Shocking: Sony Doesn't Want Game Pass on PlayStation, Microsoft Has a Pop at PS Plus

I’d take gamepass on PS. Especially with Bethesda games most likely being Xbox only.

Of course they don't, why would Sony want that? That's like Burger King walking up to McDonald's and saying "Can we move Burger King in your store".

Let Plus go on to Xbox then. And Nintendo Online while you're at it.

Although I guess if they did that, they'd be saying they are the true place for players to go.

why would game pass be on playstation? It is the competing platform.
I am very happy with the offering PS has, even much that I have now sold my Series X and there can be a paradox of choice when you have Game Pass and PS Premium

@BeerIsAwesome actually :')

I don't see either company coming across well in this whole affair a lot of dirty laundry being aired at the moment.

I love how they're choosing words in this one.
"Chosen to block" rather than just rejected the offer.
Can this AB acquisition thing be over already? It's exhausting and we all know it's going through anyway.

I think everyone is missing the point of Microsoft pushing gamepass onto Sony consoles. Microsoft isn’t in the business of selling consoles anymore. They want as many people as possible in their gamepass ecosystem. The more, the better. They don’t care what device you play it on as long as you are playing.

Don't be confused as if they care about you. It's all a scheme to make more money. In reality how many games can you play at one time? Subs seems nice but over saturated. I prefer to choose my games myself instead of a rotating library.

@AdamCorela And paying!

I'm not a fanboy but Microsoft is essentially saying 'how dare you stop game pass on your consoles Sony', whilst at the same time making cod, Bethesda games exclusive to Xbox games pass platforms... Am I missing something or are Microsoft so arrogant that they literally just don't give a **** anymore lol.

Microsoft with their pseudo-humble outsider let's all hug each other narrative is starting to get on my nerves.

Sony should stay well away from GP and its model. Bad for the industry as a whole and seems to turn many of its users into zealots who can't see a downside long term for paying £1 to play a AAA game.

'Sony is denying gamers a choice' but keeping established franchises off of PlayStation by buying up publishers somehow ISN'T denying gamers a choice?

This reminds me when the ColecoVision had the add-on "expansion module" that let you play Atari 2600 games on it. It's just... weird to imagine. That was also done without the permissions of Atari though.

In this case, Sony would be hammered with royalty fees they would have to pay out to Microsoft. I'm sure there is money there for Sony to make, but I bet it's not enough to be worth making that move. Definitely more to the story here that we aren't seeing though.

If it ever would come to Playstation the only way would be a curated list of pretty much nothing but Xbox Game studio games I would think. It would make zero sense for Sony to allow it with 3rd party games included in the service especially since they got their own subscription service for those.

It seems like Microsoft is getting a little perturbed at how long this deal has taken to go through. They seem like they complaining just as much as Jim Ryan has lately.

Common sense is to buy the games I like. Game Pass is rubbish in the first place. Unless you're still at school relying on pocket money.

If Xbox is so generous and good to players all around, how about they just release titles on playstation without needing gamepass there?

So xbox expect us to pay for 2 different subs on the same console, consumer friendly where. They knew PS would say no. It's all just a cover up to try hide their attempts at market manipulation and huge gains. Saying all this talk now to make them look like the good guys for the every gamer and then when it eventually gets the green light next year there will be hundreds of games never coming to PS in the near future just like they're doing with Bethesda. And then in few years they'll say something like oh well we did offer GamePass on PS. Then you'll here Xbox gamers say oh you allowed to buy Bungie but we're not allowed to buy Acti/Blizz completly ignoring the facts that Bungie is 1 game that's remaning 3rd party for everyone and then Xbox potentially making hundreds of 3rd party games never seeing the light of day on a PS console ever again. Purely from a gamers point of view there's potentially so many millions of gamers going to miss out massively on this deal and then not long after you'll hear how consumer friendly xbox has been after taking away so many 3rd party games from PS

@AdamNovice Let’s hope Jim gets out there and says this publicly. Seems like an easy response.

Microsoft starting to finally show there true greedy colors.

Y'all know the ending to this story. Xbox's deal is complete even though it doesn't seem like it. Microsoft's power to buy and maneuver comes with ease due to how much they've supplied countries. This comes from an avid COD player.

Have Microsoft even made an offer regarding gamepass on playstation? I 'suppose' it would have to be streaming only, and if they are prepared to offer Sony the same revenue cut as anything else on the Sony store, then maybe theres something there if Microsoft really mean it

What next ? we need to know if nintendo will allow ps plus or gamepass on their devices ?

so GP on Playstation means no xbox. so Sony get all console sales. but GP would have to charge a real price as Sony would get a cut.

Meaning with gp and plus. gamers would be facing 25-30 per month to game.

theres plus and minus to it.

Yawn this is SOOO BORING.

Of course Sony doesnt want game pass on Playstation. Why would they? Where is the benefit to them?

But Microsoft playing themselves as underdogs is hilarious. They are one of the wealthiest and largest corporations in the world. Surely they cant seriously expect people to go along with that.

Also, Microsoft should really stop having a pop at Sony's business practices with PS Plus. At the end of the day, Sony made the decision not to launch its first party titles into plus day and date (which i think is the correct decision fwiw - as in the long term i see the game pass model as being damaging for gaming, even if its a great deal for gamers right now), and its not for Microsoft to question their decision. And as usual, trying to make it seem like they are being pro consumer and for the gamers. They literally only care about their bottom line and the sooner people see through that the better.

