

You are one of the biggest hypocrites on any messages boards I have visited. You are high on bashing GP/MS every moment you get, now here you are defending this lesser service.

[Eonjay]

@John okay thanks for that correction

@Thesoftware
'Thats why I said monthly'
I don't see your point. PSPlus is still cheaper.

'PSNow already has that amount of games'
700 games is still 400 more game than 300 games. You don't have a point. I said PSPlus has more games. Thats a fact.

Cloud saves: John already responded to that. I can admit if I make a mistake.

'You know Sony can make the PS3 games downloadable right?'
No I don't know this I don't work for Sony and neither do you but I am pretty sure that it they could make them downloadeable they would because people would prefer that. They aren't some evil corporation lol.

"You are one of the biggest hypocrites on any messages boards I have visited. You are high on bashing GP/MS every moment you get"
You are a damn liar. I have stated multiple times that GP makes sense for Microsoft and I have explained why. It should be fairly obvous why they went that route and for their busines it makes a lot of sense. What I argue against is subscription services at large. I think the industry will be drowning in them at the rate we are going and that it will only result in consumers paying more.
That being said. A cheaper service offering 700 games is objectively better than a more expensive service offering 300 games.

Does that make GP a bad service... not at all. See your whole attack was to try to make a serive giving you 700 games a bad deal. That is make you the hypocrite doesn't it?

[brewin]

Thank heavens that Sony's big exclusives turn out so good or they'd be in a lot of trouble this gen. This narrative that they can't add their premium exclusives to PlayStation Plus Premium is complete hogwash and they know it. They could easily compete directly with Gamepass but they don't want to.

They are already worried that their business model is not sustainable, proven by their recent head first dive into the world of service games and microtransactions. Their "premium" tier is not on par. Sure they have better overall exclusives now, but they need to be constantly looking over their shoulder. They are investing heavily into niche stuff like VR while Xbox is investing HEAVILY in premium games to compete with Sony's premium games.

Xboxs premium games will be on their service on day 1 though. Sony is betting their fans are willing to pay more for less once again and all of these missteps are going to haunt them in the long run. Eventually they will have to put their 1st party on the service day 1 as well.

[GamingSinceForever]

If MS actually begins investing heavily into their premium games they will begin to offer less day one games. This is especially for single player games where they can’t charge for Micro transactions.

[brewin]

Have you not been paying attention? They've got tons of AAA in the pipeline and they're all coming to Gamepass day 1. Sony has no excuse. It's just their way if conditioning their fanbase to pay more for less.

[GamingSinceForever]

Read what I said very carefully. MS isn’t putting $100M dollars into these single player projects right now.

[brewin]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

More false narrative 😂 check the list there's like one Sony game in there. You people who equate higher cost of development with better game are absolutely ridiculous. Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most expensive games ever made. You all see how that turned out. But sure let's keep equating higher costs with better games 😂🤷🙈 Good job exposing yourself as a Sony fanboy though. Only fan boys think that higher cost = better games. What a horrendous way to look at things and more proof how Sony is brainwashing their consumers to pay more.

[Kakashi Hatake]

How about wait for MS to consistently deliver on quality games before calling out Sony. MS has 2 AAA games releasing this year and there no gameplay for either of them.

[brewin]

You've seen the rest of their lineup for the year? Nice crystal ball you've got there . This is such a tired narrative. They have been delivering consistent quality so not sure what you're talking about. Just because you avoid the games does not mean they are not delivering quality
What bad games have they been releasing? Since you seem so sure Xbox games are not high quality, please enlighten me on what sub par quality titles that they have released? Just cuz you didn't play them means they're not quality?!👌

[Chevalier]

"Thank heavens that Sony's big exclusives turn out so good or they'd be in a lot of trouble this gen. This narrative that they can't add their premium exclusives to PlayStation Plus Premium is complete hogwash and they know it. They could easily compete directly with Gamepass but they don't want to."

