The many forms of PlayStation Plus
By Aditya Deshbandhu The last few years have seen a transformation in the way games are being purchased and acquired by the players. As games make the shift to becoming services, companies like Microsoft, Apple, and now Sony are looking at new ways to offer gamers the next game they would like to play in […]
By Aditya Deshbandhu
The last few years have seen a transformation in the way games are being purchased and acquired by the players. As games make the shift to becoming services, companies like Microsoft, Apple, and now Sony are looking at new ways to offer gamers the next game they would like to play in a fashion that is as hassle-free as watching the latest release on a platform like Netflix, Prime Video, or Disney.
Apple has had Arcade for a while that allows players on iOS and MacOS devices to play games from its curated collection and Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass allows players to play several games from the Microsoft catalogue for free as long as they subscribe to one of the pass’ various tiers.
The Game Pass has been incredibly popular among players as it allowed them to play Microsoft’s blockbuster exclusives like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 for free right on launch day and promises to continue offering similar games in the future as Microsoft continues to acquire game studios. The Game Pass has in a way changed the way games are made and bought to a great deal for those who deal with either the Xbox or the PC platform.
With every successive month that Microsoft persisted with the Game Pass, the pressure on Sony to offer something similar has been significant. As rumours swirled on how the PlayStation Plus subscription would be modified to offer something similar, Sony finally, laid them to rest by unveiling a new 3-tier strategy for the PS Plus that comes into effect this June.
Make sure to check the table out to see how the tiers stack up.
As most of you can see, this revamp isn’t a direct competitor to the Game Pass as it offers players some of the best games from the PlayStation lineup that have already been released rather than new game releases on day one. In other words, while Game Pass will offer players the chance to play Starfield, the next Elder Scrolls, and other such games for free on launch day, PlayStation players will have to buy the next God of War at most likely full price. Thus, comparing the PS Plus revamp to the Game Pass at this juncture is like apples and oranges.
Sony did say that some regions of the world will receive an alternate version of the Premium PS Plus variant as game streaming may not be viable in those regions. I really hope for once India is one of those regions, as I simply can’t see much of a value difference between the extra and the premium at this point.
Lastly, the Microsoft and Sony approach to making games is simply different.
Sony invests a considerable number of resources in developing its first-party titles and it uses metrics like financial performance, review scores, and players’ feedback to back future projects from select studios and developers. A system that has served it very well up to this point and something it is not likely to reject overnight.
While Microsoft finds ways to make its forays into gaming profitable again, weighed down by the 80 billion dollars in acquisitions it has made in the last two years, Sony has been thriving in the gaming space for the last decade buoyed by the success of the PS4.
Thus, this PS Plus revamp is a minor change for Sony, not something that signals a change in its long-term strategy.
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