It annoys me how they keep trying to compare the Acti and Bethesda deals to Sony buying studios like Housemarque, Haven, and Bluepoint this year too. Like there is no comparison. Even the Bungie example - which is probably the closest similarity - wouldn't hold water

It does feel like this could go beyond the console wars of the PS3/360 era. Its going to get much uglier. I do think Sony's stance over Activision is going to motivate Microsoft to try and push through more exclusivity deals through acquisitions and 3rd party releases though

Old strategy widely used by Microsoft, using your infinite money to spoil competition until it is the dominant force on the market. From there dictate the rules without facing opposition. Today the GP can be wonderful for players, but in the long run it can only end well for Microsoft ... never for players.

@Happyposter it's a playstation based site, what do you expect? Why are you even reading it if that isn't to your taste. There's plenty of other sites that favour other systems.

How can a company who just bought 2 of the biggest game publishers in the business with the sole purpose of keeping their games off Sony platforms talk about denying gamers a choice? 🤔😂

Console War 2 just in time for peak Cold War 2.

Poetic.

We’ve seen that Gamepass players typically don’t buy games, so why would Sony ever want Gamepass on their system?

This is hilarious. 😂😂 These 2 having fun on the playground.

Lol, it’s truly pitiful isn’t it? But then, they are betting that the regulators don’t know enough about the industry to know putting gamepass on PlayStation would be suicidal for Sony, lead to them leaving the market, and thus far, far worse choice for us, the consumers.

At least when Sony & Nintendo acquire studios, at least they acquire studios they already had a close working relationship with AND/OR primarily made games only for Sony & Nintendo, OR in the case of Haven Studios & Savage Games, haven't made any games at all, thus acquiring them isn't taking away games from other platforms.

I cannot put into words he is much I want Microsoft to get the F K out of the gaming industry and never come back they've been an absolute toxic influence on it ever since they bought their way into the industry I hate them so much

I think you have missed something, @GuttyYZ. Microsoft have said repeatedly that CoD will not be an Xbox console exclusive. And many, many market commentators, including Push, have said the same. CoD will still be available to buy on the PlayStation even if/when it goes on the Game Pass...

That other shoe dropping from game pass I said years ago...is starting to drop.

@neitan "Today the GP can be wonderful for players, but in the long run it can only end well for Microsoft"

I care about savings now not savings 10-20 years from now, what a silly comment 😅

That's like Disney Plus offering you a $1 subscription for two years and you going "yeah but after those two years how much will they charge me?" Does it really matter? sell your Xbox and blacklist them if they start to overcharge.

@Sqush-Pare this. Star field was coming to Sony consoles, and then after acquisition, it's now an exclusive. But gamers will still praise what ever ms does just to spite Sony.

@Fiendish-Beaver
It will be a Gamepass exclusive. “Xbox exclusive” or not is completely irrelevant at this point. MS want an effective subscription monopoly and are probably going to get it.

@Torque must be nice not to have to worry about a mortgage with rising interest rates, utility bills and inflation in today's financial climate

Am I missing something?!?!? How many games/franchises/developers have PlayStation bought or signed exclusive deals with??? Why are PlayStation fanboys crying over something that they've been doing for years?

"Oh but Sony have built such good relationships with so many developers. They literally kissed and hugged them and rocked them to sleep at night."

Nonsense. Sony just bought Bungie for billions of dollars. Was that a close partnership???

PlayStation need to stop being such hypocritical morons and grow up.

This feels like the old days of Nintendo and Sega going after each other.

Except it's a bunch of corporate big wigs releasing statements and not colorful, fun, trash talking in commercials.

You say it's bad for the industry, based on what @The_Moose? You have companies vying to get their games on to the Game Pass. There must be a reason for that. And then only last week, it was shown that Game Pass on the Xbox (not PC) made near 3 billion dollars in revenue. You don't make that kind of money without doing something right, and if that involves reducing the profits of developers, why are they trying to get their games on to the service? It must be paying them well enough, and well as making Xbox money, otherwise no one would be interested in entering their games on to the service...

@Keyblade-Dan Pathetic comment. Microsoft have helped push the industry forward. They've innovated and made things competitive.

No, it won't be an Game Pass exclusive, @thefourfoldroot1. The game will still be available to buy on the PlayStation, PC and on the Xbox. It will be exclusive to the Game Pass rather than on the Sony equivalent, but as gamers currently buy the game on the PlayStation, and will be able to do so in the future, how is it different? It seems to me that a lot of people are troubled by a game being offered on the Xbox Game Pass, when it actually makes no difference to them whatsoever, as not only do they not game on an Xbox, but they will continue to buy the game on the PlayStation. I just don't get the issue.

As for the monopoly bit, I'm afraid that is exceptionally wide of the mark. Nintendo have their own very successful service, and Sony have just launch theirs. Now you might argue that Game Pass is better because of the Day One exclusives, but Sony's is in its infancy (Game Pass was not great for the first couple of years), and that also ignores the fact that Nintendo do not rely on the same games as the others, and Sony will be putting blockbusters on theirs, just not Day one...

@__jamiie Bungie are to remain 3rd party.

Lol at some of the ridiculous fanboy comments ....for all of us who own both consoles let's just hope this goes through quick so we get to play more games for cheaper

@Shstrick Any proof at all or are you just talking for the sake of it?

You and your gamepass can F-off Microsoft.

@Balosi I'm asking myself the same question, time to unsubscribe from the feed I suppose.

