One of the big stories to come out of December was a report that Sony was preparing its own version of Xbox Game Pass for the PlayStation brand, with the suggestion that it was going to launch in Spring 2022.
Now, in response to that, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has told IGN that he believes it's an "inevitability" that PlayStation will introduce a Game Pass style subscription, and he ultimately believes it's the right thing to do.
In the interview, Spencer pointed out that a Game Pass service for PlayStation makes sense:
"I don't mean it to sound like we've got it all figured out, but I think the right answer is allowing your customers to play the games they wanna play, where they wanna play them, and giving them choice about how they build their library, and being transparent with them about what our plans are in terms of our PC initiatives and our cross-gen initiatives and other things.
"So when I hear others doing things like Game Pass or coming to PC, it makes sense to me because I think that's the right answer."
Spencer went on to suggest that seeing competitors emulate ideas like Game Pass "feeds our energy on what are the next things that we should be working on as we continue to build out the things that we've done in the past."
He enthused that the "right answer" is to ship great games on console, PC and the cloud while also making them available day one in a subscription service, and he "expect[s] that's what our competitor will do."
What are your thoughts on Phil Spencer's comments about a PlayStation Game Pass? Let us know down below.
[source ign.com]
Comments 40
PlayStation Game Pass is necessary for increased competition in order to keep Microsoft on their toes. More competition means that Microsoft will have to make Game Pass even more compelling, which will benefit us consumers in the long run. More games, more perks, more features and so on. It's simply good stuff all around.
Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. But whether it is better, equal to, or worse than gamepass, only time will tell. Hopefully sooner, rather than later.
Of course it is. Almost everything Sony do in gaming is copied from their rivals so this was only a matter of time.
PlayStation Game Pass? That's a bit redundant since GP is a Xbox PlayStation Now.
Seriously though, Sony is killing it right now on the PS+ front. It doesn't have to be Game Pass one-for-one just to compete. If you can only choose one, there are plenty of people choosing their couple of quality games on their PlayStation console with their current subscription model.
I find all this funny as playstation was the first one to have a subscription service by two years so if anything it's Microsoft who copied them and saw their strategy and improved upon it. And now playstation will have to improve upon it as well if they want to continue with their subscription service at a competitive level.
The one thing I'm worried about is playstation dropping playstation plus in favour of this "new" service, as playstation plus gives decent games every month that I can play forever and not just games I can "rent" for a few months
Also I wonder when Nintendo will jump on this subscription bandwagon? I think their lack of third party support for the big AAA games would render it a no go
It won't hold a candle to gamepass.....wish it would like..I dont want to pay £70 for their exclusives...so il just have to rent them
@UltimateOtaku91 from what I’ve read the Playpass is more inline with NSO than GP. Although it is meant to compete with GP.
That said I’m a more concerned with number fudging that might happen on both sides because PS is combine PS Plus with PSNow. It’s hard to keep track of these things as is.
This just makes business sense, if you see a competitor making money doing something new or different and you asses if you can do something similar, look at any areas you could potentially improve or cut off and go after that $$. These corporations don't care for any fanboy logic....they just want that money. To whoever owns a PlayStation i hope that the upcoming Spartacus will be something that brings value to ya....and keeps the pressure on Xbox to carry on not sucking.
@UltimateOtaku91 I wonder if the reason why Game Pass is able to acquire bigger titles at greater frequency is precisely the impermanent model: folks get to play the game for a while, and when it leaves the service, may be compelled to purchase it at a discount. Whereas with PS Plus, developers and publishers have to be OK with folks permanently owning a game they haven't directly paid for.
@isturbo1984
1. GamePass is light years ahead of PSNow to the point they aren't even close to being the same. Anybody with GamePass can play their games natively or streaming on any gadget with a Web browser or app store. Smart delivery ensures the best experience and everything is seamless with save games. You get over 100 titles at any given moment including new MS releases as a day one option. And best of all, it just works right. With a good Internet connection it's difficult to tell streaming apart from native.
