Here is our comparison between the New Playstation Plus and Xbox Game Pass. Find out which is the better service for you!
The PlayStation team recently revealed their new PlayStation Plus membership scheme and confirmed months of rumors. While we’re still waiting for more information on the program’s finer aspects, such as its exact release date, many players are already referring to it as PlayStation’s long-awaited alternative to Xbox Game Pass.
Xbox Game Pass has established itself as the industry leader in gaming subscription services. Xbox fans can gain access to over 400 titles for $9.99 each month, with some of them available on launch day. This is why Microsoft’s gaming subscription service is currently considered the best value for money in the market.
But is the new PlayStation Plus a rival to Xbox Game Pass? We’ll compare PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass below, with the goal of determining a winner. Continue reading to learn how the services fare against one another.
Price – The Most Important Factor
The new PlayStation Plus features three categories, with the Essential category remaining at the same base price. Extra and Premium services and features are combined together at higher costs in the respective categories.
- Essential – $10 per month, $25 per quarter, or $60 per year
- Extra – $15 per month, $40 per quarter, or $100 per year
- Premium – $18 per month, $50 per quarter, or $120 per year
Xbox Game Pass has two main tiers. The cheapest is available for Xbox consoles and a separate one for Windows PC. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the premium tier, as its name suggests. It gives you access to both Xbox and PC games along with some additional benefits
- PC Game Pass – $10 per month, $30 per quarter, or about $120 per year
- Xbox Game Pass – $10 per month, $30 per quarter, or about $120 per year
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – $15 per month, $45 per quarter, or about $180 per year
It is important to note that Playstation Plus has a greater discount if you buy the subscription for the whole year.
Games Library
More than 700 downloadable and cloud streaming games from the original PlayStation, PS3, PS3, PSP, PS4, and PS5 will be available through the premium PlayStation Plus Premium service. PlayStation offers a wider variety of first-party games as it has been in the console business for more than 25 years. PlayStation Plus Premium will very hopefully be able to play classic franchises that were previously only available on PS Now.
There are also a lot of third-party games on PlayStation Plus Premium. Red Dead Redemption, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition, and the Batman Arkham series are among the best-selling video games of all time.
At the moment, Xbox Game Pass has over 400 titles available, with Microsoft adding more games every month. This covers games from every Xbox generation, starting with the original Xbox in 2001 and ending with the current Xbox Series X|S. Players can enjoy classic Xbox games like Halo, Forza Horizon, and Guilty Gear.
On Game Pass Ultimate, you’ll also access EA Play games like Star Wars Squadrons and Battlefield 1. Since Microsoft bought Bethesda and Activision, the games from those developers are expected to be available soon.
Perks – Bonus Features
All of the perks of the previous PS Plus subscription are included in the Essential plan, including monthly free games, discounts on games and other content, cloud saves, and availability of online multiplayer. All of this is included in the Extra tier, as well as a catalog of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games that will be released over time. Classic hit games from PlayStation Studios and third-party developers will also be included in this library.
Meanwhile, the Premium membership includes all of this, as well as up to 340 extra games, including PS3 games available via streaming and even more old PlayStation, PS2, and PSP games available for download and streaming. In selected markets where PS Now is available, Premium also provides cloud streaming compatibility for some PS4 games. In addition to those benefits, the highest tier of PS Now will provide limited-time trials for selected games.
Game Pass subscribers get discounts on games and other content, as well as some additional monthly benefits. Furthermore, Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers receive automatic access to EA Play, EA’s own subscription service that contains major titles from Star Wars, Battlefield, Mass Effect, and other franchises. Game Pass Ultimate, the most expensive option of Game Pass, also includes Xbox Live Gold, which is essential for online play and gives you access to a monthly library of free Games With Gold titles as well as cloud gaming.
Cloud Gaming – The Next Big Thing?
Cloud streaming on PlayStation Plus is a little more tricky. According to Sony, the $17.99 per month PlayStation Plus Premium plan includes cloud streaming access for original PlayStation, PS2, PSP, and PS4 games offered in the Extra and Premium tiers in markets where PlayStation Now is currently available, as well as cloud streaming access for original PlayStation, PS2, PSP, and PS4 games offered in the Extra and Premium tiers in markets where PlayStation Now is currently available.
Customers in eligible markets will be able to stream those compatible games through PS4, PS5, and PC. For the time being, it doesn’t appear that PlayStation intends to allow you to stream compatible games to mobile devices over the cloud, and the entire list of cloud streaming compatible games that will be included in the Premium plan has yet to be announced.
The Xbox Game Pass cloud streaming service is simple to understand. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate includes Xbox Cloud Gaming, which allows you to play Xbox games on a variety of devices. These include the Xbox Game Pass app for Android phones, the Safari browser for iOS and Mac devices, the Chrome browser for Chromebooks, and the Xbox Game Pass and Xbox app for Xbox consoles and Windows PCs, respectively. You can play Xbox games on a variety of devices if you have a good internet connection.
Day One Access
One of the most noticeable distinctions between PS Plus and Game Pass is the availability of titles from the day one release. The best part about Xbox Game Pass is that Microsoft’s own games, as well as some third-party games, are available right away for members at no additional cost. Games like Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, and Gears of War 5 were available on the same day they were released. Xbox Game Pass subscribers will eventually get titles like Starfield, as well as the upcoming Elder Scrolls game and MLB The Showdown 22, at launch.
At the moment, none of the PlayStation Plus tiers appear to offer first-party games on Day One. When asked if Sony first-party games would be offered to PlayStation Plus, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan responded, “This is not a road that we’ve gone down in the past. And it’s not a road that we’re going to go down with this new service.”
Comparing all these factors it looks like Xbox Game Pass is still the better subscription service for players. But if you own a Playstation console, you can opt to get both services and play Sony games on your console and Xbox games on your PC or mobile device.
For more related content check out our dedicated website Gamition.
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