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Forums - Sony Discussion - (Rumor - Jason Schreier) PlayStation Plans New Service to Take On Xbox Game Pass?

Link: PlayStation Plus, Now (PSN, PSPlus) to Merge Into New Subscription Game Service - Bloomberg

PlayStation Plans New Service to Take On Xbox Game Pass

Sony Group Corp.’s PlayStation division is planning a new subscription service to compete with rival Microsoft Corp.’s popular Xbox Game Pass, according to people familiar with Sony’s plans and documents reviewed by Bloomberg.

The service, code-named Spartacus, will allow PlayStation owners to pay a monthly fee for access to a catalog of modern and classic games, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak to the press about the plans. The offering will likely be available on the smash hit PlayStation 4, which has sold more than 116 million units, and its elusive successor, the PlayStation 5, which launched more than a year ago but is still difficult to buy due to supply chain issues.

When it launches, expected in the spring, the service will merge Sony’s two existing subscription plans, PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now. Currently, PlayStation Plus is required for most online multiplayer games and offers free monthly titles, while PlayStation Now allows users to stream or download older games. Documents reviewed by Bloomberg suggest that Sony plans to retain the PlayStation Plus branding but phase out PlayStation Now.

Thoughts on this?  I am curious as to how much the cost will be for the highest tier, without day 1 1st party games, is this even worth it?

Last edited by Blood_Tears - on 03 December 2021

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Meh. I'll have to see the full offering but the thing I like about gamepass is we get Microsoft's first party titles day 1 which also includes Bethesda. If Sony doesn't do that and it's just older games, I'll probably skip and just use the regular PS+ membership. Of course, a lot of it depends on the price.



                  

PC Specs: CPU: 7800X3D || GPU: Strix 4090 || RAM: 32GB DDR5 6000 || Main SSD: WD 2TB SN850

Xbox with GamePass, Nintendo with the new Expansion, and now this. I'm here for it. Please let this be true. Trophy support, higher framerate, and resolution is a must.



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If true, I wonder if Horizon: Forbidden West will launch with the service!



Hopefully it's a good service, time will tell. If it is good I also hope they let us do something similar to the Xbox Gold to Gamepass for $1 conversion



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Captain_Yuri said:

Meh. I'll have to see the full offering but the thing I like about gamepass is we get Microsoft's first party titles day 1 which also includes Bethesda. If Sony doesn't do that and it's just older games, I'll probably skip and just use the regular PS+ membership. Of course, a lot of it depends on the price.

True, a lot of it does depend on price. However, my interest lies in what type of library they would have for PS1/2/3 and if they will be downloadable. Also from a PR perspective it's a definite win retiring the PS Now name and merging everything with PS Plus. The article even mentions that Sony is lagging behind in the subscription service which is technically not true as PS Plus is over 47M. With one subscription service going forward it controls the narrative that Sony will have the largest userbase for this type of model. 



I don't think Sony's first-party games would land on the service Day 1. At least not initially. Sony's business model almost entirely depends on game sales since most of them are single player experiences, and with their gaming division making the most money for the company, Sony wouldn't want to lose too much revenue.

I'd think they'll launch the service with classic titles, hopefully their way of tapping into their PS1/PS2 catalogue, and some PS4 titles like God of War (2018), Spider-Man, Infamous: Second Son, Days Gone, The Last of Us Part 1 and 2, Bloodborne, etc. then start to add PS5 titles something like 6 months after a games launch to get as much from initial sales as possible. Once Sony has a number of subscribers they're happy with, then they'll start to add PS5 titles Day 1.

Hopefully I'm wrong though :) maybe add a PlayStation PC launcher as well and connect the services!



Blood_Tears said:
Captain_Yuri said:

Meh. I'll have to see the full offering but the thing I like about gamepass is we get Microsoft's first party titles day 1 which also includes Bethesda. If Sony doesn't do that and it's just older games, I'll probably skip and just use the regular PS+ membership. Of course, a lot of it depends on the price.

True, a lot of it does depend on price. However, my interest lies in what type of library they would have for PS1/2/3 and if they will be downloadable. Also from a PR perspective it's a definite win retiring the PS Now name and merging everything with PS Plus. The article even mentions that Sony is lagging behind in the subscription service which is technically not true as PS Plus is over 47M. With one subscription service going forward it controls the narrative that Sony will have the largest userbase for this type of model. 

Yea it is certainly a step in the right direction no doubt.

What I would like to see is an option to merge PS+ with Crunchyroll subscription. If they can do that, I'd jump on it asap but that's just my taste.



                  

PC Specs: CPU: 7800X3D || GPU: Strix 4090 || RAM: 32GB DDR5 6000 || Main SSD: WD 2TB SN850

So more quantity is the long game and less quality. They will release day one eventually, games like GOW will not have their usual budget because nobody would be buying them.

Don't even like Nintendo, but it seems as time goes by, it is probably the only one worth owning. Funny how we will be entering sub wars from the other two.



Annonymous source, pass it with a mountain of salt, anyway PSNow is already the competitor for GP+XCloud it is only a matter of is Sony willing to improve it enough to be competitive?



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