2. Sony is not killing it right now. They are getting killed. All their console are sold at loss. They have no subscription service anywhere close to GamePass that generate them revenue. Without changing Sony gaming division is dead man waking. They will go bust on this trajectory.
It’s what suits what company.
Sony and Nintendo maybe happy selling games the way they do it may suit their business as they survive in console and game sales the way they do it.
If people keep buying Sony and Nintendo consoles and games that way and they make a good business profit that is good.
Let’s be honest both Sony and Nintendo will sell more consoles and games than series consoles will.
Who’s to say the Xbox business model just works best for Microsoft and that’s ok.
Just because we have Netflix etc we still have Sky Q tv and terrestrial channels like ITV that works for them.
Who’s to say Microsoft might have it wrong and may need to go back to standard way.
Will be interesting to see what happens.
I will be amazed if this looks good value in comparison to Game Pass. But that doesn't necessarily matter.
Game Pass is insanely good value. If the new PS service is a sliver as good it will still be good and sell well to the masses even if the optics are bad as a comparison.
Though I think there is very little chance there will be Day 1 first party titles and Phil is stirring the pot here. Well played Spencer, well played
If Sony actually does day 1 1st party releases, I'll eat my Vita.
@UltimateOtaku91 Plus/Gold is also a rental. You still have to pay your monthly/yearly dues to access the games. How the library is determined is different but both are mere rentals.
I think Phil is being a bit cheeky saying PlayStation will put titles on its service day one like Gamepass. He knows that’s probably not going to be the case and when it isn’t he’ll use that to say Gamepass offers greater value than the competition.
I’m really not interested in a Sony alternative that’s going to be Plus + Now. I don’t mind paying for Plus it’s cheap and sometimes you get good games but Now is utter sh*t. I also don’t think Sonys alternative will be cheap. Sony are all about raising prices so far this gen, don’t expect that to change anytime soon.
You need Microsoft levels of money for this to become worth it and record such a loss until they reach around 100 million full paid subscribers then will it only become profitable. Microsoft are losing a lot of money right now compared to the money they use to make their first Katy games, and paying all the devs who put their games on the service, plus all the free trials and promotions where people aren't paying full price.
Perfect example is Netflix, surely they have 100 million subscribers yet they are making a loss and have a huge debt. But Microsofts big pockets and money they have spare to spend means they can take a loss for many years whilst they build up their subscribers and take consumers away from the competition.
Also give it another year or two and the price of gamepass will increase and will do so every so often.
So yeah this type of service is wonderful for the gamers....... at first
But it will massively hurt Sony in the long run.
This is why I would prefer them to ignore the subscription service and focus on making bigger and newer games available on playstation plus, Sony don't need this subscription service to thrive and gamepass won't effect playstations sales, especially as gamepass doesn't get the biggest AAA third party single player games on release either.
@Dsswoosh I mean, a lot what you say about gamepass is true of PSNow also. You can stream and download all but their legacy titles and actually have access to more games than gamepass offer, at a lower price. You're right, gamepass is better, a lot better even (due largely to the new games and the likes of EA Play) but you're suggesting they're chalk and cheese which they really aren't. Frankly, the biggest real difference between GP and Now is PR.
And you're suggestion that Sony is a dead man walking?? Come off it. Sony is selling the most consoles if reports are to be believed and regardless if they are selling at a loss (common early on in a consoles life cycle), that is more than offset by the money they make from PSPlus. Plus of course they have 1st party games selling in large numbers day one (just look a the preorders for Horizon) which Xbox don't because of gamepass. Honestly, Sony is in rude health
Spencer is right but Sony will fall short of people's expectations. It will likely be poor value considering what PS Now is and the fact that games are more expensive on PS5 than on Series X/S and that there is an additional fee for upgrading games from PS4. It's just much more expensive gaming on PS5 and I don't think that PS Pass will suddenly reward Sony consumers with excellent value.
@UltimateOtaku91 "Microsoft are losing a lot of money right now (because of Game Pass)".
