While Sammy doesn't see subscription services becoming the industry standard in the future, I at least think PS Plus is the best one you could be a member of right now. Following a long and impressive streak of monthly updates, I believe what Sony is doing with its three-tiered setup just about edges the offerings of Xbox Game Pass.
Following a somewhat shaky start — from PS Plus Premium especially — the service has really come into its own these past four months. The game library updates have been colossal, with more PS5, PS4 and Classic titles added than anyone could properly play (never mind finish!) before the next content refresh arrives. There is always at least a couple of things for every type of gamer to enjoy, but even if you don't find anything you fancy, the next batch of games is only ever two weeks away when PS Plus Essential is brought into the equation.
In January, 13 games were added across PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium. One month later in February, another 17 titles arrived — including Horizon Forbidden West. This was followed up 17 more games in March, and then last month saw 16 games come to the service. While not every one of them will suit your tastes, that's 63 games in the space of four months. Add the three monthly PS Plus Essential games from January through to April on top and you're looking at 75 titles. On a membership of £13.49/$17.99 each month, this works out at so, so much less than £1/$1 per game. I'm aware most of us subscribe on a yearly basis, so that conversion gets even better. That's pretty incredible value.
Of course, this monetary value would mean nothing if the games were rubbish, but they're anything but. The Horizon Zero Dawn sequel came in February, and just before it we saw stuff like Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition and Back 4 Blood. March brought the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Immortals Fenyx Rising. Most recently, indie hit Kena: Bridge of Spirits hit the service alongside Riders Republic and DOOM Eternal. It's quite difficult to find a genuinely bad title in any of the past four months' game additions.
All this provides a fantastic basis for PS Plus, but where Sony has really started to go above and beyond is with the re-introduction of day-one games. Stray launched straight into PS Plus Extra when the service underwent its huge overhaul last year, but then it was radio silence on that front. All of a sudden, though, Tchia launched straight into the service last month and Humanity will do the same later this month.
Of course, this has been the mantra on Xbox Game Pass for some time now, but if Sony continues along this course, I actually believe PS Plus is handling the approach better. You see, Xbox Game Pass appears to have quietly shifted its focus to delivering more titles as they launch, and has largely ignored the healthy back catalogue of games it built the brand's name on. This has resulted in bi-weekly game updates devoid of excitement; the subscriber already knows what's coming, and the idea of adding older titles appears to have mostly been left by the wayside.
Just take a look at what Xbox Game Pass has coming for the first two weeks of May: Redfall, Ravenlok, Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2, a PC version of Shadowrun Trilogy, and an Xbox Series X|S version of Weird West, which was already on the service as an Xbox One title. As an informed Xbox Series X owner, this doesn't excite me. I already knew about the first three games, the fourth is for PC, and the fifth is something I can already play. Of course, this is just one example from the first four months of 2023, but it's been a running theme for a while now. I've been consistently disappointed as a member.
While Microsoft is dropping the ball, this is where Sony is picking up the slack. We all know Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is never launching day and date on PS Plus, so the platform holder is instead heavily focusing on that extensive back catalogue. By introducing one or two brand new titles launching day and date into the service, it adds so much more excitement to PS Plus announcements. As well as receiving — on average — 15 PS5, PS4, and Classic games to play all at once, there's a good chance I'll get a brand new experience on top. I feel like this is beginning to be reflected across social media and gamers in general: the monthly PS Plus updates are so good that they've reached a point where they receive more attention than an Xbox Game Pass refresh. I really hope Sony keeps this approach up of delivering at least one brand new title every other month or so — it makes my membership a much more enticing prospect.
Is PS Plus perfect? No, absolutely not. The PS Plus Premium offering still needs work, and I think Sony needs to improve how it communicates upcoming expiry dates. Right now, all you can do is constantly check the Last Chance to Play section on your PS5 console, or rummage through hundreds of game listings. It's not a great setup.
This is an easy fix, though, and it doesn't take away from what a fantastic subscription service I think PS Plus has been turned into. As long as Sony keeps this approach and commitment up, I believe it has the best gaming subscription on its hands. By so heavily focusing on a high-quality back catalogue and sprinkling some new experiences from third parties in there, it's on to the correct formula. I'm a happy PS Plus member at the moment, so long may it continue.
Are you as high on PS Plus as Liam is? Place your vote in our poll and expand on your thoughts in the comments below.
Do you think PS Plus is the best gaming subscription? (2,098 votes)
- Yes, I think Sony has the best subscription going
- Possibly, it's definitely improved as of late
- Maybe, I need to see more from it
- Probably not, I think other subscriptions better it
- Definitely not, PS Plus could be a lot better
Comments 131
What subscriptions really require in order to be good value is lots and lots of time to play the multitude of games. And I just don’t have that.
On a cost per game basis both services are killing it. On a quality game basis I’d say both are about equal, so PS will pip it for being cheaper. Sony does seem to be adding better games recently though say they may move ahead in this respect.
I do also give them credit for encouraging devs to add trophies to spice up old games.
I’ll let my Extra sub lapse until they start adding VR2 games though, as that’s where my time will mostly be spent for the foreseeable.
Oh, spicy article!! Popcorn grabbing stuff 😁 I have to say, the best place to be is to have both...