Actually your own narrative is absolutely hogwash. It 100% would affect their bottom line. Unlike Xbox studios which faced their worst selling and worst rated franchise games ever being put on a service doesn't affect them when they're sales were already declining. Seriously when was the last time Xbox studios released a single game that sold 10 million or more? You'll have to go back like a decade for that. Whereas Playstation in the last what 7 years have released 7 or 8 games that have sold 15-20 million. Playstation studios games absolutely dominate Xbox studios and its not even close whether it's sales or otherwise.

Plus your idea of a subscription service literally doesn't add up. Just look at Netflix they were and still are spending $10 billion a year in content and it took them 15 years to start pulling a profit with 200 million monthly subscribers and no discounts. Xbox studio purchases are close to $80 billion already; that's 8 years worth of content for Netflix worth and you think it pulls a profit?! Lol. It's so highly subsidized with those constant sales for Gamepass memberships and shows signs of slowing down too.

The narrative you painted that this will haunt Playstation absolutely has no grounding in reality whatsoever. Playstation already doubles Xbox in subscription revenue, dominates Xbox store game sales, physical game sales, revenue and accessory sales. In fact they broke the industry record in 2020 and last year also had a record year despite having to lower their sales expectations due to lower hardware sales. There's absolutely no signs this is changing anytime soon either. So yeah we get you like Xbox, but, you absolutely live in Lalaland if you think what you wrote is anywhere near true

[brewin]

You know what's sad is that Sony told everyone they cannot put their games on their new service on day 1 because it would cut into their profits and prevent them from creating these exclusives. The problem is that it was a bold faced lie and you Sony defense force people fell for it hook, line, and sinker!

Sony just admitted without a doubt that their own businesses model cannot keep them afloat. How you ask?! They didn't say that! What hogwash am I spewing now? Well, The devil is in the details.

By announcing that they are heavily investing in Live service games going forward, they have admitted that big budget SP games cannot sustain their business model. Shocker. If all of their games are selling so well, why can't they just keep pumping them out? Because they don't all sell that well and they are forced to dive headfirst into the GaaS games you SDF peeps have been railing on for years.

If their games all sold so well, they wouldn't need to put out 10 to 12 live service games over the next several years. They barely make any money on these SP exclusive games and their own business decisions prove that you are full of crap!

You keep comparing Netflix and using all these stupid analogies, but you're talking yourself into a circle 😂

Fact is that Sony DOES NOT MAKE ENOUGH from their exclusives to keep making those exclusives, so they have to change their entire business model to continue making those exclusives. It's not the subscription service model thats cutting into their profits, it's that they don't make enough money from those exclusives! That's what they just admitted! Hope you can get used to what Sony is adopting now. Gran Turismo 7 was just the start ✌️

[Chevalier]

"Have you not been paying attention? They've got tons of AAA in the pipeline and they're all coming to Gamepass day 1. Sony has no excuse. It's just their way if conditioning their fanbase to pay more for less"

This absolutely idiocy from your own hogwash. This would be like saying the best NBA team leading the game 110-40 in the 3rd quarter should change their gameplan to play down to the loser. It absolutely makes ZERO sense to react and change the strategy to change your gameplan when it's already madly successful.

Playstation literally has DOUBLE the subscription revenue of Xbox even with Gampass.

Playstation literally dominate in every single category versus Xbox and its NOT close at all. Record breaking revenue and sales. So let's review what categories and which ones where Playstation come out in top.

Revenue Playstation
Subscription revenue Playstation
Physical game sales Playstation
Accessory sales Playstation
Digital storefront sales Playstation
1st party games sales Playstation
1st party revenue Playstation
3rd party game sales Playstation

Weird seems Playstation absolutely dominate Xbox in EVERY single category 🤔. In most cases more than double. But they should change the strategy that lead them to record breaking sales?! 🙄 Something something not paying attention.

[brewin]

https://venturebeat.com/202...

Just more trash fake narrative from you. Don't you ever get sick of lying?
Best selling games all 3rd party. The only exclusives that are on the best selling of the decade are 2 Halos and some Nintendo games. 12 of the top 20 are Microsoft owned franchises. What's missing? That's right not a SINGLE PlayStation exclusive on those lists. Just because you keep repeating lies doesn't make them true 🙈

And it's really sad how you can sit there and spread lie after lie and not provide a single piece of evidence to support anything you said. You're a habitual liar and have no credibility whatsoever. So who loves in lalaland? Go get help for that.

