There’s much discussion among future PlayStation 5 owners about what impending Xbox announcements could mean for PlayStation Plus. For those of you who don’t know, Microsoft recently discontinued the 12-month tier of its long-running Xbox Live subscription service, prompting plenty of speculation.
There are multiple theories floating around: the most straight-forward is that the Redmond firm is ironing out some issues that effectively allow subscribers to upgrade to its premium Game Pass Ultimate subscription tier at a heavily discounted price. In other words, it’s a temporary solution while it cleans up some backend issues.
The alternatives are much more interesting, and could have an impact on the value proposition of Sony’s own subscription services. With Microsoft scheduled to make multiple Xbox Series X announcements this week, some have suggested that the platform holder may be about to make some disruptive changes to its business model.
One theory is that it’s discontinuing the 12-month Xbox Live tier in an effort to push users towards the more expensive, all-encompassing Game Pass Ultimate. This effectively bundles together all of the organisation’s services, including Xbox Live, the upcoming Project xCloud, and its Game Pass software vault.
In effect, this would represent a price increase, as it’d require players to pod out $180 a year for the privilege to play online. However, Microsoft would argue that it’s also a massive value increase, as anyone subscribed would get free access to titles like Halo: Infinite, which they could then play online and potentially even on the go, via cloud gaming.
The alternative is that Xbox feels so strongly about the value proposition of Game Pass that it’s willing to eradicate its online multiplayer paywall. This would have a profound impact on the viability of PS Plus moving forwards, as it would be difficult for Sony to justify its subscription should the competition move the other way.
How would you feel about the prospect of paying for PS Plus to play online if multiplayer is free on Microsoft’s console? Would that change your relationship with Sony’s system at all? Do you think it would affect the value proposition of the PS5? How do you think PlayStation would respond – if at all? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source trueachievements.com, via gamesindustry.biz, purexbox.com]
Comments 78
Rather buy a console and pay £50 for plus. At least you are guaranteed some good games and use the other £130 for ones which don't come to the subscription service.
It's usually 50 or less a year (always a deal somewhere). Never been a factor for me. Hell i had live and plus overlapping for several years. The internet will lose its mind though
Who knows!! But the interesting thing here for me is it sounds like MS are thinking of something to change everything. It’s what happens when you fail so heavily against the competition - you have to change for the better. If they do this then it’s brilliant news.
I don’t know if PS Plus really has much value in it any more. I hardly play any of the games given away. I’d rather pay a discounted price for just Online play. Perhaps a bundle with PS Now would be another option?
I hate paying for online, but I can't deny that the Xbox value proposition is huge. I've played a bit of project xcloud and it really is pretty awesome. There is definitely a small bit of lag, but there is much less compared to Playstation Now.
Meh - to be honest, happy with PS Plus this gen and I don't play online. As others have said, I shop around and pay yearly.
I think Xbox will scrap the current version of Live. Ultimate subscriberes will also get Xbox Cloud which is their version of Stadia which will tie into a digital library etc.
I fully expect xbox to announce it will be free to play online games, no subscription needed
In the series 'PS5 fans are..' 😃
But who are those PS5 fans you keep talking about? It's not even launched yet.🤔
Keep the £50 a year Plus option please for god's sake don't mess about with it. People like myself shop around and top up a year's worth for the bargain price of £35-£40 whenever there are deals on. Hoping that the PS5 will come with two free games a month as well as two free PS4 games per month going forward for at least 6 months to allow folk to do the console transition. Really don't care what MS are doing but forcing them to buy Ultimate sounds like a risky venture
@playstation_king that’s not going to happen imo. They’re the ones who made yearly subscriptions for online play, they’re not about to get rid of it completely. Expect more integration between their products as this is clearly something along those lines.
This article makes me chuckle. Firstly it's all about xbox and then it tries really had to frame it like MS are about to force people to pay more.
I have paid $39 for PS Plus for the last 3 years in each November. Why does Push Square think $180 is a better deal???
@MedaXbot they likely are by needlessly bundling services together.
We need to wait until it’s revealed to know the whole story though.
I never play online, yet pay for PSPlus. Only reasons I do are cloud saves (that are free on Xbox) and the monthly free games.
I have 3 PS4 devices all over my house, and cloud saves are a lot more convenient to move my data between them than a USB stick.
I been claiming the free games, but lately not seen anything in free games I been interested on that I don’t already own, and I am playing less and less PS4 with most my time being spent on the Switch lately, and that I just move around the house between my many docks, so my cloud saves are only being used as online backups at the moment.