I think the best one is EA Play, it has such a huge variety of games like Fifa 22, Fifa 21, Fifa 20 etc
Playstation Plus Extra is great, but if it was me I'd scrap the premium tier and add cloud gaming to the Extra tier. And also make cloud gaming available on mobile as well as PC.
I have heard from some pro XBOX youtube lawyer or whatever he is that the ABK deal is not dead yet and If Microsoft wants to they can definitely get it finalized even without UK. Let's not write them off completely. GP may get the equivalent of a nuke soon.
I can wholeheartedly agree with this, although my decision to stack five years' worth of Now membership at 60 EUR p/a to get access to Premium helps.
I insist on getting the Platinum for every game I play, and Plus ensures I likely won't have to spend a single extra dime until 2027 unless there's a game I really can't wait to play or don't expect to be on the service (Madden NFL being an example of a title I got a cheap physical disc of due to this reasoning).
What was it, 30(?) games left last month? It's not all a neverending stream of new content as this article implies. The Classics library still sucks if you were lured in by the promise of PS1 and PS2 games.
Sorry, its good, but work to be done.
Watch your back Sammy, I feel a mutiny coming on. 😉
@Heavy_Artilery That certainly isn't what I've been hearing.
@rjejr I wrote this 😅
IF you are new to PS4/PS5 it is pretty awesome I guess but if you keep up with releases and have been gaming with these generations of consoles since day one it’s awful.
I love Gamepass because they have day one releases and I’m not taking about first party here. They have awesome third party indy releases. GP pays for it self every year. Ps Extra gave me Stray, that’s it
While I do think it’s good value objectively, it really just doesn’t suit me as a gamer with a limited amount of free time. I’d rather spend money on a game I know I want to play and will enjoy, rather than gamble on a subscription where there might be some games added in a given month that I could play and possibly enjoy. That’s why going forward I will pay the markup for a monthly or 3 month sub when something that I want is announced rather than pay for the year and hope that I’m not disappointed each month. Is it rational, maybe not, but I’m generally happier for it.
@mariomaster96 ...sarcasm gets you nowhere!! 🤣🤣
@LifeGirl Let's wait and see. He spoke about it on the YT channel called 'Destin' 3 days ago in case you are interested
Quality wise I think they are pretty much equal. Though Sony has edged it lately. Money wise with deals similar too.
I think Sony could improve in the day 1 indie offerings. Xbox have had the better ones imo. But I think it’s because Sony is behind the curve on subscription.
I get that GP has day 1, but many don’t exactly set the world alight, and not massively missing out by waiting and playing later. I do like that GP has EA included, it does improve it.
I’ve got good value out of both.
@Titntin
Unlikely. You'll end up not getting the full value out of either.
My only real complaint is that I'd like there to be more variety in the monthly games being added to extra and not them mostly following a theme. Otherwise it's excellent value.
As someone who only has ps+ premium, any comparison I make would be unfair, but all I can say is that through ps+ extra I get way more amazing games that I have the time to play, so I'm extremely satisfied.
@LiamCroft Yes I now you did, which you started by writing this, hence my mutiny comment, b/c you are basically saying Sammy is wrong.
"While Sammy doesn't see subscription services becoming the industry standard in the future, I at least think..."
There is no way Sony's is better simply because the library has some year or years old bangers available, which most people have long since played during the ps4 generation. When you have a situation where a game like Wo Long, is 60 day one to play in our PlayStation ecosystem, and free with game pass on day one; Sony just doesn't rival that level of day one release value.
Setting aside all the talking points about the unsustainable nature of day one releases into sub services, it's still undeniable that Sony has really only done so with a few mildly underwhelming indie titles, and while xbox is definitely failing on releasing meaningful first party content as of late, they have a had a myriad of AAA first party day one releases and Indie bangers day one with gamepass. A library that can be played on platforms beyond just the console itself. However, they really need to get their software slate in order for that to continue to be of value.
No one thinks that something like Starfield or some other day on gamepass day one release in the future would ever just get a Sony player to switch platform exclusivity. That was misleading for Spencer to even mention. Serious exclusive bangers released day one onto gamepass would absolutely compel ps players to consider picking up an xbox or subscribe to gamepass IN ADDITION to playing the Sony console.
If starfield and avowed end up being incredible, I will likely get an xbox, considering the state of the PC space right now (although i have little confidence they will be). I would play those games and any other day on releases that seemed cool with the sub service and also play the great games on Playstation for sure, unless they all go live service.... lmfao.
I like both services but prefer new games and experiences so that’s why I’ll always generally prefer GamePass. Even though that first half of May (and it is just the first half as MS has two announcements a month) is only five games, three of them are brand new, day one games. I loved the first Fuga so would have bought the sequel day one and that alone is $40. Wo Long day one also saved me money.
A lot of good older games is nice but only if you haven’t played them already.
And GamePass has a ton of great older games as well, like all Persona 3-5, for example, as well as a bunch of the same games that are on PS Plus Extra.
But honestly, Sony has done a much better job with Extra than I ever thought they would.
Personally I prefer the Playstation Plus service over Game Pass. The library has the better games. Yes they might not be newer titles but they are still higher quality titles and just far better in selection when compared to game pass.