You really don't know that. Game Pass doesn't hinder game sales. Forza Horizon 5 has been a massive success on Game Pass and on sale. Microsoft said that game sales have increased since Game Pass started and, objectively, Xbox income has increased after Game Pass according to all reports because of increased sales plus subscriptions. Game Pass has attracted a whole new crowd (including Sony fans like you).
Gaming crowds come and go, look at Wii U-Switch or Xbox One-Series X/S or PS3-PS4. There aren't as many Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony unconditional fans as we believe. Series X/S is more popular than Xbox One. Only 13m unconditional Nintendo fans bought Wii U, not all PS4 owners will upgrade to PS5 and the huge Switch crowd might leave Nintendo behind (again).
I don't expect Sony would be taking their flagship and watering them down to freemium free to play games like as happened with Halo.
I'd fully expect it to be like Gamepass, but somehow highbrow. But as with their paid first parties as always have been, they'll likely still keep the crown for cinematic story telling in games.
@PapaGlitch Sony are renting MS Servers. Every PSPlus subscription is money in MS pocket.
MS make billions, whilst Sony is down to hundreds of millions.
The momentum is shifting and Sony business model is doomed on this trajectory.
That's why they are bringing their own version of GamePass (once again using MS servers).
For as much as people won't accept it Sony have had "an answer" to Gamepass before Gamepass even existed in the shape of PSNow. At the base level there the exact same service (large selection of games that can be downloaded or streamed) Microsoft have made it the main feature of Xbox whereas Sony have pushed Now into the background and hardly given it a thought. The only thing that separates GP & Now is the day and date games but I can't see Sony doing that tbh.
@UltimateOtaku91 MS are making £250 million+ per month through GamePass revenue.
Their balance sheet is well into the green for profits.
GamePass is a big time money printer, how on Earth did you do the math and come to the result they are losing money from it lmfao.
@Dsswoosh are they though? Are you forgetting the millions of subscribers who are on trials and promotions and deals via getting phone contracts etc. Plus the millions it costs to run all their studios and development all the game have plus pay all the devs for the games on the service plus a decent sum of money to EA for allowing EA play on the service but at no extra cost for us gamers?
At some point the price of gamepass will increase and it won't be the first time.
@Dsswoosh I also used Netflix as an example, 100 million subscribers, they make/fund their own TV series and movies, yet are in debt and making a loss, even amazon and Netflix are raising their prices as well
@PapaGlitch I thinks he's forgetting that ps plus has nearly 50 million subscribers which is £6.99 per month so thats around £350 million per month then there's ps now subscribers which add at least another £50 million per month. That's £400 million per month off subscriptions for Sony (give or take due to deals) then the sales from their exclusive games.
Sony don't need this service
@UltimateOtaku91 yes yes they are.
MS profit loss sheets which is publicly available shows they are making billions.
Sony balance sheets are not so healthy.
So much of Sony's business model is selling games day one at a high price I don't think they can compete directly with Xbox in that way, but they don't have to. They can just add a curated selection of games from PS4 and everyone will love it. That makes sense for them. And for everyone saying Xbox Game Pass is a copy of Playstation now.. pretty sure there was a thing called Netflix before then.. who are now moving into gaming.. and it all comes full circle. 😃
@Dsswoosh yes but is that just the xbox brand? Or Microsoft altogether? As their pc side of things and software bring in more money that the xbox side
Sony's main loss is from making TV's, mobile phones and other tech, sure I've read last year that the PlayStation brand of Sony is the only thing making profit for them.
I think sony need to ditch the rest of its brands/products and just focus of gaming
@UltimateOtaku91 I actually agree with you. I don’t particularly want to see Sony go the subscription route. Just because MS have and it’s working for them doesn’t mean Sony have to. Whatever Sony are doing right now is working, as much as I don’t agree with many of the policies, PlayStation is very successful.
Also while I love Gamepass I don’t want gaming to become the same as how people now consume TV. Subscription services at every turn which I believe just leads to pirating.