[brewin]

So no proof just random numbers. Well here's some numbers for you to chew on. Of the top 50 selling games of ALL TIME, there is not even a single PlayStation game. Not 1. The best selling game in history is published by who?! Xbox Game Studios. In fact, Microsoft owns almost half of the games on the all time best selling list and the others are either on Xbox or are Nintendo games. So why is this the case if Sony is so far ahead of Xbox in every single category according to you? It's because you're delusional and continue to lie, even to yourself. 🙈✌️

[Chevalier]

"So no proof just random numbers"

Yeah last I checked Playstation $24.9 billion in revenue is more than Xbox $16.3 billion. FACT.

2022 by revenue

https://www.kitguru.net/gam...

https://www.google.com/amp/...

Also it's idiotic that you think your proof which only list the U.S. means anything. The U.S. isn't the whole world of gaming. Your link literally says NPD which only covers the U.S.

GamesBeat
NPD: The top 20 best-selling games of the decade in the U.S.

Uhhh.... weird so the U.S. by itself is your dumb argument?! Lol. Don't get me wrong it's a huge market, but, its not the whole market. So only thing you proved is Americans like Shooters. Add in the rest of the world and even Mario kart would dominate that list easily.

2021 Playstation doubled Xbox revenues
https://www.sportskeeda.com...

https://www.google.com/amp/...

"You're a habitual liar and have no credibility whatsoever."

Your proof is so laughably bad. Trying to present NPD as a representation of gaming as a whole. Would be like if I posted Japan's top game list and tell you Nintendo dominated Xbox around the world. Lol. Your 'credibility' is absolutely trash. Says I lie yet post links for U.S. sales proudly like they show worldwide sales. F'n hilarious. Only delusional liar here is you. Your whole narrative about 1st party games on a service proof is absolutely a sham. You honestly think that Xbox and their trillion dollars isn't propping up service losses then you're out to lunch. No other company could soak up losses to set up this service . Aaron Greenburg and Spencer have already confirmed the service hasn't pulled a profit yet.

Also it's a significantly easier decision to include your 1st party games when they are your worst rated and selling entries (previous Halo, Forza, Gears). But you say Xbox is so great right?

Name me 5 Xbox exclusives that have sold 10 million in the last decade that wasn't just bought like COD?!

Playstation has 15-20 million for TLOU, TLOU2, Uncharted 4, GoW, Horizon, Spiderman, Spiderman Miles Morales etc

[brewin]

US sales don't matter, yet they are the biggest legit gaming market outside of China, which only recently began selling PS and Xboxs 😂😂😂
29318; and it's not even really close, the next closest is Japan at about half of US gamers. Fact is, one Xbox GameStudio game (Minecraft) has literally outsold every single PlayStation exclusive ever made. Go look it up for yourself since you only care about sales numbers.

For those that like to argue that numbers matter so much, that little ditty gets left out of the conversation. And when you factor in all the new franchises they now own, it's no wonder that business analysts are starting to question if the PS brand is in trouble. Sonys stubbornness, mismanagement, and reliance on outdated and anti consumer business practices will be their undoing.

The other sad thing about your argument is that I never once even said Xbox is better than PlayStation or anything if the sort 😂😂😂 you're just such a fanboy you get outraged so easily. You must be one of those woke Democrats or something

[Chevalier]

"For those that like to argue that numbers matter so much, that little ditty gets left out of the conversation. And when you factor in all the new franchises they now own, it's no wonder that business analysts are starting to question if the PS brand is in trouble. Sonys stubbornness, mismanagement, and reliance on outdated and anti consumer business practices will be their undoing."

Again your opinion on things are being passed off as 'facts'. You keep mentioning Gamepass and that Sony could and should put 1st party content day 1. Except here's the thing you literally have not provided a single shred of evidence which is 💯 absolutely ironic since you said I provided no numbers. I did revenue etc.

Where is YOUR proof with tangible numbers proving that Gamepass being profitable and that MS isn't propping up losses to build a platform? Where are you numbers on subscription costs and why it's feasible to put 1st party content day 1 for Playstation?!