There's absolutely no doubt it's got a lot better overall this year, and despite concerns I think even PS Plus Essential has improved, which is great considering there were worries it'd be downgraded once they rolled out the new tiers.
I couldn't say either way whether it's the best but I do think it's been massively underrated overall by the mainstream gaming media. I was listening to a podcast over the weekend where they described PS Plus as "frankly absolutely terrible" and I just couldn't disagree more.
I think that sentiment is probably more a reflection of Sony's more muted marketing of the service, though, when their main competitor has made it the centre of their identity.
Interesting article, though, I largely agree with all the points — but I still maintain my Soapbox last week, where there's just not enough time to play all this content ultimately!
Looking forward to Humanity later in the month, though! Hope I can squeeze it in!
I don't think PS Plus is the best already or might be the best atm, but it's been improving to become better than Game Pass.
I agree with everything but there's one thing Game Pass can say that PS+ can't and it is that they have offered AAA games developed by Sony Worldwide Studios day one
Lol it's up there now...but gamepass is still superior
Ps plus definitely built around giving triple A to players where gamepass is built around indies and double A titles day 1
It's a good service but Gamepass easily surpasses it with those day one additions and deeper back catalogue.
For me, PS Plus is orders of magnitude better.
I have had game pass for over 2 years. I can barely ever find anything I want to play there. When my sub expires, I won't be renewing.
With PS plus, I have a backlog of interesting games available to me.
There are a few reasons for the difference in my case.
That being said, there are still things I would like to see Sony improve on. The biggest ones are:
12 year old me with a paper route dropping up to $90 for some N64 games a quarter of a century ago couldn’t possibly relate to anyone moaning about what they get for a service that you can frequently buy for $30/yr.
If one wants a particular game so bad, buy it instead of waiting for the company to give it for “free.”
As a long time gamer, I care about what is coming, not what is already on there.
I've already played, or decided I don't want to play, what is already on there. So that has no value.
This is where PS Plus falls down. Because first party titles are not guaranteed on launch day, there is no reason to pay for a sub.
The advantage with Gamepass, is that even if games like Dreadfall are atrocious, it's still worth paying $5/£5 for a month sub to try it out.
On PS+ I'm paying to play.....well.....umm....nothing.
If you literally bought your first ever game console, and are brand new to gaming, then yeah I'd say both services are an equally great value proposition.
Plain old original PS plus has always been the best service from the very start. But only when you purchase it by the year. I have went back to just PS Plus alone after one year of all 3 tiers of service.
Xbox game pass has lost its tricks and discounts making it very expensive.
I definitely think it has now overtaken gamepass as there’s simply more games on the service worth playing!! Gamepass been VERY poor recently so i cancelled my sub👎
Essential 10 out of 10
Extra 10 out of 10
Premium 💩 no trophies
As long as they continue to add classic games to Premium ill stay at that level. My question is how do they keep that up in the long term. They have got to have a plan in place to eventually start adding PS2 titles again. Because if they ever stopped with the classics I'd drop to Extra immediately.
If gamepass could get the day one releases right it would be better in my opinion but as it stands it’s throwing out 5s, 6s and 7s which make zero impact. PlayStation is adding older but on average higher quality games month on month (obviously comes down to subjective opinion but metacritic averages would probs back me up).
If I was completely new to gaming and bought both systems with a subscription I would have more fun with PS Plus extra. I’m not though and I do buy a lot of day one releases so if Xbox could get their act together I would prefer gamepass.
GP is still better value for me. PC game pass is only £7.99 v my PS+ is £11.99 day one games on GP edge it.
@thefourfoldroot1 I disagree with the myth about needing multitudes of time. I mostly play from my back catalogue and not subscription, I barely spend much time on the subscription specifically. But I value the subscription for the ability to try out MANY different games.
I think your view comes from the mindset of buy one game play the heck out of it until you can't possibly play anymore, then allow yourself another game. The whole point of subs is that that midnset doesn't need to be. You don't need to get the trophies in a game, you don't need to beat a game, you don't even need to get to chapter 2 to enjoy being able to experience what a game has to offer. I played Vampire Survivors on Game Pass for all of 40 minutes. I'll probably never touch it again. But I enjoyed that 40 minutes of getting to experience something different from anything else I've experienced. Sometimes a game hooks me, like Tinykin and I play hours of it, but still didn't complete it.
To misquote Jeff Bezos on "information snacking", I "game snack", I love playing 20 minutes of a dozen games more than trying to slog through a game I'm supposed to like. Maybe it's a byproduct of being raised on the arcades....you only get a roll of quarters to play a little of each game and there's 40 machines vying for your attention! That's why I bought basically the entire catalogue of launch VR2 games, lol. I just randomly rotated between little bits of all of them for a month or two....then just got wholly addicted on NMS and everything else fell by the wayside....but still, I'd rather that have been a sub than blowing $400+ on games
@Chaotic_Goat so the value of a service is measured by what is given to you? You are aware that you can buy whatever the service isn't giving as well. If you're an adult with a job there's no reason to be expecting handouts.