The annoying thing about this whole situation is that Microsoft is portraying Xbox as the scrappy upstart underdog and then using its other business revenue streams to fund the whole thing which have infinite money. Which is it? You're either the underdog or a mega corporation you can't be both.

@Fiendish-Beaver The old its 'bad for the industry' arguement lol.... basically just a go to line of ps fanboys who dont want to be classed as fanboys because they think it makes them sound impartial

@Keyblade-Dan "I cannot put into words he is much I want Microsoft to get the F K out of the gaming industry"

If anything you should be championing for Microsoft to actually do better in the console race if you care about making PlayStation better.

If Microsoft wasn't there would we be paying $80 for PS5 games or $600 for the PS5? I don't know but Jim has shown us if he feels comfortable enough he will raise the price of everything he can get away with.

I personally prefer PlayStation when they are on their toes and have to try their hardest to win us over.

@Fiendish-Beaver
I think you are getting caught up in console wars a bit there. It is about a monopoly hearing and ensuring a monopoly doesn’t develop that can hurt consumers. Given MS can effectively buy that at will (as long as Amazon, Google, etc don’t enter the mix) it’s very important we watch carefully what MS are doing.

MS will go as far as the regulators will let them in buying all of the big franchises they can to have an effective monopoly on gaming subscription services. Which is the future. Nobody can blame them for that, it’s business.

Let’s stop the silly fanboy stuff. It benefits nobody for MS to be able to just buy up all publishers to dominate gaming subscription services (forget console sales, the next 10 years are likely to be the last time that is ever relevant). We should all just want strong competition, and we can’t have that if MS buy the most popular gaming franchises and lock it behind their own subscription (again, selling full price on a console is a different and soon to be niche market).

ahh the xbox people are back, comments now turn to a s..t show

Sony know Microsoft are about to buy the most popular shooter on the planet and put them on gamepass, if this is coupled with a megaton such as ’online play now free for everyone on xbox' then Sony would loose billions, no wonder Jim Ryan is moaning to anybody who will listen. I want an agressive approach from the competition to wake Sony up from their classic 'market leader' complacency.

@__jamiie They are the ones who made online gaming behind a paywall, they encouraged microtransactions in console games, tried to implement DRM baked into consoles, trying to take away the right to own games and now they're trying to buy out the entire industry when all you need to do to compete is MAKE GOOD GAMES it's not hard Microsoft are awful company and they are actively bad for gaming. Screw childish console war fanboy BS what they want and are trying to do is bad for everyone and I'm sick of people acting like this awful company with more money than god and have used similar monopolistic tactics to take over other industries are some sort of plucky underdog it's a joke

@KaijuKaiser Sony couldn't afford this. That's the point that seems to bother most PlayStation fanboys. It's okay when Sony buys someone within their budget, but not okay when Microsoft buys someone within THEIR budget.

Also, Microsoft is worth far more than $70 billion so stop claiming it's the same value.

Can't believe people are arguing over their favourite corporation. Neither one of them give a s@*t about you. They just want your money. You get that, right?

@dschons

Yeah, I feel like xbox is a fake toxic friendly gaming company now. Their tweets are unbearable and cringe.

@Juanalf Yeah, if I think all subscription services will go up by insane amounts and that it will hurt the media, then no, I won't subscribe. I'm not into instant gratification at the cost of the future, even if it's just a hobby of mine. It's not silly at all I think.

@Sqush-Pare So there won't be any advantage for Sony? No exclusivity? No added bonuses for PS owners? Dream on.

@Fiendish-Beaver

Where do I start..

Most indie Devs probably want to be on GP for exposure at first, if you haven't spent much on your game (relatively speaking) but are unlikely to make much profit due to a crowded market then a lump sum from MS up front makes sense.

As for AAA games it all depends, if the Devs are under MS umbrella then they pretty much get subsidised on losses which in turn minimises risk, leading to stagnation of ideas, why bother working hard or innovating if you're going to get paid regardless?

For those Devs outside of MS remit, they'll want much bigger payments for GP first day access which fair enough MS can afford but doesn't mean it's a good practice.

The best evidence of what I've said above is the very few and lackluster titles Xbox have as flagship products. Sony could be doing more but the strength of its first party catalogue over Xbox speak for itself.

If Xbox was separated from MS and didn't have access to MS funding then the current GP model would be in the bin day one.

@__jamiie But most don't want Sony making that kind of acquisition either. Not to mention we have no reason to believe MS will, in any form, help these companies be better. These kind of acquisitions aren't good either way. It's not as simple as you're making it out to be.

@StylesT "The old its 'bad for the industry' arguement lol.... basically just a go to line of ps fanboys who dont want to be classed as fanboys because they think it makes them sound impartial"

So to counter the many well made and varied arguments as to why GP is a bad for the industry, your counter argument is to call them fanboys.

I think you make the "GP adherent = zealot" arguement for us.

@Juanalf You did not understand or understand what was convenient to you. The idea behind this practice already used by Microsoft is to eliminate competition, understand to take Sony from the market or swallow it. Three generations and Microsoft only created a relevant brand, Halo ... They are imconpendent and would never be here today by their own merit. Where does a company that has always been in second or third place take 70bi to buy a single studio? They do not know how to work otherwise, if not spraying the competition or taking it to themselves using brute force ie infinite money.

Why would Sony want their main competitors service on their console? It’s not denying customer a choice (it’s not as if Nintendo carry game pass, are they denying their customers a choice too?) it’s just denying Microsoft more revenue. Are Microsoft really that out of touch with reality that they use this as an argument? This is exactly the same as how Microsoft are making Bethesda games Xbox exclusives? Different content, but same situation.