Still, just renewed for another year, so I have a full year to decide what I’ll do with my account. Most likely, a year from now I’ll forget and the thing will auto-renew.
Im locked in until the end of 2022 but I defineitly agree they need to make some tweaks. Including PS Now somehow is an absolute must imo.
@Boucho11 I like this idea. I'd be happy to pay less for online functions, and have no downloadable games. 80% of which, I've already bought!
Sony will continue to sell games and consoles like hotcakes regardless of whether it makes you pay for online or not.
Does anyone know if with XBox Game Pass, you can buy the games available in the Pass even while your subscription is running?
For example with PS+, if a game has been available with PS+ and you "bought" it then, you can't buy it to keep it indefinitely (thus benefiting from a sale for a game you want to keep in the case you cancel your subscription). That's BS and I would like that limitation to be gone!
Just delete psplus and make psnow available worldwide, the free games are usually bad, I like psplus ps3 era way more than ps4 psplus
@MarcG420 is it really likely? After all there was an article on this company's xbox site quoting insider jeff grub saying he thinks they are removing the gold pay wall. Doesn't make sense for a company who lost so much market share to make themselves even less attractive to consumers, at least that's my take.
I've only started paying for PS Plus and I'm not much of a multiplayer fan (some CoD, GT Sport). But I have already got my money's worth with CoD:WW2 and Erica, which I am having a lot of fun playing. Especially Erica turned out to be a nice game. Just about to start my 2nd playthrough to make some different choices. On topic: I don't mind if Sony sticks to its guns next gen. It's MS who have to go for desperate measures, not Sony.
@Olmaz yes you can and it also gives you a discount on the game.
You don’t usually slaughter your cash cows unless you’re desperate.
PS plus and PS now will only cost you 120 a year here in the US. Cheaper than game pass ultimate and Sony has been slowly improving PS Now. In fact I'll prob get it on the PS5.
From a consumer perspective, having “everything” (online+game pass+xcloud) in a monthly fee will seem like an easy thing and many won’t think / realise it’s actually more. But that’s for Microsoft to worry about.
Will Sony do anything similar? PS+ and PSNOW merged would be the nearest equivalent and again that would seem like a good deal for many people. This then drops the duplicate “free” game scenario as what has happened in the past and for both services, the online “paywall” will invariably get masked as one of many features for a monthly fee.
I wouldn’t say no to that, purely as I’ve had PS+ for A number of years now so many of the games exist in PSNOW and there’s plenty I still want to play. I benefit from the cloud saves but I rarely do online multiplayer. So it could work for me
Maybe they could unveil a new tier of PS+ with now included, could be something viable.
As great as Gamepass as a service is, it only takes a couple of Devs to say No they don't want their games on there, CDPR already have with Cyberpunk and that could start a snowball of other devs following suit, esp AAA ones and Gamepass starts getting into tricky waters.
It's a very interesting time.
I think we're probably due for a change up, and it's exciting to see what changes Xbox make, if any. I can definitely see them scrapping Xbox Live Gold if they feel it's financially viable,
I can't really see PlayStation making any moves for the time being though. We know how much PS+ brings in, and I'm not sure they're ready to bundle Now into it either, but we'll see.
Fascinating times.
@gmxs CDPR already have The Witcher 3 on game pass though, so they are on board with it. I don't think there'll be too many big 3rd party games going on Game Pass day one, but I'm not sure there needs to be anyway.
If it is free on microsoft to play online ...............no brainer
PS4/5 Exclusive forces games companies to lose potential revenue from Microsoft and vice versa
Buying a games console depending on who gets the exclusives needs to switch for the gamers.
What's the value of access to games if the games have little value?
Most Xbox owners are actually against this "bundle deal" since most of them doesn't actually want Gamepass and the price increase is not worth it because Gamepass only have AA titles most of the time and they would rather buy their own games.
Some of my friends who owns an Xbox even told me that MS converted their 12-month xbox gold subscription into 4-months of Ultimate Gamepass and they are not happy about this.
Wouldn't make any difference to me. I buy PlayStation for their games, and I don't play much online anyway.
Short of suddenly putting out high-quality, truly exclusive titles, there is nothing MS could do to get me to buy an Xbox.
Ps Plus offers so little value and has done for a long time now. Microsoft has been great recently gamepass and xcloud the next gen is already decided for me.
@BrainHacker I'm not sure where you got your numbers on "most Xbox gamers", because GamePass is very popular. Getting all of the first party games such as Halo, for example, on GamePass day one without having to buy the game? Yeah, I think people like it. It's an incredible value, full of really great games.