@GeeEssEff There’s been plenty of great day one games on GamePass. Wo Long Fallen Dynasty, MLB The Show 23, Monster Hunter Rise and Hi-Fi Rush just to name a few this year alone. Not to mention good games that were day one for Xbox like Guilty Gear Strive and all the Persona games.
Yes, I'm a believer. Ps plus premium rocks. I'm especially surprised how well streaming games works. I hardly download anymore
@Heavy_Artilery
The ABK is definitively not dead, if EU approves, they will figure a way to move without he UK, should the UK not change its stance. But regardless what happens, if the ABK does goes trough, it wont be "soon" by any measure. We are talking about some long months before all this ends up coming to an end (unless the EU blocks, in that case, the deal is simply over.)
I've had game pass for somewhat over a year now, but it's not those AAA day one releases like wo long that get me hyped. A 60+ hour game just won't be my money's worth with such a platform because such a big time investment doesn't make sense within a subscription service. I love shorter
and smaller day1 titles like signalis, chained echoes, citizen sleeper, etc and they make perfect sense for me, since 1) on their own they wouldn't get enough attention 2) it's sustainable in comparison to dropping quarter billion AAA games on a streaming service.
Sony did well with AA games like Stray and Tchia, and I hope it was financially feasible for the studios. If sony could have monthly, well curated day 1 Indies or AA games and finally show some proper commitment to premium and mobile streaming they'd have an all-round solid service that wouldn't need to worry about breaking bank.
@palmab The real value in PS+ comes from paying annually rather than monthly. At £99.99 a year PS + Premium works out at under £8.50/month.
@rjejr Oh I wasn’t disagreeing with Sammy’s article 😊
I'd honestly say recently NSO has become the best of the bunch though I would've much preferred for Nintendo to have gone the VC route like they did with Wii, 3DS and Wii U instead. GB/GBC/GBA being added back in February improved my opinion of the service though I wish the pace of games added was quicker.
Got too big of a backlog to bother with any subscriptions!
But if I'd have to chose between GP and Plus - Gamepass easily wins by regularly having fresher, newer titles that I haven't already played.
@LiamCroft I'm genuinely glad you are enjoying the service. I have some big gripes that make me not care much for it. Some of the things you mentioned to be minuses for Game Pass are precisely the reasons I subscribe.
I like knowing what games are coming, precisely because they are big titles that will be day one. I'm not all that interested in the announcement day surprises (I do know many others do enjoy them.)
I also like knowing that every first party game will be in Game Pass, forever, so long there is no licensing reasons for the game to be delisted as tend to be the case with racing games, and of course, I love those games being day one. Yes, I know MS has not exactly delivered a lot on that front, but I was not an Xbox gamer at all last gen, so I still have quite a backlog of first party Xbox games to experience in the service that are all "new to me".
If Game Pass didn't include their games day one, and didn't keep them there forever, I likely would not be a subscriber.
I understand (well not really, but accept)_that PS will never launch their games day one, but would like at least a commitment for their games to all enter the service after a year, and stay there. Spider-Man leaving was not encouraging.
Incredibly glad I canceled the premium and just went down to the base tier. Most of the games I’d already purchased were available for ‘free’ on premium, which made me feel like I’d wasted hundreds of dollars buying them years ago, plus I hate having time limits on how long I can play games (the expiration date/when they are removed from premium). Don’t want or need that pressure.
@thefourfoldroot1 if someone likes the games added to the service, you don't need to be able to play them all to justify the subscription. If you play 1 title a month from that library, you are likely more than breaking even.
@Tharsman
Yes, I agree with this entirely.
Even if they can, they shouldn't remove 1st party content.
As a side note, how did you indent that quote in your earlier response.
@Tharsman Yeah, I certainly agree there’s a quality and a sense of satisfaction knowing I’ll be able to play everything Microsoft puts out with my Game Pass subscription.
This year in particular, though, I feel those day one releases are being relied upon too heavily, to the point where the overall back catalogue is suffering. It’s become a pretty common response to Game Pass updates now that the list of games leaving the service is better than those arriving.
I’m very excited about playing Starfield, but what else will there be that month? It just doesn’t feel like there’s any promise anymore it’ll be flanked by other stuff from third parties like there has been in years gone by.
@KundaliniRising333
That is the point, though. Anyone buying an Xbox in addition to keeping their PlayStation isn't going to make Xbox consoles sell more than PS consoles, at most that will narrow the gap but will forever keep Xbox behind. This is especially true given that Xbox is giving their users to play their games on PC too, or even streaming them if that's good enough for the given player.
It is not impossible, in theory, for XBox consoles to overtake PS5 on some specific regions with some big bang titles, mostly western (Americas) countries, but it still is not very likely to occur this generation. In regions like EU, UK and Japan, I'm sure Xbox is expecting most of their business to be via PC.
@evan23
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@Kevw2006 Not only that, but the annual prices have had sales in November for the past several years, which makes them an even better deal. My "Extra" subscription expires more than a year from now, thanks to that deal and others (there was an upgrade discount some time after the tiers were introduced).