Yeah I wouldn't be paying for the majority of the game's that is already on PlayStation. 3rd party/indie game's make up the majority of GamePass.

Some things need to be clarified here. If Microsoft wants to bring Game Pass to PlayStation, do they intend to port over all their 1st party games to run natively on PlayStation? Or are they only offering deals with 3rd party publishers on Game Pass for PlayStation?

If it's the former it makes no sense at all because then PlayStation would receive everything Microsoft produces as well as Sony's own 1st party games so why would anyone ever get an Xbox at that point? Even if they are staggered releases Microsoft would stand to lose even more Xbox customers from this, which would be disastrous to their business.

Whereas the latter offer of only 3rd party games on Game Pass for PlayStation is nothing but a trojan horse to undermine game sales on PlayStation and provides a backdoor for Microsoft to directly make money from PlayStation customers while Sony loses out on the 30% cut it would get from purchased games. If Sony were to accept this it would certainly raise suspicion of collusion taking place.

@StylesT

What games exactly? Besides a car sim, xbox really hasn't been pushing the bar in games, and it doesn't look it will change, even with starfield, which doesn't look anything impressive.

People are just pointing out the fake friendly personality xbox has. I have no idea why would you call that being a fanboy. Go express your personal reactive emotional immaturity of other people's opinion somewhere else. Thanks.

Both companies grasping at straws here.. not sure who looks sillier (and less honest) in the process.

@Keyblade-Dan Sony are the ones who told people to work harder to afford a PS3. Sony are the ones who decided that £70/$70 would be the standard for PS5 games. Sony are the ones who increased the price of the PS5 during a cost of living crisis.

Sony have no internal studios other than those they've bought. They aren't Nintendo. They don't have in-house developers. They bought theirs.

I have a PlayStation with a PlayStation plus extra sub and a series X with gamepass. I don't believe in paying £70 for games in much the same way Sony don't actually believe in generations. It sounds like the majority of people here don't like paying £70 for games either as there's a lot of comments taking issue with the fact that cod will likely be on gamepass.

The three year deal for cod on PlayStation is fine, after which it will be renegotiated and more than likely extended for a further three years. The live service game revenue model relies heavily on player numbers, PlayStation gamers make up a substantial share of the player base and will continue to do so. Cod will remain on a Sony machine for the foreseeable future. Nothing will change for the people that spend £70 on a new release every year.

You have nothing to fear from people jumping ship to Xbox because, according to everyone here, gamepass is crap and represents terrible value. The last thing any PlayStation gamer would want is the option to have gamepass appear on their console, let alone have to purchase an Xbox or gain access to it via streaming on hundreds of different devices. Everyone wants to pay £70 for new releases on their playstation and would always want ownership for their games*

*Unless of course they buy their games digitally, in which case they're actually just leasing a non transferable license

@Cikajovazmaj

Sony isn't really concerned, they're just playing the game correctly. It's clear that people who think (not talking about you) they look weak do not have the capacity to understand companies true intentions (make money) and are simple minded that follow trends and are controlled by the media/corporations. Appear weak when you're strong, appear strong when you're weak. Sony wants to keep dominating, not just barely "win"

@thefourfoldroot1 embracer and tencent are far outpacing xbox in acquisitions with very little oversight. Embracer claims to have 130 studios and over 850 IP.

We are in a period of consolidation for the gaming industry. Developers and publishers WANT to be aquired right now. Its not like this was a hostile takeover of AB, they wanted to be aquired and Xbox was the one that made an offer they wanted. Microsoft is not the only one acquiring other companies and really has nothing close to a monopoly.

I could care less about massive companies bickering.
Or which is currently the more consumer friendly deal at the moment.
HOWEVER I will say monopolies are not a good thing and MS hoovering publishers like this sets a trend in motion which I am not a fan of at all.

@__jamiie

You think Sony was the only player making games at $70? They probably talked to every third publisher and all decided it was a good idea that they did, since sony is the most praised publisher for next gen consoles atm. I bet they were all on this.

and about increasing the ps5 price. You just have to look at the economy outside of usa. I'm in Puerto Rico, work in a place where constant supply is needed, and the prices for stuff are unbearable. The crisis affects them too, you know. Yes, they make a lot of money, but nobody wants to earn less. Nobody.

@__jamiie Stop trying to equate the two companies, Microsoft trying to play the underdog in all of this is laughable.

As expected, plenty of salt in the comments 😂

@neitan Sony bought all of their studios and first party games. What PS first party games were actually developed in-house???

Halo is not the only Xbox franchise and you know that.

I mean this was always going to Microsoft's end game with the Acti-Bliz purchase; get game pass on everything and anything via COD demand. By making it exclusive to their subscription service, Sony would finally comply...however that also looks like a monoply.

@Sqush-Pare Xbox is the underdog to PlayStation. That's the point.

@Somebody
Those companies have been happy to just let their acquisitions get on with it and don’t have their own platform they can lock games to. Very, very, different proposition.

The last part of your statement is so far from the truth it is ridiculous, @The_Moose. No company, no matter how big, will subsidise a loss-making branch of its company to the tune of billions. When Xbox was making peanuts, Microsoft were barely involved, which is why Sony was able to make the huge gains that it has in the console market. It was only when they produced a truly viable console, and came up with the Game Pass that they began to fully back Xbox. Undoubtedly, Microsoft are funding the ABK acquisition, but they are doing so because they have crunched the numbers and believe they can turn a profit. That profit comes from the revenue the likes of CoD brings in, but also the revenue that Game Pass produces, and the mobile market. But, if Game Pass was no bringing in the players and the money, they would not back it, because a loss making part of the company, is still making a loss, and that is just bad for business.

