ConservagameR said:
It wasn't that long ago that either Spencer or Bond said Sony was coming out with their own version of Game Pass soon. That was no doubt said because of hopeful validation and because of it's potential competition. Now as Sony, and some of the media and fans have been saying all along, less of them anyway, that this new Plus service wouldn't be a direct competitor to Game Pass. Which I would definitely agree now that it is not. This absolutely removes some validation of Game Pass, because if this new Plus service was obviously direct competition, there would be a whole lot of, I told ya so's, and boasting of whichever service was obviously the better offer and deal. Instead, Game Pass is clearly it's own thing still, trying to make a go of it, as well as this Plus service. The Plus service however, combines Now, which should help overall, and already has more history and a larger and steady subscriber base. Both have pluses and minuses. Both are worth subscribing to, depending on your gaming wants and needs, or just get both if you can afford them. That's not an option for many though, so they'll have to choose, which is great, because it's all about choice. Phil has been clear XB is all for choice. As for why MS put's their first party on Game Pass day 1, you're partially right, but it's more so because they can easily afford to. When you've got the worlds largest bank vault that consistently replentishes itself, you can easily do things like that, where others just can't because it won't work based only on the model. When it comes to the licensing, is that because MS can't get them period, or because they don't want to spend the money there for whatever reason? If XB is doing all the work that needs to be done to get the BC games to the existing systems, but making no profit whatsoever, then why pay big money for licensing? Sony will be able to do this with the income from this new service structure, aside from the rare deals that are just refused to be made. |
Not sure I understand your thinking. Why would MS care if Sony responded to GP or not. That just does not make any sense. No company does something hoping their competition tries to copy it to justify their investment. If anything they hope they do not respond at all or until its to late and they have solidified that market. GP was born not because of Sony but because MS is a service company and that is the direction they have been moving all of their products. MS does not care if Sony combined PS now and Plus and I am sure they still do not care now. They have their own plan and it really has nothing to do with what Sony does because they are on 2 different paths.
It makes way more sense to put your games day one on the service if you are not looking to lock your service to one piece of hardware. MS is not looking to just gain the amount of subs selling Xbox consoles, they are looking to get subs for every device that can play games. Sony on the other hand, is looking to get subs based on the number of users purchasing their console, having their biggest games not sell to those people hurts their bottom line. MS made the decision to go all in on GP so they will take less sales to expand the service. Sony is a more cautious and safe route but then again the 2 companies are not going in the same direction.