It's all about perspective, most of the games on plus that I want to play I've already bought so it has little value for me and I've now let it lapse. I'm still subbed to Gamepass but don't play much on there at the moment either but overall I've definitely played more on it. If anything these subscriptions are becoming largely useless for me as I have so many bought games that I'm playing
More than happy with the revamped PS Plus, never thought triple A titles would drop so soon. But here’s one for you, Christmas 2023, Ragna will drop on Extra. You heard it here first
@LiamCroft If my time spent playing other Bethesda games is anything to go by, I wont be playing anything but Starfield for several months, but I can see your point.
There still are some third party games that appeal me entering the service. I like that they tend to be telegraphed precisely because I get to plan ahead (still never catch up, though.) Right now need to finish still P4G, and start Benedict Fox, Wo Long and Homestead Arcana (not for everyone but it really calls to me.)
Did they ever add a "leaving soon" section to PSN Extra? If not, they really have to copy that. Something I find hilarious right now is that one of the titles in the "Leaving Soon" section of PC GamePass is a strategy game called "Before We Leave".
BTW, there is little announced so far that far ahead (September) other than Starfield, but this is a very good resource on everything "confirmed" for this year. I am hoping Replaced shows up before Starfield, that game looks amazing.
It certainly is for me, hence it's the only one I pay for.
Why because Xbox has released one bad game this gen?
@Tharsman Oh i agree for sure, and honestly i could care less about the console war aspect of it at all. I just simply think that in terms of this article, that PS plus is not better than gamepass for long time Sony fans and Sony in general aren't untouchable. Especially so this gen thus far.
Xbox has so far completely fumbled opportunity to grow during a time sony sits back in silence scheming up new ways to nickel and dime us fans.
Removed - inappropriate
Until ps plus gets some day 1 games it will always pale in comparison to gamepass. Recent titles like Monster Hunter Rise, Wo Long, Hi FI rush or even Sonys own MLB are just some examples.
Alot of the titles listed in the article like Riders Republic, Doom Eternal, DmC5 or Back for blood have already been on gamepass earlier. So it's not really very good. So as a multiplatform gamer, there is only 1 "winner" and its gamepass at the moment
1. Got PC Game Pass to play Wo Long and Hi-Fi Rush earlier in the year
2. Got EA Play Pro this month to play Jedi Survivor... try Wild Hearts and see Dead Space improvements
I do not see any of these as something to keep year round. Wait for a few games and jump on one or the other
If I have a Big game I am buying like FF16, have nothing active until I finish it.
I'm fairly certainly Premium only exists because people psychologically like to pick the middle option.
It makes Extra look like great value, as it has most of the benefits of upgrading from Essential while being cheaper than Premium. If there were only 2 options, more people would stick with Essential.
For me I get three or four games out of the subscription and try some games I figure are not for me, and I got my money's worth. So neither service has to do a lot to be a good deal to me anyway.
Whether Plus or Game Pass is a better deal for me can change on a month to month basis. What I do know is that I hardly care about day 1 games anyway, so Game Pass might be a little less enticing to me than other players.
It’s improved a lot, but GamePass is still the better overall value. If Xbox actually made AAA games that were bangers we’d be screwed Haha
@NEStalgia
See, I’m really not like that. I tend to have 2 or 3 games downloaded at a time and I will finish those games. Including the trophy campaign. I generally know by now what games I will like and won’t (often because they are from franchises played before, for example I still need to play Ishin and Tales of Berseria) and will play those, taking them from my ever growing backlog. Grazing on games for 40 minutes because I don’t like them enough to finish, before moving to the next, doesn’t appeal.
Now, of course if there are around 4-5 games that hit the service that fall into the category of I’ll definitely like them, then it can still be financially worthwhile, but then I have to stress about if they’ll be removed before I finish them (I’m currently dipping into Ys 9 on extra and I’m a bit anxious it’ll leave, but then realise how cheaply I can just buy it and determine the months it’ll take me to finish it would have been more cost effective if I’d just bought it).
So, as I say, if I had all the time in the world and thus no backlog of older games I know I’ll really like, it would be worth it to test the water and play a load of games I consider just OK or may potentially like. But I’m not in that position. 25 years ago sure. 25 years from now, hopefully. But not currently.
I’ve been really enjoying the changes to PS Plus.
The PS+ Extra library has an enormous amount of titles that absolutely dwarfs Gamepass in terms of sheer numbers of titles, which includes many great first-party PlayStation games that you can’t get on rival services such as Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima, Returnal, God of War, etc.
There’s also been some great day and date releases as of late like Tchia, Meet Your Maker, and the upcoming Humanity.
Then on Premium tier it’s got those nostalgic classics that are constantly receiving more trophy support.
It’s really starting to blossom into a great all-around service with something for everyone.
No, it isn’t better, it’s good I’ll give it that, but PlayStations service will only ever match Game Pass when they offer the big AAA games day and date, not a year later. Game Pass has had some incredible indie games on it Sony hasn’t got.
While I will never pay for a subscription if I can just buy the game I desire, if I HAD to pick one it would be PS+ extra.
@S1ayeR74
Surely that’s only relevant if you have caught up to everything and thus want to play them day and date, when basically unfinished, rather than slightly older games. A very specific user case. Also, what big AAA games have been released on Gamepass day and date recently?
@thefourfoldroot1 Thats the beauty of Game Pass, it has a huge difference in genre of games. No one will play everything on it as it won’t suit all your tastes. As for big AAA games recently, that’s a trap, but the fact is they DO release them, all, day and date. Sony does not. And then it has all the Bethesda games on it for instance so Fallout etc.
