News business PlayStation Plus, Game Pass: Our comparison to see more clearly
The ex-Spartacus brandishes arms. With the new formulas of PlayStation Plus unveiled yesterday, Sony hopes to rely on the 48 million subscribers to PS Plus to highlight the features of PlayStation Now. By combining its two services and multiplying the tariff proposals, the Japanese company hopes to attract a significant number of players. With everything announced, it’s easy to get lost between what PlayStation Plus does and what Game Pass does. That’s why we compare subscriptions in the major categories of price, number of games, availability of new titles, retro apps and streaming.
The rates
In France, the PlayStation Plus offer is divided into 3 formulas. Each formula brings its own set of advantages and requires its own financial investment. Indeed, at the end of June 2022, users will be able to choose the Essential option (the PS Plus as we know it with two games included each month and the possibility of online play), Extra (the advantages of the ‘Essential plus access to a catalog of 400 PS4 and PS5 software), and Premium (the additions of Essential and Extra, with the possibility of playing PSOne, PS2, PS3, PSP and to access the latest releases for a limited time).
| PlayStation Plus offer | Price 1 month | Price 3 months | Price 12 months |
| Essential | 8,99 € | €24.99 (€8.33/month) | €59.99 (about €5/month) |
| Extra | 13,99 € | €39.99 (€13.33/month) | €99.99 (about €8/month) |
| Premium | 16,99 € | €49.99 (about €16/month) | €119.99 (about €10/month) |
| Offre Xbox | Price 1 month | Price 3 months | Price 12 months |
| Live Gold | 6,99 € | €19.99 (€6.66/month) | €59.99 (approx €5/month) (removed from online sales) |
| Game Pass console ou PC | 9,99 € | €29.97 (€9.99/month) | €119.88 (€9.99/month) |
| Game Pass Ultimate | 12,99 € | €38.97 (€12.99/month) | €155.88 (€12.99/month) |
As a reminder, Game Pass Ultimate includes Game Pass console (€9.99/month), Game Pass PC (€9.99/month) and Xbox Live Gold (€6.99/month) at the price of 12 .99 euros per month. Important clarification, a Game Pass console subscriber who does not have the Ultimate formula needs to subscribe to Xbox Live Gold to play online (except for free-to-play).
What should be remembered about the prices charged by Sony and Microsoft is that the Japanese giant offers decreasing prices according to the duration of the commitment, which the American giant does not do with the Game Pass (console , PC or Ultimate). That’s why the one-year PlayStation Plus Premium formula (€119.99) is cheaper than a year of Game Pass Ultimate (€155.88).
The number of games
The number of games to which subscribers to the various services will have access changes according to the formulas. In summary, the more expensive it is, the more there is a catalog full of titles to (re)discover.
| Playstation Plus | |
| Extra | 400 PS4 and PS5 games |
| Premium | 740 games (400 PS4 and PS5 games + 340 PSOne, PS2, PS3, PSP games) |
| Game Pass | |
| PC | About 330 games |
| Console | About 300 games |
| Ultimate | About 360 games |
PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers can get their hands on 2 games.offered” per month, compared to 4 for Xbox Live Gold subscribers (2 One apps + 2 360 apps).
The availability of new games
Sony explained that the new PlayStation exclusives will not be available in day one, regardless of the PlayStation Plus plan purchased. Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, told us Explain that if first party games came to PS Plus as soon as they were released, it would break the “virtuous circle” put in place and would lower the quality of the projects. Nevertheless, the Japanese firm will offer trial versions of the latest releases so that players can try titles before buying them.
On Microsoft’s side, it’s just the opposite. First party and Bethesda productions arrive on D-Day in Game Pass. This means that the Halo, Forza Horizon, Starfield, Fableand others Doom are available for download on the day of their release. The Redmond firm is betting heavily on this model and plans to buy Activision-Blizzard in order to bring all of the company’s titles (such as Call of Duty or Diablo) on day one in Game Pass. Thanks to a partnership with Electronic Arts, new releases from the American publisher (FIFA, It Takes Twoetc.) also make themselves available a few months after their release.
retro games
On the side of PlayStation Plus as well as Game Pass, there are solutions reserved for subscribers so that they can (re) play old titles. At Sony, the Premium formula offers 340 games from the PSOne, PS2, PS3 era (exclusively in streaming) and PSP. This catalog of old games is much larger than that of Game Pass Ultimate where around sixty Xbox 360 and Xbox Original games can be played. We remind you that Microsoft has a backward compatibility program that allows those who own old Xbox 360 and Xbox Original games to play them again by putting the cake in an Xbox One or Xbox Series. This feature is not present on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5.
| Service | |
| PlayStation Plus Premium | 340 PSOne, PS2, PS3 and PSP games |
| Game Pass Ultimate | Approximately 63 Xbox 360 and Xbox Original games |
Streaming
PlayStation Plus Premium and Game Pass Ultimate both have solutions to allow their subscribers to enjoy streaming. At Sony, Premium members can launch PSOne, PS2, PS3, PSP and PS4 software on the Cloud. PS5 titles are not streamable. At Microsoft, not all Game Pass Ultimate games are necessarily playable on the Cloud: there are still a few exceptions (especially among the games of the first two generations of Xbox).
PlayStation Plus brings streaming fun to PSOne, PS2, PS3, PSP and PS4 games to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC. Game Pass Ultimate allows you to play a selection of apps from all generations of Xbox on the Cloud on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and mobile devices.
The new PlayStation Plus will arrive at the end of June 2022. Sony has announced that PlayStation Plus members will automatically upgrade to Essential, while PS Now subscribers will upgrade to Premium at no additional cost.
By CarnbeeJournalist jeuxvideo.com
MP