Again you're saying all this stuff about analyst and anti-consumer practices yet again didn't post a single link with FACTUAL data to back your argument up. Just because you think so is not based off FACTS. Nor are your opinions in any way factual.

Then you stupidly mention Minecraft?!! Lol. Microsoft bought that game. They didn't create it, unlike Uncharted, GoW, TLOU, Horizon. Buying a studio and single game doesn't have anything to do with the creation of that game even. Would be like saying oh Sony had 50 million Destiny 1 and 2 sales.... yeah they didn't create the Destiny franchise now did they? Oh Sony has one of the MOST played MP games on Xbox because Destiny >>>> Halo by player count. Again why not make that claim?! Because Sony didn't create Destiny they bought it.

Again the U.S. isn't the whole world even if it is the biggest market all it does is skew your argument because you cherry picked the one market that supports your argument. Say we chose all of Europe which is even bigger than the U.S. market alone then say COD doesn't do well there then you could say COD doesn't do that well worldwide? No that would be dumb to say and untrue.

Just look at quarterly reports for EA, Ubisoft, 2K, Square, Activision etc and you'll see CONSISTENTLY that Playstation always is the biggest portion of those companies sales by percentage and usually double or more what's sold on Xbox. Those reports INCLUDE the worldwide numbers too along with digital and physical sales included. Those are more accurate representation of the market. Last quarterly reports for all those major publishers also show that.

Again go ahead and list those 10 million sellers that Xbox created in the last decade Again? Oh right you couldn't because there are none.

Go ahead and list any links that back up anything you said about analyst, revenue etc?! Oh right you asked for numbers but couldn't present any?! Again your idiotic opinions are NOT fact. Where's this sales data for subscriptions and the feasibility of 1st party games?! Yeah again nothing to back up your claims.

[Silly gameAr]

Well, the option is there for people that want it. If getting brand new games day one means so much, then I guess Sony should cut back their budgets on their games, and make them all live service to make money. That worked so well for GT7. Look how the media ate that one up.

If over 700 games doesn't appeal to people who call themselves gamers, then I don't know what will.

[brewin]

I don't think people are arguing it's not appealing or a good value. It's just not worth it for alot of people if it doesn't include those new release games. It's actually a great price for everything you're getting, but the other company is still a step ahead. No way Gamepass becomes as much of a success as it is if they didn't put those exclusives on there day 1. That's what the big deal is and why most are willing to pay for the service.

The thing that is overlooked is that Sony may still offer some day 1 games. I didn't see anything that said they wouldn't put anything new on there day 1. Honestly, im happy they're at least doing trials of new games. Some of their exclusives are niche titles, so a trial is a good option to have in those instances.

I'm actually really intrigued by the new tiers as I like having the option to check it facts I missed or didn't finish without having to buy every game.

As gamers, we should all be happy that companies are offering these subscriptions as they really are a more consumer friendly option. That's why I've enjoyed Gamepass from the start and the reason I like the new direction of PS Plus. I just don't like Sony's excuse for not putting games on there day and date. They could, but don't want to. Maybe that will change over time as more people subscribe.

[ChasterMies]

On an annual basis PS+ is cheaper than Game Pass at all tiers, and I care more about cost than anything else.

[Eonjay]

I care mostly about content. And PSPlus has way more games. At a cheaper annual price. The MS PR machine acts like Microsoft 1st party games are so good that they should just make up for everything else. Just no.

[SurgicalMenace]

It's not underwhelming to an individual who knows it an option that adds to Sonys already robust ecosystem. When you buy your titles and just appreciate having an option to conveniently play all your games on one console it's a nice addition. To expect day 1 releases is a slap in the face to individuals who pay full price to make them as great as they are. The numbers show that people don't mind buying games on Playstation. The same can't be said about MS community. Just my two cents. I'm getting premium, as I already have Plus and Now, currently.

[Aloymetal]

It's all by design, MS wants PlayStation to copy gamepass, force them with Hemorrhaging money just like xbox does to windows. I'm so glad Sony didn't follow suit, I want them to keep doing what they've been doing for the last 27 yrs, great AAA exclusive games, goty contender games and new IP's. Leave that rinse and repeat crap to MS.