Great article, @Liam. As a p(l)ayer. I agree that the service provides an amazing value. I still think there’s a conversation to be had that explores if it’s good for the industry as a whole. I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. Your guess is better/more informed than mine…
@thefourfoldroot1 Yeah, I mean I'll never have the time or money to play all of everything I want, and never have the money to buy everything I may want to try somewhat. The subs really help with that, I get to try out tons of things without having to have endless time to justify endless expesne. I pay a little, I play a little, I expand my world of games by a lot, but still dedicated my main play time to things I want to see through more. Works for me. But again, I was raised on arcade gaming where 10 minutes was a long time on one game because it cost like a buck a minute as you learn how to play lol. Plus game rentals where you have exactly 24 hours to play any game as much as you want, and you probably only get 2 hours to actually play.
@S1ayeR74
I guess we are In very different places. See my post above to Nestalgia.
@NEStalgia
I guess the difference is, when you have the money, but not the time, to play everything you want, subs become somewhat pointless. Sure, I could take a punt on some games there and maybe find a gem, but I have a lot of nailed on gems still to play, so it seems like a waste of time…if I ever finish all of those games, well, I’ll likely just still buy the games I want to play. I really feel subs are for people with a lot more time than me to get beyond an ever growing list of quickly cheapening games I haven’t yet gotten to.
@Titntin Or own a PS5 and a PC.
The comments above are fairly interesting.
Which service is better for an individual seems to depend on a mix of factors which include:
The first two seem to be the biggest drivers.
I am currently still paying almost nothing(less than $4/mo) for game pass and honestly even at that price it isn't worth it to me.
On the other hand, from reading the comments, I can see how it would be completely worth it to others based on the types of games they play and the way they like to consume them.
I'd still give it to gamepass by a decent margin. Native downloads to PC, streaming to my phone or anything with a browser is pretty handy. Steam deck with xcloud is great. Plus the shear number of day 1 games that I don't have to pay for is nice.
It's kind of shocking how quickly you can load the same save you were playing natively on series x to pc, cloud/mobile, series s, xb1, etc.
I'm a subscriber for now at the highest tier, but ultimately I don't think this is a service for me. I tend to play games as they come out, so while the value is good in terms of cost to gameplay, if they aren't including niche titles day 1 to round out the subscription, it's probably not a good fit for me long-term.
@thefourfoldroot1 nah like I said even without time I value the opportunity to play part of so much, just because that's how I tend to play. I don't finish much of what I play. I get bored of repetition and move on. Unless a game really grips me.
@NEStalgia
Me too. When I don’t have games to play that I know I’ll definitely like much more than that. Which hasn’t been for a good many years and likely won’t be for a good many more, lol. But definitely when I’ve run out of games like that I’ll skim through a load I might only want to play for 40 minutes, most definitely.
I'm happy with the value it provides currently, but what I would really like to see is the ability to download PS3 games instead of having to stream them.
I think it was an article on this site that convinced me that subscriptions are a waste of my money. I had Gamepass for a little over a year, and never finished a game on it. I did buy some games due to seeing them on Gamepass, but honestly, I don’t have time to really enjoy all it has to offer. When I buy the game, I don’t have to worry if it will disappear…and the collection I have collected since the very, very early 90s has given me such a backlog that I don’t feel I can justify it anymore…of course if I find a reason to want to play online I can subscribe again for a bit. $15.
Not too bad. It’s just that I would go months with hardly touching the subscription.
@rjejr What? That isn't him saying Sammy is wrong that's Liam saying that he disagrees.
@mariomaster96 loved your sarcasm 🤣🤣🤣
@Heavy_Artilery my guy that’s absolute drivel and it’s not going to happen
@Chaotic_Goat I have gamepass and the last few months have been ass with barely any good day one indies
I personally found Gamepass to be the better overall service since the launch of both consoles - great third party games, amazing indie titles, and ahem, one or two exclusives.... until now. I'll be keeping my PS plus subscription going, mainly for my backlog and online gaming but sadly end my Gamepass subscription (after finishing Grounded) until Starfield and other new titles I'm interested in appear. Gamepass has an incredible library for something that's cheaper than Netflix but I've exhausted all I want to play. I'd say both services are excellent value.
I have yet to read the other comments, but for me the psplus services are great except for Premium. I did demo a game, but the offerings of the classics is weak and to be fair not many I would want anyways. I would drop the premium if I wasn't grandfathered in at $60 or was it 70.
this article overlooked the poor showing of ps classics which was intended and hyped up to be a major selling point of ps+ premium. it has under delivered to such a degree that it has been an embarassment to whitness. until this is resolved — i'm talking about 100+ new ps1/2 classics being added to the service by the end of the year — then my money is on ps plus essential taking the crown for best value service in gaming 13 years and counting...
o yea, not a fan of games being removed and rotated out at random. that is a deal breaker for extra and premium tiers. sony should allow subscribers to add games to their download list and play them whenver they want like they do with essential.
I mean it's no sega channel but I definitely get my moneys worth. I would have killed to have access to this many games as a kid.
