Are single video game purchases on consoles becoming obsolete? Are console subscriptions dominating the video game market? While we can only guess what the future holds for gaming, we can already save a bunch of money by subscribing to various memberships that boast hundreds of top-notch AAA blockbusters and booming indies. Each console offers its own membership, but which one is the best and right for you?
Which is better? Xbox Game Pass Ultimate vs. PS Plus
If you’re thinking of grabbing a next-gen console when the new stock hits the shelves, you may also consider subscribing to that console’s membership. This may also be a crucial factor in which console you will decide to buy. In the green corner, we have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and in the blue – Sony’s PS Plus. While Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus are very familiar with what they are offering, there are a few crucial differences nonetheless.
Both subscriptions offer a huge plethora of games to download or stream, offering exclusive titles to their respective consoles, third-party releases, and hidden gems of the indie scene. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate may still be the king of the subscription services with over 400 games to play for a monthly fee both available on Xbox and PC with additional EA play games as a cherry on top. However, Sony is countering Microsoft with their own 3-tier updated PS Plus membership which will combine both PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now into one package.
The new 3-tier PS Plus
PS Plus Essential is the cheapest option and just like Xbox Live Gold offers access to online play, cloud saving, free monthly games, and discounts on the PSN store. Meanwhile, the higher tiers add games. PS Plus Extra will total up to 400 games, starting with some of the best PlayStation exclusives like Marvel’s Spider-Man, The Last of Us Remastered, or the Uncharted series. It will also add some of the Ubisoft+ games, including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and a few others.
PS Plus Premium will offer the same benefits as the Extra tier, but will also have classic PS1, PS2, and PS3 games available to play through streaming. This will increase the PS Plus game numbers to over 700.
The main difference between both competitors is that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate adds new games on the day of the release. This includes both Microsoft exclusives as we’ve seen with the latest Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, and the upcoming, and highly anticipated Starfield.
Sony, on the other hand, as of now, has no plans to offer PlayStation exclusives on day one, saying this approach has an impact on video game quality. Whether Sony is right is up to you to decide, but Xbox owners, though ecstatic with Xbox Game Pass offerings, have raised their complaints about the quality of Xbox exclusives.
Is Xbox Live Gold still relevant?
Well, it depends. As mentioned before, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate combines everything into one package, but if you’re a gamer who’s dedicated to mastering one particular multiplayer title and don’t want to be distracted by other 400 games, Xbox Live Gold might be all you need. It unlocks the door to online multiplayer allowing players to dedicate all their time to becoming online multiplayer legends. There are also a few other bonuses with Gold like monthly free games, cloud saving, and discounts on the Xbox Live store.
In conclusion, whichever subscription or console you choose, both memberships are worth subscribing to. They both offer hundreds of games for only a monthly fee and discounts on their respective in-platform stores.