[Neonridr]

after diving deeper into this new service for Sony it's clear they aren't intended to be directly compared to each other. Clearly MS is pushing this as their premier service where any and every 1st party game will be there day and date with physical releases. Sony is adopting a slightly different strategy, but I expect their 1st party titles will all eventually show up on this service, probably sooner than they would have when everything was split. But Sony still believes in the power of a full sale vs a "rental". And that's ok. To each their own.

[anast]

Gampass first party releases are jank and this is it's "selling point". It's sad to see Sony inching closer to Xbox's "Walmart model".

[Orchard]

But the facts don't back that up...

- FH5 was the highest scoring first party game for 2021
- MS was the publisher of the year
- Of the big 3, only Microsoft appear in the top 10 games for 2021 on Metacritic. Sony doesn't appear until #29

There is nothing sad about us consumers getting a better deal.

[John_McClane]

No day one 1st party releases to Sony's new service kinda kills it for me.

[SurgicalMenace]

@Orchard

With all that said Sony has more supporters and standout qualities, products, experiences.

Metacritc is subjective. Publisher of the year means nothing when you had to buy your way into it. Those companies were publishing those games before MS purchased them so....

The best deal is critically acclaimed exclusives, great tech, strong 3rd part support, and now a convenient inclusive service that's an option instead of a lifeline. The numbers show that without GP the XB community wouldn't support MS efforts. The same can't be said on the Sony side of things.

[SurgicalMenace]

The best way to get day 1 releases is to buy them. People waiting to get things for free are the problem not the solution.

[Eonjay]

Forza will always be scored high. Thats just the way it is. But this isn't about Meta scores. Its about profits. Forza has never once outsold GT (fact). When you ask people what they want to spend their money on, Microsoft loses (fact). This is why they can give their games away on GamePass. People weren't really buying them anyway (fact). I think it upsets some people that folks are more than okay with paying for Sony's games. Your real argument is with gamers. You don't get why they keep supporting Sony and you don't like that this means that Sony doesn't have to copy Microsoft because the consumers will continue to support them as they have been.

[Kakashi Hatake]

It was an off year for Sony. Let's see MS do this consistently. A racing game? Compare that to Sony's best years with games like Ghosts of Tsushima, TLOU2, Uncharted 4, Bloodbourne, etc. MS had a decent year now you guys are acting like it's the norm.

[Rainbowcookie]

What so you mean? It's only the lack of quality xbox games for the last few years that made gamepass an reality and the only option to try and show value to the customer. Sony had quality. Ps Plus 2.0 is just the cherry on top of VR, Audio and Haptic innovations, single player games and a creation community in Dreams.

[Stanjara]

They did absolutely nothing as I see it. Sony just combined Now and Plus because nobody was using Now and they had to present low numbers to financial report.

"Now", they can just present Plus subscribers - 40mil whatever.
Smart for Sony, not for consumer - we just get paid demos.

Not gonna sub, I just buy a game that I like.

[hiawa23]

I am looking forward to what Sony is offering. I absolutely love Gamepass, and it is really sad to me that yet again many just can't enjoy what each platform brings to the table and why these topics always go to gamers retreating to one side praising their side and bashing the other like the poison that politics have become.

So, I say Sony bring it on, cause many of us multi-console gamers love our Xbox, Sony and Nintendo games and a healthy gaming industry is good for all gamers. Time will tell if it is better than Gamepass or not, but I plan to enjoy both. Competition is good.

[z2g]

as a ps5 owner im glad this simplifies the services and bundles everything up so its easier (like xbox). but also as a series x owner, its disappointing that sony's new service misses the single biggest thing that makes gamepass amazing: day one drops on new releases. sony could have 2000 games in its library, but the thing that matters most in my opinion is getting new games. they are usually the most expensive and it gives you less risk to try things you are unsure about - or just simply getting to play the latest and greatest without needing to cough up a bunch of money. its also kind of a bummer that all the "old" games are streaming games, not installable games. streaming is fine, gamepass ultimate has that too, but there are a lot of factors that affect the quality, so the better solution is installs.