@__jamiie
Given MS subsidised a loss making Xbox division for years( maybe decades, it’s hard to get data now for some reason), it’s really not.

@Fiendish-Beaver
I think you lack historical knowledge. That MS subsidised XBOX for many years is not even denied by MS.

@__jamiie Not financially, not by a long shot.

@The_Moose some indie developers have said that the money they receive for going to gamepass pretty much covers the cost of making the game so they are essentially breaking even before selling a single game.

There are other examples of games seeing increased sales on Switch, PS, PC etc after going to gamepass because the GP users created a buzz for the game.

I think gamepass and subscriptions like it are great for indie devs. Gamepass appears to be working out great for gamers, devs, and MS.

@Fiendish-Beaver I'm not denying that GP hasn't brought a lot of people to Xbox, with its pricing I'd be surprised if it didn't.

No Dev is losing billions either but Xbox and its acquisitions are subsidised massively by MS, that's why my final point of Xbox being cut off from MS money would cause Xbox to dump GP because just like Sony it wouldn't be affordable.

Streaming services like GP are only affordable if the cash is coming from somewhere other than the subscribers as Netflix are finding out.

You also didn't confront the point about PS exclusives catalogue being way stronger than Xbox.

The reason for the malaise is GP. MS are losing the quality war so are doing what they do best, buying up all the Devs it can in order to strangle the competition. Monopolies aren't good long term for the consumer or the industry going forward.

There will be a lot of truth in what you say, @The_Moose, but if you can have all the exposure you like, but if you are not making money, then what's the point? Developers don't make money for free, and truthfully, when you consider that there are around 500 games on the Game Pass, it's still entirely plausible that your game would be 'lost' amongst all the other competing games, and therefore any exposure would be highly limited. Granted, a successful game might bring a lot of attention, but games (even small ones) still found success prior to Game Pass, and could just as easily do so now. Take the Plague Tale game; now whilst it is probably a AA game, it saw a great deal of success when it first released, and it was a fully 6-12 months before it went on to the Game Pass. Now, the sequel is going straight on to the service, no wait at all. Now I accept that they will likely have had a bucket load of money thrown at them in advance, but I highly doubt that it even touches the sides as to what they will eventually make. It's being done, not so much for the exposure for the game (it has that already), but because of the exposure that Game Pass will get. Ultimately, if the game isn't going to make the developers any money, being on Game Pass won't really help...

@Somebody Yeah that's why I said GP is good for indie Devs. I'm in favour of a subscription service for indie Devs who want that exposure which in turn helps them build a brand and series. My issue is paying £1 per month and having access to games which cost hundreds of millions to create.

GP is working out great for some Devs, works out very well for MS in terms of getting up player numbers from their competition but for gamers? Maybe for a short term hit but you're starting to see the lack in quality in GP games already, give it a few more years and it'll only get worse.

I think I may have misworded what I was saying, @thefourfoldroot1. I wasn't trying the suggest that Microsoft haven't been behind the scenes all along, ploughing in money where needed, and plugging any financial shortfalls. What I meant was that the CEO of Microsoft is fully behind the project right now. He is actively advocating for Xbox, talking about Xbox like never before, and has put $69 billion where is his mouth is. There is no lack of knowledge, just maybe a lack of clarity...

@Fiendish-Beaver
Fair enough, that makes much more sense! Same as Gamepass, they’ll plow more money in than their direct competitors could ever match in order to dominate subscription gaming (read most gaming moving forward). I hope any single company doesn’t get approval to do this, but it isn’t looking good currently.

@The_Moose I don't know about that, had Starfield and Redfall made their release window it would have been a good year for them.

They seem to be making money off the service already. They also said that GP is not the main source of revenue for them as physical/digital sales still generate a lot of money for them. What has is been now, three record revenue years in a row for xbox?

Microsoft is trying to muscle its way into competition. I don't care either way. I am a Playstation fan because they make great single player games. But I also have PC gamepass which I use to play Xbox exclusives, which I gotta say, there aren't many that interest me. But I finally got to play Sunset Overdrive!

You are correct, @Somebody. The numbers released the other day showed that Game Pass accounted for only 18% of total Xbox revenue.

@CapGod the worst was their E3 when Sarah Bond showed on stage a heart symbol with her fingers followed by crossing her arms in the air like an X, lol. I almost died from cringe.

@__jamiie "Sony have no internal studios other than those they've bought. They aren't Nintendo. They don't have in-house developers. They bought theirs."

What on earth are you talking about?

Polyphony Digital
Santa Monica Studio
San Diego Studio
Pixelopus
Team Asobi
London Studio

All the above studios were internally established by Sony.

@Fiendish-Beaver

Such games as Plague Tale 2 though can still get a lot of money via Sony purchases though. I'm not saying every Xbox fan uses GP and they will still buy games physically or digitally but if it goes straight onto GP and the money it gets from MS doesn't touch the sides (unlikely I think or they wouldn't do it) then they'll have a harder time recouping their costs.

@Somebody Starfield isn't out yet so the jury is very much out on its success and I don't know what Redfall is.

I'm not saying it can't turn a profit, I'm arguing it's bad business long term and the industry and consumers will suffer as a result.

@racinggamefanatic "Agreed. Microsoft is crushing it in games."