Sorry no its great if your new to PlayStation but other wise once youve caught up and done your back log more games leave than are added
Ive played my backlog of games on there so now theres very liltte to play
I won't believe this until they start adding new games on day 1.
As someone who subscribes to BOTH I think over the last 6 months YES PS+ has arguably been better. Simply put that is down to two things - Sonys service has gotten significantly better and Xbox service has gotten worse.
How has Game Pass gotten worse?
1) since November-ish they have reduced the average number of games added per month from more than 20 per month over the last 2 years (around 263 in 2021 and 265 in 2022) down to around 10-11 per month (64 added in last 6 months)
2) over those 6 months Game Pass has removed more games than it has added every month (64 added, 82 removed) that’s never happened before
3) many of the games that were highly anticipated have not been as good as expected from Redfall (59), Minecraft Legends (71), Atomic Heart (72), Benedict Fox (69). While there have still been some excellent games it feels like the general quality has dropped.
I don’t want to over egg this. I still think Game Pass is great and offers excellent value, else I wouldn't subscribe, but it is definitely worse than it was 1, 2 or 3 years ago.
I’ve always praised the excellent curation on Game Pass but recently it feels there are more average games being added than ever.
That all said PS+ needs to keep up the good service consistently for a long time to be seen as the better service, it’s only early days.
@tselliot I do have a PC, i9900K with a 3090. No longer state of the art, but not far off. I just prefer to play on a console for most game types, so I also have the series x to consume Gamepass games and a couple of PS5's (one digital) as myself and my wife love PS gaming. I'm just not into PC gaming for the main part, and the current fad of releasing broken PC ports that are complete stutter fests really doesn't help. But its good to have one as some games should only be mouse played and sometimes the extra horsepower is used (I like Forza @4K 120hz). Happy gaming mate.
I don't want the higher tiers. But I like the fact that Sony is leaving it completely optional. They don't seem to be relying on it. I can respect that. If they put champions of norrath on it, I will get the high tier lol.
Oh and to add, Sony service right now doesn't seem to harming the industry like the other one.
Nah. PS Plus subscription service is terrible still.
Half the games they've added were already on NOW. PS3 titles can only be streamed too. Also there's only several PS2 titles. Game Pass is still better. I unsubscribed from PS Plus's options long ago.
Game Pass is the only thing Xbox is doing right. Now if only they could release some actual good AAA games, then they might be able to compete with Sony and Nintendo lol.
PlayStation Now already has been for years. 700 games for years now. And one of the biggest things nobody EVER talked about, you do not have to pay anything extra to play online........... even when they added PS4 games to the service in 2018.
So somebody with a PC never had to worry about this. 2 years after the launch of game pass and it was failing so hard, Xbox had no choice but to add the "Ultimate" gimmick and on every forum and blog I was trying to explain to people that PS Now has been "Ultimate" since it launched lol.
But nobody cared and the articles and over paid advertising just kept going and going and going. Game pass game pass game pass, yeah but did you know that game pass game pass game pass???? Now look where it has got them to this stage.
@Phornix If that's what Xbox is doing right, I don't want to know what they are doing wrong lol.
(I never subscribed to those extra PS Plus tiers ever. I don't want to subscribe to some temp game sub service PS or ESPECIALLY an Xbox one. I'll just stick to my 2500 games standard Plus from 2010, that is still banging and getting decent games to this day, unlike games with gold that didn't even make it to year 7 until it went stale).
Game Pass is still the better service by far in my opinion. Most of the big hitters on PS+ are games I already bought months or even years ago. I'm all for showcasing back catalogues (I play SO many BC Xbox games) but it's very rare for me to find anything on PS+ that interests me and haven't already played.
One service prides itself on day 1 releases of both Indies and AAA games while the other prides itself on having games i already own or played. There's a reason i sub to GP but not Plus Extra.
Let’s not try and fail to reinvent the wheel. Buy, and save if have to, the games you want to play, games are not videos.
@Nepp67 "wrong that's Liam saying that he disagrees"
wrong = disagree
Pretty sure that's how those words work.
The earth might be flat, Switch might be a real console.....
I like psplus essential more than other tiers because the games collection are permanent, I don't like getting some games on my subs and when I finally have the time to play it, the game already out from the subs while I'm still not done finishing it.
Great article Sammy
I'm not a fan of subscriptions myself
The timing of this article is fascinating. It comes a day after Sony announces they’re removing, what, 36 games from the service? And, it’s only three or four days from now when all 14 of the PS4 PS+ Essential games are being removed so that new PS5 owners can’t claim them.
That said, I get it…. It makes sense that PushSquare would publish a pro-PS+ article. If PS4 and PS5 loses its gamer base, it means less readers will be interested in PushSquare’s content, and that hurts the old bottom line $.
Anyway, I like PS+. I always have. I’m a premium subscriber, and that’s not going to change. 😎 XBox has a dumb UI, and I really like the haptic feedback from the PS5’s dual sense controller. It’s just too bad the Vita wasn’t supported like it should’ve been. They should’ve been giving ‘em away with purchases of the PS4. (Put the system in the gamers’ hands, and consumers will spend money on games & subscription services!)