[SurgicalMenace]

All this day 1 stuff. Name one day one release on GP that matches the quality of Sony's offerings?

[headshotfrosty]

Exactly

[Levii_92]

I really need more details on this new ps+ thing before final conclusion.. so far i’m not really impressed i expected a lot more. I hope at least they will improve the streaming quality and add a lot more ps2 and ps1 titles cause before it was laughable.

[shauzy]

i would like to redownload my old fucking purchases of ps1 titles instead of being forced to pay the monkey jim ryan

[jeromeface]

I have plenty of games across the platforms I still game on. With a backlog that would take me over 2 years to plow through. I also still have my ps3 if I wanted to retro game. I've set myself up to not have to rely on these services and and am glad I did so.

[kikicub]

Sad that PS fans in their disappointment of the "new service" choose to double-down bashing GP instead of telling Sony they're way off the mark. Envy is an awful thing, kids...

[Solitariussaint]

Streaming is a cancer and goes against traditional AAA quality videogames.

[Elda]

Both services are mediocre. Any game I have a high interest to play I'll buy. As a first-time XB owner since this past December, I decided to get a Gamepass subscription & I find the subscription is fine if I want to play generations of classic XB first-party titles. The service is fine if I want to play some newly released indie & low-budget games. But there are no new AAA exclusives releasing on Gamepass for the next 8 months (November) & any AAA multi-plats releasing on Gamepass are old that I've played already or own.

[SonyPS360]

I'll still take better quality games over ones included earlier in a subscription, any day of the week.

[Matpan]

Gotta give it to a company when they are offering the better deal. In this regard at least, MS takes the crown.

Really, any argument in regards of library, first party offerings, etc. is simply avoiding the fact that MS has a better service in Game Pass than Sony has to offer...

[Benficaman]

future Will tell who's right. i dont belive the future in gaming Will be like Netflix. i have many friends paying vídeo streaming services, but ONLY 4 including me that pays for a gaming sevice.

[AspiringProGenji]

Sony should have never given this a Codename like it was going to be a separate service.

It hyped everyone up, including journalists who made articles already claiming this was a Gamepass competitor, and now everyone is disappointed that is is just a merge of current services with some added benefits. Can’t say the disappointment is not warranted

It is still a good value imo.

[Sokol]

Doesn't matter to me personally I have both services and will enjoy both.

[ichdich]

It was a good move by Phil.

[S2Killinit]

Not really.

[gangsta_red]

There is no real appeal in their highest tier except the draw of past PS games being offered. But seeing as how the PS5 has the capabilities to play PS-PS2 games through emulation and Sony still wants to lock that behind a paywall takes the away that appeal a bit too.

Sony played it real safe here, they just merged existing features into different level tier services and presented it to the public as just a sort of rebranding. Very underwhelming if you want to compare it to Game Pass Ultimate

[FanboysKiller]

Not an opinion , if you can't tell the difference then you either an amateur or lying to yourself.

[Donjune]

Why are you guy's so mad? It's a decent service, but it can't compete with Gamepass! Sorry folk's..

[DefenderOfDoom2]

Can people play VR games on XBOX???

[MadLad]

Pretty much.

People can say "it wasn't meant to be a gamepass competitor". I mean, that's fine, so it's not a gamepass competitor.

So why does the highest tier of it basically boil down to a glorified emulator, yet costs even more than gamepass?

[FanboysKiller]

Even sony are aware of the value of replayability of their games below the competition, let's be honest, most of their games made for 1st run only , the second run is pointless in most of them , doing what ms doing is a real gamble and it won't turn out well for them.

[MadLad]

Yeah.
We'll see on that one lol.

Let's see if this $18 a month service results in anything but them just hiding the pathetic numbers they were getting with PS Now; just for them to act like this service was an amazing offering that resonated with players, while people feel back into a wall because it's the lowest price tier that allows you to play online.

This whole thing was to rid themselves of the failure that was PS Now, while being able to tell people how amazing PS Plus is against Gamepass by fudging the numbers between the tiers, because the higher tiers offer little.

