Xbox Game Pass Dunks On PlayStation Over Dirt-Cheap Yakuza Deals

I've bought all of the games on Xbox (well, most of them) even though they're on Game Pass. With games that are this long I prefer to have them rather than play them on suscriptions.
But yeah, the whole Yakuza series on Game Pass is great.
They even forgot to mention Ishin!.

It would cost you more than £25 to play through the first 7 on Game Pass though if you can only play for a handful of hours a day and way more if you want to dabble in the side content.

Slightly confused. Own Yakuza 0 to 6 for less than £25 or rent them for 2 months for the same price. Not convinced the Game Pass option is better, unless you are able to complete Yakuza 0-6 in less than 2 months and rent other games and play them within that month as well. So far in the last 12 months on GP I've played Starfield (over 100 hours), Power wash simulator (about 70 hours), Redfall (1 hour) and a couple other games for about an hour (because they were c**p) for somewhere around £150. And once my subscription runs out I'll own nothing.

To be fair comparing to the PS5 in the same period I've paid for GT7 (£40), GoW:R (£35), Hogwarts Legacy (£30). Similar price but I own these games now. Not so sure these services are my cup of tea really!

@Kaloudz Sony has been dunking on themselves since the beginning of 2023, and it's continuing in 2024.

Sony should respond with "You can OWN Yakuza 0 to 6 for less than £25"

@StonyKL when the games are on sale on Xbox, they are also as cheap as they are in the Playstation tweet. It’s just saying you can play them on Gamepass. If you are already subbed you can play them without spending any more money. The whole saga. Maybe you have your sub for a year or two; so why not check out these games as part of your sub instead of spending another £25. It’s a simple lighthearted post and advertises an option people have.

You can even play them even if you don’t own a PS5 or Series S|X.

I'd always prefer to own a game than rent it knowing full well that it may be removed from the service when I'm half way through it.

@StonyKL The difference is that £25 may buy you 'just' the Yakuza series but you can 'play' those for even less money and/or maybe not even need to purchase them at all. You aren't paying a 'monthly' fee just to play the Yakuza games - you have access to whole range of other games 'new' & 'older' games. You can even try Yakuza before 'wasting' money on something you may not enjoy or play more than an hour or two.

Services like Game Pass are 'not' for everyone so I can understand why it might not suit some who may want to 'own' their games 'indefinitely'. However, I can also see why many may want to Subscribe to play these and a wide range of titles. I own many games but the 'vast' majority I have either not finished or beat and moved on from. I can't see myself going back and playing Spider-Man, R&C, Last of Us, H:ZD or GoW despite owning these and having that 'option', I'd rather play 'new' games (or at least 'new' to me I missed) than 'replay' a game I'm 'finished' with.

Each to their own of course but I'd imagine those that 'really' wanted to play Yakuza would have bought it - now its 'cheap', its more about trying to tempt those who maybe sat on the fence. Also, just because something is on Game Pass, doesn't mean you can't 'buy' it on sale with the Game Pass Discount on top - assuming you are 'concerned' about losing access long term - but won't cost you any 'extra' to play for FREE if you Subscribe to Game Pass on whatever Platform you have for a 'Range' of games, not just Yakuza....

I almost never replay games, so gamepass option works fine for me. Id argue that new PS extra gamepass clone is an even better deal than GP but its there in the first place because of healthy competition between the two. Started Yakuza series in December, Im now about to finish Yakuza 4. Doesnt take that long if you re not a completionist.

Yeeeeah, if you actually wanted to play and finish all those games, the PSN sale seems like the better deal to be honest 🤷

Ishin is on Gamepass too. Love the Series and the only one I don't own yet is Like a Dragon Gaiden, which I shall buy in due course 😊.

How is this a flex for xbox? you can rent via gamepass which will take multiple months to compete the games or simply outright buy on playstation for less than 25. Its cheaper to just buy the games in the long haul. Weird flex simply not wanting people to buy something i guess

Most gamers that own an Xbox subscribe to Game Pass already, so obviously Microsoft has the edge here over PS. It's not like gamers are specifically going to subscribe to GP just to play this series versus buying them on the PS. Think people, think! Lol.

@Rmg0731 the flex is actually, do you currently have gamepass and are interested in playing or trying the yakuza series of games? If so, they’re all available on gamepass right now as part of your subscription.

In my experience playing a whole series of games back to back, particularly rpg’s, results in massive burnout. I’d much rather play something else between each entry to avoid fatigue.

I’m currently playing through the base version of cyberpunk, I’m probably 80% of the way through the main campaign and have been really enjoying it. However, I’m also at the point where I’m looking forward to finishing it and playing something else. I think I’ve spent about 35hrs in game so far.

Having gamepass gives people the ability to try out all the yakuza games and also play something else in between if they’re feeling series fatigue.

@Markatron84

I think it's more of a shout out for people who already subscribe to GamePass or thinking about the Yakuza series....come and play them on GP and hopefully stay for the rest of the library etc 😀.
As always not all things work for all people..