@BrainHacker MS has not converted Xbox live gold accounts into GamePass without user action, and the ones that were converted were one-to-one time for a dollar (pay a dollar, all your time becomes GamePass Ultimate time, no loss of time as your friends described.)
That said, strongest rumor so far is XBox will drop the paywall from online play, and that’s something most Xbox users actually embrace openly. Only a small chunk dislike the idea of it because it would likely mean free monthly games go away or get rolled into the more expensive Game Pass.
They need to throw Now in with Plus to get people using the service. Otherwise, I don't really care. Obviously, the better PS Plus is the better it is for me. But I'm not sat here actively concerned about it. I'll just carry on paying for it anyway. I've been paying for Final Fantasy XIV every month and I haven't touched it in like eight months. I should really do something about that.
i pay for ps+ for the sales and cloud saves. cloud saves is free on xbox and much better implemented as well. much prefer the original ps+ compared to now
I mainly use GamePass for it's 20% discount which is not always a 20% discount, I much prefer to own my games. If you don't buy games I can see the valve in GamePass, otherwise it just offers discounts. Also I see zero value in any Cloud Gaming Service, hardware is the way to go for me.
@banacheck I had no clue game pass gave users a 20% discount! I know there are some deals with Gold memberships, but not a member so no clue how good they are.
@Jslade Gamepass is not worth it for someone who only wants to play Multiplayer.
MS removed the 12-month subscription of Xbox Live Gold so the only option you now have is to either stack up 3-months of Gold or subscribed to Ultimate Gamepass and both methods are more expensive than buying the 12-month Gold.
I'm not arguing that Gamepass is popular because I tried it once on PC but forcing people to pay for something they don't even want is an anti-consumer move. There are a lot of forums who all have same sentiment about this but I don't want to list them all here. However, here's one https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-07-18-12-month-xbox-live-gold-subscriptions-have-been-quietly-withdrawn-by-microsoft?page=comments
@Tharsman
Yeah, I would ask him again about this.
Ive ultimate gamepass and just ps+ wont go near psnow its not worth it.
Honestly, I was never happy with the decision to charge for online for either Xbox or PlayStation. Personally I'd be happy to see it go.
The problem with promoting ps now combos with plus is several countries where ps now is a non-entity/unavailable-no real sign if the Azure deal has led to any changes on playstation's backend/PSN running off of it compared to its current arrangements.
@Robocod true, although that never stopped microsoft from pairing up xcloud with its combo. let's face it, there will be certain countries in the world where even a digital download will never be a viable option for people. the ps+/ps now combo may be exclusive to the countries that can support the services. it does not need to be a universal standard.
Ps plus is a deal for the games and discounts alone.
I really think PlayStation (and microsoft) opting to charge for multiplayer was a massive mistake from the start. It made them a huge amount of money in the short term but can't be sustained as gaming evolves. Cross play has shown us that objectively PC is the superior platform. Console players are finally asking themselves why we pay a tax for multiplayer when PC players can have better hardware, infrastructure and functionality, can still play the same games online with console friends (for free) and now play microsoft / sony exlusives with better graphics and performance across the board. It's simply unjustifiable. The pessimist in me thinks microsoft is too greedy and will never turn down money, but the optimist in me sees MS making the right choice by making online free, forcing sony to follow suit, ultimately changing the market for the better. I may even buy my first Xbox if this true, just to support pro consumer decisions. Sony better watch out, next gen is looking like a real fight
I'll probably stop after this sub runs out I ain't getting a PS5 and I just expect Sony to stop giving out decent ish games for it once PS5 comes out
PS Plus and Now should be linked together imo.
How they do that and cost is anyone's idea but realistically that should be the way forward.
The free games haven't been doing anything for me (especially since they removed PS3/Vita and failed to add VR games instead), so they can drop the new games and then lower the price. I'd be completely cool with that.
I dont play online, so Im paying the 40 dollars per year for the free games. Its worth it right now for me.
Microsoft are just trying to find ways to get their Fans to be stuck in their eco-system and then they will have no choice but to except Microsoft's future DRM policies that Microsoft are dying to implement again. Oh well I did warn them
I don't care whether it includes online or not. I subscribe for the games. For the price of 1 game, I get 2-3 games every month for a full year. That's a damn good deal no matter which way you look at it.
I can't believe console players have normalised and defending paying to play online.