As an aside, I’m kinda surprised Sony doesn’t have a PS5 rental service…like, for $99.99 per year, you can rent a PS5 with basic PS+ service! Seems like it’d be an easy way for game sales to skyrocket.
@Titntin I can see it. My monitor is a 55" R646 TCL TV and my computer chair is a lazy boy. So, gaming on my PC is almost indistinguishable from playing a console. If I had to sit at a computer chair instead of a couch or my chair, I'd definitely prefer a console hooked to a TV
M$ has been bankrolling every Xbox gamer for years now. They are buying their loyalty, where Sony has earned and is earning it, still.
We see how terrible M$' strategy truly is, reducing Arkane to a shadow of its former glory. However, they also gave their customers Pentiment (?) and Hi-Fi Rush (?) which I couldn't help but notice were some huge hits. I think their biggest strength is that they are giving away everything for free, keeping the brand alive artificially for some time yet, hoping to make it big as a monopoly. Truly horrible strategy, but at least there is some user retention in it, and they have the money to keep delivering 3 party titles, acquire studios and put in "1st" party titles.
PS' strategy has spawned GOW: R, HFW, and soon Spiderman 2. Not forgetting the incredible PSVR2. Their subscription service is absolutely fantastic and together with the fact that my games library is at Sony there's just no competition in my book for where I want to be. It has to be Playstation!
I think that it is timely and interesting to read this article - keep it up!
That’s a ridiculous take. Doing the Gold upgrade trick (which MS has a page on their site telling you how to do it), you can get Game Pass Ultimate for £2.90 a month. For Access to over 400 games. 250 of them you can play through the Cloud on your tablet, phone or PC. All first party titles Day 1 and a ton of ‘old’ games.
For me, Game Pass is a no brainer. 12 months of it costs half the price of a first party title on day 1. If I wanted to buy at least 1 game every two years, then GPU is just worth it, no debate needed. PS Plus is a long way from being in the ‘don’t even need to think about it’ category.
Sony definitely has a better balance on subscription and producing quality titles at the same time. It's not an easy feat.
But average gamers, especially newer ones, will still be drawn to MS' quantity first.
Does anyone know if buying PS Plus Membership counts towards PS Stars points?
I think Sony has more quality titles. I don't like old games on either. MS has too many x360 games on it. I do have a few newer games on it that I like. Power Wash, Super Mega Baseball 3, MLB The Show, The Ascent and MS Flight Simulator. Since I prefer playing on the PS5, I bought MLB The Show and the Ascent for the PS5 though. The main reason I have the game pass is for MS Flight Simulator. My PC can't run it very well. Anyway, I hate subscription services but think Sony is doing pretty well with the "extra" that I subscribe to. Still would prefer a service with only PS5 games though. Not a fan of playing older games on newer hardware.
@KundaliniRising333 I honestly see Xbox more nickle and diming there mid customer every chance they get with service fee and microtransactions. They add microtransactions to pretty much every game they launch. I also think it’s a reason why they stayed away from single player games for as long as they did.
Not sure I agree with this but not gonna attack it either. Value is based on an individual's taste after all. Nothing I'm after on it that I don't already own to begin with. I'd be more interested in older titles - titles not easily accessible anymore but playstation seems to have ditched that altogether. I miss their rpg lineup from when I was younger but that literally is ancient history now lol. Way too much open world anymore.
@rjejr You sure have a tough time understanding the difference of the words "I think" and "wrong" huh? Don't worry you'll understand it at some point.
@Microbius Yep, totally understand. Stacking is the key. I started with PS+ back in the PS3 days, and the sheer number of PlayStation Plus games I now have in my back catalog for PS, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5, and Vita is astounding. If you’ve had Microsoft Gold for 3 years, I imagine it’s the same thing.
Nah, gamepass still has better games. A lot cool small indies.
I can admit PS+ does have the better AAA games.
@Snake_V5 it does counts for points but does Not count as a purchased game to level up star level.
@puddinggirl PS+ extra has more games than Game Pass.
@Peach64 for me PS+ ectra currently beats Game Pass. It has better games an more games! Game Pass best feature is day 1 exclusives but we don’t get many of those at all!!
I think what Sony is doing is exactly what should happen in a subscription service (at least for the Extra tier, I cannot care less about the premium tier). The day 1 releases harm the devs a lot by taking away a "possibly" huge revenue stream that can be reinvested in good games. I hate the 80€ price tag that Sony has, but I'd pay it for exceptionally good games on release and many people would, and that creates a revenue stream GamePass can never bring in.
Sony could add a day 1 game trial for the premium tier (I know they're doing it now, but I'd love to see it extended and becoming an industry standard to try games before purchasing to avoid disasters since not everybody reads gaming news), and that would make the upgrade totally worth it for me.
@Nekomichu Thanks.
@Nepp67 I think you are wrong if that helps. 🤷♂️
@Agramonte Pretty much this. I have pretty much turned both GamePass and PS Plus off, as I'll be playing Jedi Survivor and Tears of the Kingdom for now, both of them single player experiences, so don't need any subscription service.
@Casco Yeah, same here.
Using a EA Play Pro for Jedi Survivor, but Tears of the Kingdom and then FF16 are next on my list.
No need for a subscription for some time after done with Jedi.
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