[Harryvok]

The major difference is no day one first party games. PlayStation would be dropping revenue doing that, so I don't know why people would think they'd do that. Businesses don't generally look to make less money. Xbox had no choice but to try something different and have a trillion dollar company behind them to keep them going while they grow their base.

Day one games is good, as long as those games are something you want to play. I've cancelled game pass as their current first party games aren't games I want to play. Also the third party games they get that I want to play, they get too late, well after I've already bought and played them. Starfield is the only Xbox game coming in the next couple years they've announced that I care about. I'll just buy it.

PS Plus i'll just keep the base tier. Again it'll have third party games too late for me. With no first party day one games and being someone who doesn't care about playing old games (on Xbox or PlayStation), the higher tiers of PS Plus have nothing for me.

Basically I find both services underwhelming in their current states due to the content they have and when that content arrives.

[BrainSyphoned]

Naw. Gamepass looks like Netflix to me right now. As in I've either finished or have no interest in the games. Time for a new list.

[TheDreamCorridor]

And we all know Netflix helped the film industry... oh wait.

[nibblo]

For existing PS fans this probably great for everyone else very underwhelming.

[slayernz]

i am 100% behind the decision that new games wont be on the service.....there will come a point in time when the devs/publishers know roughly how much they will get from a release and once a game is in a fit enough state whats the point in spending more $ improving it? games will start being released with a lack of polish and most likely buggy as hell.....let the game sell itself for 6 months or so, then it can go on the service (and receive some more $ as a result)...win / win for everyone

[YourMommySpoils]

Both are horribly underwhelming.

[TheDreamCorridor]

"I don't want to pay $69.99 one time and own God of War Ragnarök forever.

I wanna pay $14.99 every month and never own it."

[PapaBop]

While Game Pass certainly represents value for money, it made GWG redundant in terms of free offering. If Sony pursue their own Game Pass, I couldn't care less as long as they ensure PS Plus monthly free games are of the same standard as they have been for the last few years.

[SeTTriP]

How does xbox have the best online when the majority of online players play on playstation?

[Destiny1080]

the latest halo should have been a warning shot for xbox fanboys

a half baked free to play game, but wait, you have to pay full price for its half baked campaign as well

but yet here they are singing its praises, all while paying 15 bucks per skin

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

At least they didn’t double the price of the base service to increase upgraders

[Vipre77]

Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man. And that opinion depends entirely on what you think of the available game libraries on each system. The rest of the details don’t matter if you don’t like many of the games in either system.

[Starman69]

Why we making such a big deal. Nothing wrong with just buying the games on disc, trading and selling. Not bothered about any further subscription other than playstation plus. The two free monthly mystery games are a nice surprise sometimes 😁. I.e I would have never tried planet coaster, but wow! I banged some serious hours in to that game!. Even bought the dlc.😁😁😁 ;

[Teflon02]

Why? They're different in goals. No ones complaining about gamepass not having 800 games like Plus Premium would. It's always a 1 sided complaint 24/7 but that same energy isn't on MS's end. You just can't win. They release horizon, improve everything and people will still say it was a step backwards. They release a bunch of games this year and watch at the end. iIf GoWR doesn't release, they'll act like MS had a better year for releasing in Q4 only lol. Like you can't make up the media bias. If you like gamepass pay for it. We knew for months that it wasn't the same as gamepass and ultimately it's offering the same, just not day 1s, which I'd prefer. I don't need day 1s of games I'd pay for day 1 as I want physical anyways. It would ruin that for me lol

[chobit_A5HL3Y]

this is just some douche bag trying to stir up fanboy wars again lol this isn't 2008 anymore. why are adults arguing over which is better? you all have jobs, don't you? either buy what you want or ignore the ones you don't want/like. if you're a teenager and fan-boying over a particular console, you're gonna look back in 5 years and hopefully realize how stupid you were for taking part in it. it's sad how some of you haven't developed the mental capacity to just not take part in something as pointless as a console war lol

[GoodGuy09]

Subscriptions requiring internet gaming is still just stupid. I prefer to just buy and keep a game then play online free. I mean I guess we'll see what games sony will offer to really know if it'll be worth it or not.