I believe players need choice whether to have 12 months on its own or tie in with its game pass....did Phil mention thats basically "forcing" people into paying for something they may not even want in the first place then forcing them to pay more for small subs for live than paying the full 180 for everything, anyway thats what Microsoft aim to do make people pay a little bit more but entice them by saying it has these extra bits, sorry to say it but hes also contradicting himself by not giving players choice.
even if they had free multiplayer and gave away the XsX free, i still wouldn't game on it.
i've yet to pay more than £29 for 12 months of PS+ - and i've subscribed for most of PS4. last time i got it when it was sale for £34.99 and bought a £35 credit code for just under £29.. personally, i think if you'd bought a year's worth of PSNow for £29.99, it offers much better value than GamePass.. you get access to 800-odd games, even if 75% are only playable as streams, there's still 150-200 PS4 games that you can download and play natively. though personally, i wouldn't subscribe to PS+ if online was free like it was on PS3.. and i imagine that's probably true for at least 35m of the 40m subscribers, so i can't see sony changing it anytime soon. i get that the infrastructure costs money to build, support and so on.. and i'd probably prefer to pay a small cost (currently less than 1 coffee per month) than see advertisements all over the home screen, or the alternative of putting prices on games and other services up.
microsoft have made players have xbox gold subscriptions for free to play to games, whereas sony has not, so i'd be surprised if they intend to drop the online fee entirely, without absorbing it into some mandatory service. there were also rumours that due to the potential price of XsX (and by comparison PS5) that microsoft had intended to roll out a subscription plan similar to mobile phones.. where a single monthly payment gets the console and the xbox services, without the big upfront one-off hit.. if they release an XsX elite or some such with 20Tflops three years in, you'd get the upgrade whilst continuing to pay the monthly fee. it could be argued that it actually would keep people locked in, rather than drifting off...
@Olmaz yes you can get it at a further discounted price while on game pass than if it were on ms store..
This is the one territory where Sony really needs to step up it's game. Originally psplus was great value, but that has changed for the worse halfways through this gen. The gamepass in comparison was already a great value proposition, but combined with project xcloud it puts psplus and especially psnow to shame. Psnow feels like a forgotten project at this point.
@Boba_Fett @BleedingDreamer Thanks for your answers.
I am a unashamed Sony fanboy, but they have really to step up in term of service if they want to be competitive next gen. The fact that you can't buy a game just because you have access to it through a subscription is stupid, and is just a small example of what Sony has to change relative to its services.
My relationship with Sony (and even Microsoft before that) change a long time ago.
How about the gaming industry is just as irrelevant, greedy and specially futile than any other industry nowadays?
I don't really care. PS+ is cheap and a good value. That, and I wouldn't consider an xbox even if was free.
GamePass is one of the strongest offerings Microsoft has. It's incredible value. It's one of the ways that MS is ahead of the competition IMO and I'd love to see Sony take a similar approach.
£19.99 per year for Online only
£49.99 per year for online and free games
£69.99 per year for online, free games and PS Now.
You're welcome Sony.
That "if" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Microsoft won't stop charging to play online.
The thing is for me I like the PlayStation plus for the free games I’m not really big on the multiplayer game I’m more of a single player
I'd happily pay $100 a year if it included PlayStation now
I still dont get why they even need to charge for it in the first place it's a joke never paid a penny on the pc to play online but it's never been much of an issue for me since I play mostly single player games on the station everything else is played on pc
I personally would prefer a rumor that was going around before we saw the PS5. It was said there could be a Premium version of PS Plus and it would cost around 80 but offer better games and early betas and discounts of the like but also it'd be optional and you wouldn't need plus anymore to play online.
@MedaXbot these guys struggle daily to find anything of substance to talk about with ps5 so they try and spin what will be a game changing move from Xbox into a possible negative (unless Sony does it too then its totally a positive!)
The best thing to happen to gaming in the last decade was Microsoft losing the Xbox one / PS4 gen ever since they fell so far behind they've been doing nothing but changing this industry for the better (dragging Sony kicking and screaming eight along with them).
I don't know if I ever want to see a day Microsoft is out front because it might be the day the industry stops improving we know Sony could be years behind and they ain't going to make the kind of revolutionary moves Microsoft has.
@jays1255 I don't think most get what these move is about removing the pay wall from MP is about strengthening their goal of play anywhere. They want people to look at gold and gamepass and xcloud as values in and of themselves without it being tied to having to choose them for MP access.
It's game changing like they literally invented paying for MP access and they are about to kill it (or atleast make any service still charging for it looks kinda bad)
The other stuff will be positioned for what the value adds are for each and mp will just become a given so that they guy who gets xcloud is suddenly running into an ADDITIONAL pay wall to play the 1 game they signed up for xcloud to play with their friend.