Well clearly ps is the better deal ,own them forever vs rent them and own nothing ,what a ridiculous response from xbox 🙄

I honestly don't understand this post.. all games included don't cost as much as 2 months of GP (it's actually not much over a single UGP month). And you get to keep the games and play at your own pace (which you're not going to beat in a single month if you happen to be employed middle-aged human being).
I mean, it's cool to have options and ability to "try out" many games, but these subscription services actually fail exactly against heavy discounted longer quality games ($5 can get you 2 months of awesome experience most of the time).

With these games, I would prefer to own them

Y'all say you'd prefer to own Yakuza games but will be hella hype when another one comes to Game Pass day one 🤷‍♂️

I really dislike tweets like that. Just flames the pretend “console war” for a lowest common dominator that loves that sort of nonsense.

Also as others have pointed out it’s not really a brag at 13.99 a month. If it was a £70 game it’s more of a brag

@Kezelpaso for me, it's not a matter of ownership. It's picking and choosing what games I play on Game Pass versus what I'm better off just buying on sale down the line, and also managing my time. Persona 5 Royal, for example, is an obnoxiously long game that was on Game Pass. Am I going to play that for months on Game Pass and end up spending more on GP subs than the game retails for? No, I'm going to play multiple games on the subscription and feel like I got my money's worth 🤷

Think I'll pick up the first 3 on Playstation later just for spite. Screw your subscription rentals.

@Markatron84 Fair enough! Sounds like a good strategy tbh.

@Markatron84
I think it all depends on circumstance and perspective.

If you already have GamePass and intend to pay for it month after month then the games are just part of the monthly fee you pay for the 200+ revolving games you have access to. It is a subscription and you are paying for what is in the subscription. Which is way less than buying all 200+ games (even on sale).

If you don't have GamePass and want to just play the Yakuza games, then you may be better off to buy them when they are on sale like this.

But also, if you don't have GamePass and want to binge on these games and have the time to binge, you could just subscribe for a month to binge them.

Different gamers have different circumstances and perspectives that make them want different pricing models to play games. To me, MS provides the most flexibility in how I play (PlayAnywhere games) and pay (Buy/GamePass).

I bought the Yakuza games when they were similarly priced on XB Sales. And I am a GamePass subscriber. For me I want to own and play the games forever, but GamePass helps me play a lot of new and cool games before they get to the price I want to pay to own them (Especially now that game prices have risen dramatically the past two years). I played a couple of the Yakuza games on GamePass, then when the price was right I scooped them all on sale!

@Kaloudz The YouTube social media management for Xbox is similarly on-point and amazing!

Gotta love the Xbox social media team. It was all fun and games when Sony did it but now they just shoot themselves in the foot so much, might as well let xbox join in on the roasting. Personally, i love it.

@NeoRatt all with free cloud saves and that play anywhere you speak of. Sounds like a better deal to me. Xbox game pass had almost $9000 worth of games in it last year. Yeah, think I'll subscribe for the low price instead lol

@J_Mo_Money I would suggest reading on perceived vs actual value.. there is no way anybody is going to get $9000 of value out of GP. Most people get a single game per month out of it. Which is still decent, and if it's a day one release even better.

@Cikajovazmaj i didn't say game pass offered $9000 worth of value, i said they offered $9000 worth of games, which is factually correct.

@J_Mo_Money agreed, factually correct, but also misleading. What is of relevance though is how much of $9000 worth of games has average gamer actually consumed.
Subscription services are great at creating false sense of value. For example, many of my friends have been paying Netflix for years, averaging one movie/series a month. They are not getting their money's worth..

@Cikajovazmaj there's a reason i don't pocket watch what other people are doing. If someone wants to spend money or not spend money on a product or service, that's on them. They can go crazy. I'll just continue to do what saves me the most money and gives me the most bang for my buck.

@Cikajovazmaj That's $9000 'new' games to Game Pass over the last year, games that 'otherwise' would have cost you $9000 to play - if you 'choose' not to play or deem them not 'worthy' of your time to even try, that is 'your' choice but ultimately, they offered $9000 worth of New titles over the course of this last year!

How you deem the value for your 'measly' monthly sub of $15 or so - which includes all the 'other' benefits - cloud, PC Game Pass, EA Play, Online etc all in one Ultimate tier, that's on you, not the service.

Just because you may not have enjoyed games like Redfall, Forza or Starfield, Lies of P, Atomic Heart or any of the other 3rd Party releases offered doesn't mean that 'value' isn't lost, its not as if the games are here one month, gone the next... They stay a good long time - certainly long enough to complete most games - if you enjoy them enough!

Own games vs rent games

That's pretty amusing.