Unless you're being sarcastic, what games are MS "crushing"?

@__jamiie Totally agree, I am mainly an Xbox gamer but also have Switch, PlayStation and PC. There are a bunch of hypocrites that like to make out its only Xbox that are buying up studios/publishers, whilst Sony, TenCent and Embracer are out there doing the exact same thing, also with Sony that love to pay to keep games away from competition. Some people need to read back what they type and see their comments for what they are. This goes for users and journalists.

@RustyBullet Finally a voice of reason! Thank you!

@Sqush-Pare By market share. And that's what actually matters.

@CapGod "The most praised publisher"???

Where has that nugget of rubbish come from? 🤣

@Jaz007 Of course the fanboys want Sony to make these kind of purchases. Every week on here people are begging Sony to buy Capcom, Konami, Square etc. so they can exclude anyone who doesn't own a PlayStation from playing their games.

Sony doesn't want MS to take their sales they need because they don't have all the f* money in the world like the biggest software company in the world does, very "shoking" 😂💀

@truerbluer - True, and studios like Sucker Punch, Bend Studio, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Game, Insomniac Games, Bluepoint, Housemarque, Media Molecule & Firesprite primarily made games just for PlayStation, the exception here is really only Insomniac Games, however Insomniac Games never found much success when they did venture away from PlayStation, FUSE was a joke thanks in large part to EA's meddling, Sunset Overdrive sold less than 2 Million Copies across Xbox & PC AND Phil Spencer chose not to greenlight Sunset Overdrive 2 DESPITE Insomniac Games wanting & willing to make it, and their VR Games through Oculus didn't leave much of an impact, the only times Insomniac Games ever saw any real TRUE success is when they were glued to the hip of Sony/PlayStation,.

Microsoft winning this PR battle should be studied. How they have made themselves, a TRILLION dollar juggernaut, the underdog feel good story is a masterclass. Why would SONY want to give Microsoft more market share by using their PLAYSTATION player base? It would be letting the devil in your kitchen.
The "unity" thing from gamers has gotten weird, just say you like Game Pass and want Microsoft to gobble everything up because you think there's a fairly tale deal where it costs $15 a month to play the entire industry.

"Sony doesn't want competition or choice!"...says the 2 trillion dollar company bankrolling Gamepass & "Gamer" Phil Spencer buying up every major 3rd party publisher they can get their hands on to remove the choice of console they can play said 3rd party IP's & force them onto xbox or presumably Gamepass & X-cloud without a necessarily a native version on PS!

"Sure Jan"!!🙄
Sadly I doubt Sony will be able to stop it...but to keep pushing the ridiculous narrative that a Microsoft backed XB division is the underdog is laughable! It won't happen,but imagine if the XB division was forced to separate from the rest of Microsoft...somehow I think the $1 XB live gold gamepass upgrades would suddenly stop!🤔

Microsoft trying to paint themselves as the underdog is a laughable farce. They like people to think that it’s PlayStation vs Xbox. But what most don’t take into that equation is that Microsoft largely owns the PC space as well w/ their O/S. So in all actuality it’s more like PlayStation vs [Xbox + PC]. NOW who’s the underdog??

When Xbox publishes post-Ghostwire Tokyo/Death Loop Bugthesda games on PS then XBox can say that

@CapGod using the word immaturity...ironic

I'm not the one getting upset about which plastic box I have to the point I have to be passive aggressive to justify which box I own...as I have both.

And even if I didn't I wouldn't feel the need to go around trashing the opposite box's games to make me feel justified in the box I have.

Immaturity hahaha

Some individuals trying to play like Sony's acquisition of Bungie is equal to Microsoft buying Bethesda & Activision AND keeping established IP's off of PlayStation is at all comparable is a sad and poorly thought-out comparison.
Oh and trying to compare Sony making Timed Exclusive deals or getting Exclusive Content in games versus Xbox full-on gatekeeping Established IP's is an even stupider comparison.

That's not the case, @DETfaninATL. The biggest platform on PC is Steam, followed by Epic. It's only this generation that Xbox has started putting their games on Steam. Whilst Xbox has a far larger user-base on PC these days, they are in no way the market leader. Don't confuse Xbox and Microsoft, they are two distinct beasts...

@thefourfoldroot1 they don't have a platform yet. They can easily make a subscription service to access their games. Plus MS is not locking any games to their console as the games can be purchased by anyone on PC day 1. They can also be played on your phone or internet browser.

@AdamNovice they are going to be MS 1st party studios, of course MS is going to be in charge on how they are distributed. You can play MS games on Xbox, PC or through cloud. You can even play them through select Samsung T.V.'s. So yes they do give a choice and they should put a watered down version of Gamepass on PS which would just have MS 1st party games.

@dschons

Yeah, but their tweets are just. Ew. Hate the pretending.

@__jamiie

You think xbox, ea, 2k, capcom, square enix etc. are as praised as sony?

Weird not to think that way. Last gen sony was the gem of the generation. Won the most goty nominees and awards for that whole gen. I don't know what's funny about it. It's the truth.

So they took the hit for everyone else. This was all a master plan by all publishers. You think third party would have loved to stay at $60? Common now.

@StylesT

What are you talking about? I'm not upset. You have deluted thoughts my friend. Stop assuming. I'm not justifying my decision lmao. I could buy an xbox today. I just don't give a crap for the mediocrity they release as games. Cry me a river. You have both, you want a muffin for being a neutral gamer?