Something along those lines.
Just like when they moved Netflix streaming from gold access only to silver (aka free) it will be something along those lines and designed to make "gold" more about its value proposition for free or discounted games.
@leucocyte your mention of such program isn't just some "talk" it's absolutely real and has been around now for some time it's called Xbox all access and yes as of now it's been limited in scope but I have for a long while now since first hearing about the program along with their changes to what they call "generations" and combined with the naming scheme they chose for the system with "series". (another place where naming schemes like that is used very commonly? Mobiles)
I've basically said that they have a long term plan to evolve their platform beyond a console and much more into something akin to what Apple has done with the iPhone. Games that work up and down the stack of new and old models (with eventual cutoff points) and hardware that's upgraded on a much more regular basis something like 18-24 months all packaged with a single monthly payments and no out of pocket up front cost.
Now maybe they won't be here fully for that day 1 with the new system and we see it launch pretty much the standard way but they've laid the ground work for those initial buyers or late upgraders to be offered a choice when they buy in next time, 500 now and 15 a month or 35 a month and nothing out of pocket. With that you get the hardware you get the service you get the games and you get access from your mobile or other device via streaming. Oh you'll also get a hardware refresh and your current games will look even better 2 years from now. If you're done paying monthly no sweat keep the current hardware and it's yours to play all games until they eventually stop being supported at which point we will have a brand new even better system ready to for the same old 35 a month you've always been accustomed to.
Now come on if that doesn't sound line a deal almost any gamer could get behind.
I suspect within the next 4 years we will know for sure if this is their plan but mark it down in the history books I called it here.
@hoffa007 the problem here is you as well as the writers are assuming what you want it to be than what is more likely in that they aren't going to be forcing anything instead gold will be refocused on a discount program game pass a subscription service and xcloud a streaming program (all available together under ultimate) while MP will do live Netflix streaming once did and slide from the gold level down to silver and just be a given.
Kinda hard to sell people on a service like xcloud so they can play games on a console they don't own with their friends who do if in addition to that service you asking them to pay for another.
@solocapers oh you mean they should just do what Microsoft done been doing? Lol
Of course these services should be coming together they all work together and mp like Microsoft is about to show should just be a given seeing how so many of the other services intrinsically have less value if you make mp an additional cost.
No one's going to sign up for xcloud if they got to go out and buy gold on top just so they can play with their friend who stuck with Xbox.
. The whole point of something g like xcloud is to tear down barriers not add to them.
Sony will follow suit just like they did with charging for mp after Xbox.
@BrainHacker read my previous replies above but this isn't about forcing people to spend more they are eliminating the cost of mp completely because in a gamepass and xcloud world it just doesn't make sense anymore. Gold will be a value service about discounts and freebies. MP will just work however you access your game. Remember they want a seamless world and a play anywhere mentality doesn't work well with additional pay walls
@roe people don't get Netflix because it's the fastest place to see the newest blockbusters at home. They get it cause of the abundance of good content both of old and some newer stuff. The ever evolving library keeps things fresh and you just always know you'll find SOMETHING you're interested in. Not to mention how it opens you up to new stuff you normally wouldn't rent / buy.
This is what can and does make gamepass successful.
@Netbean like I said in above reply to another the best thing to ever happen to the gaming industry was Microsoft losing the last gen war. Ever since they fell behind they've been doing nothing but making positive changes to the industry as a whole and dragging Sony kicking and screaming into a fresh new and more open world.
I wouldn't be playing death stranding on my pc this month and horizon zero dawn in the next or being able to play war zone on my ps4 with my buddies on Xbox and the one guy who just has to have kb/m so plays on pc.
.
They may be behind in console sales but I truly believe they aren't even fighting in the same war anymore as Sony they truly transformed into a service platform and have slowly but surely dragged the rest of them forward as well.
I don't own an Xbox but I'm Xbox services fan!
@Cybrshrk my comment never implied what I want it to be, end of the day why eliminate taking out a year's sub and then replacing it with a more expensive brand? What if the player still only wants the 12 year sub thats what im getting at means you are forcing them to have to pick something they have no option for isnt it which is basically what Phil is saying about ps5 and their games not giving consumers a choice.
Anyway just an opinion on what i think.
Would rather pay nothing at all of course but I do pay for plus and now mainly to keep the cost down and supply the kids with games that 50 quid a throw! The only games I buy are a few racing titles a year and a few shooters, so for me now/plus needs to be combined
@Cybrshrk that I agree with. Xbox opened the door to how we game today.
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