@UltimateOtaku91 Sony's businesses (And I could be forgetting some):
Battery tech
Cameras/optical
Medical optical
Semiconductors
Consumer electronics (TV's, audio, hifi, personal audio etc)
Pro audio (SDDS/Theater sound/Live sound & reinforcement/Recording & studio equipment/Mics/Broadcast)
Pro video (Studio photo/processing/transmission/broadcast/recording/editing equip)
Insurance underwriting (Asia)
Finance/lending (Asia)
Music (Sony Music/BMG) (part of a Triopoly of global music publishers)
Film & Television (Sony Pictures/Columbia/Tri-Star)
Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation & subsidiaries)
Back in 2013 they were in a position of losing money on everything but PlayStation, battery, and medical optical. They had changed course significantly since then though in most industries. Have they actually sunk that low again in all their fields but PlayStation?
Consumer electronics is a problem because their lunch is getting eaten by the Korean giants now, however, their semiconductor involvement for consumer electronics is part of value adding within their other more lucrative industries for Pro AV and photography, and even PS, so it's not quite the red line as it may seem if it's adding value into other profitable businesses.
@UltimateOtaku91
PS Now was designed as a means for back-compat though, not originally designed as a Game Pass style service.
It evolved into that but just never took off.
@UltimateOtaku91 Nintendo doesn't really need to jump on this bandwagon. Their success or failure is independent of what's happening with the competition. It's easy to see people being swayed between Series X and PS5, but who on Earth is going to opt for a Switch as an alternative to the power consoles?
@Dsswoosh they aren't selling consoles at a loss anymore actually...
@Dsswoosh So basically Sony sucks, they need to copy everything Xbox is doing, none of their current strategies work and they are loosing the console war.
Dude, I don't need the fanboy narrative shotgunned at me for suggesting Sony doesn't need a one-for-one Game Pass model of their own.
@Dsswoosh I agree with point 1 Gamepass is way ahead if Now although the Now content is actually a good offering for the price point.
Your second point is massively incorrect. Sony don't care about the consoles making a loss. They need people in the ecosystem for digital sales which is where they make their money. The Sony Gaming division is in the best place it has ever been and is being heavily invested in for this reason.
Microsoft are operating GamePass at a loss but they are playing the long game to win subscribers over and they have the funds to be able to adopt this strategy.
I'll happily eat my words if you can source this "going bust" trajectory though.
Overall its a good idea. Competition is good and keeps MS and Sony humble. Both have had a history of going arrogant between successful generations and the competition always helps to calm them down and put gamers first.
I don't follow the notion that day one games are a must have and its worthless if it doesn't. Value is determined by the gamer so if there are a ton of games on there that aren't day one but I see as value then that's a winner in my book. I've only played one day one game on gamepass and I have still reaped the value from a ton of other games I never got a chance to play/buy and some I might never have taken the plunge.
A day one game for me is one I was going to buy anyway. If its on GP on PS Plus bonus. Otherwise I'm loving exploring content I may have swerved otherwise.
Hope it's a proper challenger to Gamepass. Can definitely see me jumping from one subscription to the other depending on what games I want to play in the future.
@Boldfoxrd Yes, almost everything Sony does in gaming is copied from their rivals. 🙄
They sure forgot to copy the Xbox 360's launch price for the PS3. 😂
@Dsswoosh Sony's gaming division breaking sales & revenue record left & right is somehow on a trajectory of going bust.
I smell a delusional fanboy.👃🥴
@shamirqushairi haha, yeah they only do their own thing when it is a terrible idea.
@LtSarge my biggest fear for Sony is they are no where near as money rich hell less then a decade ago they almost spun playstation off cause they were in real bad trouble...point is if sonys gamepass doesnt have enough good games that arent sony made i can see this causing a pricewar between the two kinda like what we are seeing with netflix and hulu and disney,,, they are all bidding against each other for content not made by them and it has increased prices... and with the Activision news the other day if sony doesnt make money on their gamepass it could be disastrous for them... this is a true gamble for sony expecially since PS Now never caught on...
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