You are the one coming to complain about people's opinion. Self awareness doesn't cost anything. Yisus. You also have to mention how sony games aren't as good as they say they are, plenty of times, like you have to convince yourself. Check yourself before you wreck ya self.

I barely have commented on these threads about this topic or have given any clues about being upset. I don't give a damn about recycled cod since bo2.

I want the choice to play starfield on my ps5 natively. But for some reason the company who wants to bring its games to every platform won't allow that.

Goddamn I'm running out of popcorn..

Just like how Nintendo don't want it on the switch either....

Watch people try to attack Sony over it and big up MS. Gamepass on PS would suck, it would offer less then what Plus offers as no way would MS port over the likes of Halo, Gears and Forza. Also this proves MS want Gamepass everywhere and everyone attached, fun fact Nintendo don't want it either and the reasons properly match Sony's. MS is just sh*t stirring as usual.

If they want to give gamers a choice, perhaps they should allow PS Plus onto Xbox.

Having Game Pass on PlayStation would mean Xbox will have to leave the console business and just become the new SEGA with streaming. Makes no sense adding Game Pass to PlayStation when they won't allow PSN or Plus onto Xbox.

Gamers do have a choice. They just sound a bit bitter like they want to dip into the PlayStations playerbase that didn't care enough to buy an Xbox for their service

"Sony doesn't allow Gampass on their platform! Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to continue buying up major studios to deny Sony games!"

The arrogance of Microsoft pretending they only want to buy huge publishing houses to increase choice.. Its astonishing. Buying multiplatform developers to keep products off the competition is so clearly not increasing choice, but in this age, some people are so unbeliebably blind they swallow all this, and you can see the usual ms apologists in here talking absolute bunk again.
Such a shame people are so dumb.

This will go through, but its not good for the industry, its the same tactics Microsoft have used time after time to squash smaller buisness out of exsistance just through the power of having all the money trees...
I game everywhere so no fomo here, but I love the games industry and I genuinely see Microsoft as a huge threat to its profitability and creativity in the future. Meantime Ill take the free hand outs on GP like everyone else. Im not THAT principled 😁

I think a lot of people like to bleat on about how great gamepass is, but I wonder how many games they actually play in full on it. I've got over a hundred games from ps plus and I've probably only played about ten of them to the end over the past 10 years. There simply isn't enough time to play all these games properly.

With hundreds of PS4 games to choose from for so cheap secondhand I don't see the appeal. I suppose kids with no disposable income might get the most out of it.

@CapGod $70/£70 games are exclusive to PlayStation. The same game is cheaper on Xbox. I own a PS5 and will never pay those prices.

Nintendo is the best publisher of this and last gen.

@__jamiie

Weird, cause I'm seeing lots of third party and double A games prices increasing. In usa at least

Good for you. I pay for what I think it's worth it.

@xx_PharsydeChemist_x that’s literally the only reason I’d want it on PS… but I also like that MS finally got an exclusive dev that Id actually want an Xbox for…

@Old-Red seriously… I went with the PS++ sub and now I have gamer ADD. There’s not enough time in the day

@CapGod Tell us all where Xbox touched you?

Forget Call of duty Sony. The franchise was crashing in quality anyway, every year it got worse. They even reused the multiplayer maps most of the time. And since it will become a game pass game it will probably be getting worse like most likely with every Microsoft game. Because why even make quality games if it's free with a subscription service anyway. It's not like they need to prove the game to people to sell it.

Just make your own shooter, you have a big franchises like Killzone and Resistance, or make a new one. Playstation Studios have most of the best developers in the world that could easily make a great shooter. And by the way, Nintendo dominates the console market right now with inferior hardware and they didn't have a Call of duty for years. Just make better games.

@StylesT

In the not good enough part.

Thats good.i dont want it to be like that.just like sony putting theyre games on pc.but it is what it is.the ps5 is a amazing console.and it doesn't Need game pass.word up son

@AdamCorela People say that all the time but the reason Stadia failed and Game pass succeeded was because Stadia was positioned as a replacement for hardware while Game pass was always pushed as a companion service to the hardware so there will be other Xbox consoles.

@StylesT

Whaaaaaat?

No way hahahahahahahaha

@CapGod He has both consoles how is he TRYING to be a neutral gamer? he just is.

@Fiendish-Beaver Right, but like I mentioned in my post, what O/S (operating system) are all those PC's running on? In the majority of cases (excluding Apple of course), it's Microsoft Windows. They enable the Steam's and Epic's to run on PC systems.

@AdamCorela
Of course they want to, because 25 million users is nothing to write home about. And if you put gp on Playstation you have 3 times that at once. What a stupid company MS is. Basically they want to make CoD xbox exclusive. But if we are allowed to put Gamepass on Playstation, Playstation owners can also continue with CoD on Playstation. disgusting development. I really hope the UK and EU put a stop to it. Everyone can see what Microsoft is after. Sony is just 1000% right.

@MTMike87 As the AVGN said it would be lawsuits up the ass.

@neitan Yes Game pass was created to grow quickly before the competition jumped in meaning Amazon,Apple and Google why Sony think they are a part of that group and insert themselves into that role is beyond me.

@Blackbluto

When will people learn that having both consoles does not mean you are not biased towards one. I can have an xbox and will still think the same lol

Gamepass great value?? If you don’t mind playing crap half baked games I guess 🤷🏻‍♂️

What a stupid article! Is it really shocking Mr Ramsey? So Sony should sell their consoles at a loss for other services? This site is fast becoming a place for haters. If you want to mention Xbox, why don't you write about launching the next gen with 0 games, and releasing 2 exclusives over the next 2 years?

