The rumor is finally true - PS+ and PSNow merger

[ConservagameR]

Machiavellian said:

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.

You partially answered your own question. MS would care, because what if PS follows suit and directly competes? That hinders them in terms of competitive lost sales, but helps in terms of validation, which should help gain some sales. MS and XB, who've made it clear they believe the Game Pass, Netflix like, sub and service model is the future of many things, especially gaming, no doubt then assume PS would follow suit, otherwise PS would cease to exist in the future, wouldn't they?

Perhaps Game Pass was the model XB has planned to go with, far before it was announced, though it doesn't seem to fit all that well with the XB1 launch direction for that gen, so it seems coincidental that it launched during a time when XB was in dire need of a win because Sony was gaining more and more of a lead against the XB1 offering. I would personally guess that it's maybe both, but the increasing need to please gamers and get them back into the XB camp now made the Game Pass model worth it, when it likely wasn't viewed that way by MS in the past.

It doesn't matter how much you want to do with the hardware and software, putting your multi hundred million dollar AAA games on the service asap only makes sense if you have billions of pocket change to burn, or you're willing or able to take the chance and hope it works out a decade or two down the road. Netflix could do that because they were a new company and sub service is what they offer, period. XB can do it because they have an endless supply of money from MS computer software. PS cannot do it because they're too established in some ways, and same with Sony. Sony also doesn't have the money to burn because their big money maker is PS. Sony investors won't allow it unless their is no other option.

Right now both brands are going in different directions, yet the thing is, both have hinted to the fact that even though they believe they're taking the right path, that the other just may be correct, which would mean a change of course eventually to match them. Based on how Nin is doing, maybe just maybe all 3 companies can get away with doing their own thing with only slight overlaps.

Last edited by ConservagameR - on 31 March 2022