@K1LLEGAL Yeah, it's exactly as you say. They are as cheap on Xbox. Actually, I have bought most of them for a few pounds each on Xbox. Sales is not something exclusive to Sony. Xbox UK are just reminding people of Game Pass which is great for trying big games such as this when you're not sure if you'd like them. Game Pass is also perfect for beating small games even when you know you'll like them. The third huge plus about Game Pass is that you can play games for free (included in the subscription) and later on purchase them when they're cheaper. These posts disapproving the response of Xbox (that I think is light-hearted) remind me of those posts hating Xbox because of the Game Pass service, when you can literally purchase every single Game Pass title, the typical I-don't-want-to-rent ranting. That ranting is more frequent on NL and I am gobsmacked because Nintendo killed the Virtual Console to start renting 30-year-old roms.

@Markatron84 Persona 5 Royal was my most-played game in 2023 and I didn't buy it but played it on Game Pass. I don't regret it because I completed most of the optional stuff but won't replay it. I have also beaten short games on Game Pass. I think that having the choice is the great thing about it. If you subscribe just for one month then, of course, play short games. If you play only one game like a friend of mine, Sea of Thieves, then yes, buy that game and don't pay for Game Pass, but most people here aren't like that. Most play more than one game per month and that's when you find out that Game Pass is the best value in console gaming.

@Cikajovazmaj Looks like @J_Mo_Money is making more sense. If I say that there are 200 games on Game Pass, I'm saying exactly the same thing as how much they cost, but it doesn't mean that I or anybody would buy those 200 games. It's just a description of the service to quantify it. The value of each gamer is relative but the service needs to be quantified because it's not free.

@NeoRatt I wrote more or less the same before reading you which means we must be right, right? 😁.

@Banjo- I don't think you quite understood my argument. I'm not denying that quoting 200 games added to the service is the easy way to quantify service value.
But what actually matters to "you" is how much of the 200 games you can realistically consume. For some people that is 200, and that is cool, they are getting extreme value. For others, which I would argue is majority, number is way lower. Most people pay to have options, when amount of content they actually consume they could have bought and own for same cost.
Again, just my opinion, and I'm not saying it is true for everybody. Especially not for people on this site, as most are not casual/weekend gamers.

EDIT: Actually, analogy to what I'm trying to explain. Going to a "all you can eat" restaurant, they offer 50 different meals a day. But most people will realistically only get one, but they won't get to eat at their own pace, keep their leftovers, and for them it's questionable if such type of restaurant is worth it.

Until they get taken off game pass

@Kaloudz It's the comments section of videos as well as the Community tab on the Xbox channel on YouTube.

And I would be bored of yakuza games playing them for three months straight to equal the same value

Gamepass, "be happy en own nothing"

I first started Yakuza on PS2 , The first game on Playstation PS2 is tough as nails for m some of the boss fights. I never managed to do it. But then i am more of a Shenmue fan then Yakuza really. I still have the 0original as well as the second on PS2 which is sealed. And Yakuza 3 on PS3 , sealed. I am currently getting through Yakuza 0 on Xbox , then move onto the Kiwami editions of 1 and 2 as i understand their more forgiving.

I bought Yakuza 5 and 6 in the sale on PSN for my PS4 , SO THERE WAITING.

I recently did start Judgement on Xbox, which is great fun and like some of the alternative ideas and gameplay style of the game. I thought it might just be Yakuza in a new skin, but it does play differently, it's just set in the same game world.

I also have Ishin to install on Xbox once i Finish Judgment.

Now I'm off to the arcades as I need some down time during this investigation of the eye gouging murders.

@Sifi It's more that this series is a massive time sink and if you "own" them then you haven't got the risk of them disappearing like they could on Game Pass. That is my main gripe with Game Pass. Once you start a game you really need to play that almost exclusively to completion before it is removed.

I’ve just bought them rather than bothering with game pass

@Romans12 I’m not sure that’s actually true. I’ve had several free subscriptions from buying Xbox products but I’ve never actually paid for the service and don’t intend to. I’ll not be the only one.

I also don’t like having to download the games to play them. By the time I’ve downloaded the game I might have interest in I’ve lost interest! And just play the games I know I enjoy. (Halo)

@Cikajovazmaj
I do have a very limited amount of time each week in which I play games. Probably 2 to a maximum of 10 hours per week at this stage of life. So, the number of games I get through per month is probably 2-3. I still find GamePass to be financially better because I play a lot of different games (Probably 3-8 per month). Also, even if you play one different full cost game per month GamePass is $15 USD and includes online gaming. A good 80% of gamers at least use online, so if you break out the GamePass cost it is probably around $10 USD. You can play the same full price game for 6 months and you are coming out even.

I do agree though if you are one of those people that just play a single game all the time like Fornite, Call of Duty, etc. GamePass isn't that great of a deal but you have to buy the lowest tier anyhow for the online component.

Game pass is limited time... comparing apples with oranges again.
I'd rather own the titles (yes even digitally) which is probably why I havent renewed GP and have bought several titles elsewhere that are on that service.
GP is great value, but Id consider owning a game at dirt cheap prices to be a better option. Its fantastic that we have the choices though.

Nice. I already played all those, so not sure if I wanna play again.

People make god points about who actually had the better post, but like Gamepass>>>PSN any day of the week.