@mrbone couldn’t agree more pal. Embarrassing frankly

Seriously now, this site would be so much better with nested comments.

I bought an Xbox just for Game Pass. I still play on my PS5 more but I'll defo be playing A Plague Tale: Requiem next week on the green machine.

Kind of like watching two rich dudes argue about who has the better yacht.

I really dislike gamepass and what it means for the future of gaming - streaming, game ownership, economic sustainability etc. Id pass regardless of what platform it was available on.
I tried it briefly on PC and ended up trying to a of games without actually bothering to play them through. At least on PlayStation when I buy a game I actually put the time in to complete it.

I've said it so many times having gamepass on playstation or Nintendo would literally only benefit Microsoft financially if Sony offers to put ps plus on the Xbox do you think Microsoft would want that lol

@Neither_scene Excuses, excuses. Best we set you off to school first, if you think that's a worry. Come on now, chop chop. No dawdling around with games.

@mrbone sarcasm much?

Does MS want to put PS+ on the Xbox? Let's ask the real questions.

@AdamNovice do you really wanna talk about exclusives? Both consoles have exclusives, PlayStation has more than triple the amount of exclusives Xbox has.

Gamepass on PlayStation would be nice, I could have everything on a single console, I actually don't even get why Xbox would want this they would literally stop selling consoles altogether.

I'm sure it would please plenty of fanboys to see Xbox consolidate into a downloadable app. Chances are if it was on PlayStation & Nintendo the games would only be playable via streaming with a small catalog if any to be downloadable on the hardware.

@Would_you_kindly Short answer. Yes.

Nothing says "underdog" quite like a trillion dollar corporation!

I agree with MS - They have a method to bring their games to Playstation and its Sony that are BLOCKING MS from delivering their games their way...

How can they complain about not having MS made games when they block them. MS is NOT obligated to spend money on Porting games over to their direct rival and should never be. Sony would also have to provide a Dev Kit to MS owned studios - and I can't see them giving MS a heads up on what their future hardware plans are in advance to ensure the games are ported to their hardware.

Lets not forget that Sony are asking for something they are NOT willing to give - complete parity in a Franchise. They own Destiny, which we know has always had extras both timed or at least 1yr or permanently 'exclusive' to PS. What guarantees did they give to MS to ensure complete parity indefinitely - NONE!

@NateGoesLive yeah like why have netflix with Playstation video or Apple Music with Spotify , they're all competing platforms. Give no choice like amping up game prices and console prices, no choice.

@BAMozzy
I’m sure Sony would have no problem with GP on PlayStation as long as they got the money for all Microtransactions and discounted purchases, along with a cut of the subscription fee. Otherwise no, it can’t be done. PlayStation would instantly become an unprofitable business and the consoles would no longer be made to run the service anyway.

@Thenewguy no they wouldn't at all they'd want sonys first party games on the system but not any 3rd party games that they could get sales from or have on their own subscription service

@BAMozzy so if Sony bought a publisher like square enix & said to Microsoft put ps plus on your system & we'll let you have the square games via streaming you wouldnt be complaining about it over on pure Xbox lol

@Would_you_kindly No I wouldn't be complaining about it because it would bring PS games to Xbox only gamers and/or other platforms to have access to some of the best games available on what you have...

Playstation owners would still get the 'best' console version if they only streamed their games to Xbox whilst Playstation owners get a 'downloadable, Local' experience. I can't see why either group of FANBOYS would be upset if their precious games that their beloved corporations have PAID for are available elsewhere if they are also getting access to all the games from the other too.

Instead of choosing which has the 'best' games, maybe you'd choose on which you can download and play locally - but you'd not have to miss out on CoD or Destiny, God of War or Gears of War, Starfield or Horizon etc - the 'best' experience may not be on your prefered brand plastic box of electronics under the TV, but at least you can still play the SAME games and not have to buy BOTH brands because half the games are on one system and the other half are on the other with a 'few' games still on both - like the Nintendo/Sega days of the 80's...

@Old-Red I see what you’re saying. For me, with a mortgage and other bills. Paying $10 a month to dabble on two or three games a month? Totally worth it.

@Mikey856 that… is your opinion. Plenty of places list the “scores” of all the games, if your really THAT into games. It’s a great deal.

A lot of things are going on with gamepass. First of all the games that have heavy monetization. Most Xbox exclusives and many non exclusives have it and is making Xbox money, even when the service runs on PlayStation. I'm positive Sony wants a piece of that pie is previously it was theirs.
Then games that are sold on the PlayStation store and in brick and morter stores, Sony, like MS, get 30% of the sales but when it's on gamepass who is getting that profit? Not PlayStation.

If Xbox pays Sony for all lost revenue I'm positive Sony would accept it but I'm sure that Xbox, who is already loosing a ton of money on their platform, won't do that.

In the end there is a simple solution that Xbox and PlayStation can work with.
Xbox stop making consoles and start making games for PC and PlayStation (and maybe Nintendo). They can do like EA and Ubi does, make a subscription with games they make after they made their money in innitial sales. Just like some movies from streaming platforms first release in cinema's. Xbox could become another Tencent and maybe start making a profit.

@Would_you_kindly You're wrong. Anything that brings more games to Xbox is in their interest.

@Thenewguy I doubt Sony would share the money made from subscriptions with them & Xbox players would just see how much better playstation exclusives are than their own consoles don't see why they'd want that lol