PlayStation Plus Confirms It Will Not Add Major Xbox Game Pass Feature

By Tyler Fischer

PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass are, by and large, two very similar services in terms of what they offer and the quality of games they possess. The biggest difference between the two is how each subscription service approaches day one games. Every release from Xbox Game Studios is available via Xbox Game Pass the moment it drops. This means upcoming games like Starfield, Avowed, Fable, and Hellblade 2 will all be available via Xbox Game Pass at launch. On the contrary, PlayStation Plus is not bolstered with PlayStation releases the day they come out. Upcoming PlayStation games like Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Marathon, and Helldivers could, and likely will, be added to PlayStation Plus at some point, down the road, but not at launch or even close to launch. 

Many have wondered if this is permanent strategy. Well, nothing is permanent in this business, but it sounds like PlayStation has no plans on changing this approach. In fact, according to PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, this approach is working and Sony is happy with it. 

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"We're happy with our strategy," said Ryan speaking to Games Industry. "Putting games in a bit later in the life cycle has meant that we can reach more customers 12, 18, 24 months after they have released. We're seeing customers still get excited about those games and jumping in. For us, that's working. Occasionally, there will be an opportunity to invest in a day-and-date like Stray and we will jump on those when they come in. But for us, letting those [first-party] games go out to the platform outside the service first... that's working and that will continue to be our strategy moving forward."

Of course, if a game costs $70 and you miss out on even two million launch sales because the game is available via a subscription service, that's $140 million in sales. And that's only if it sells two million. So, there is a lot of money at play. The question is what is the balance between making money off game sales and running up subscription numbers. Right now, it's unclear which approach is making more money. And more importantly, it's unclear which approach is going to end up being better in the long term.

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