Phil Spencer, boss of the Xbox branch, spoke about the rumors concerning the arrival of an equivalent of Xbox Game Pass on PlayStation consoles. And he is for.
It seems that Sony is preparing to announce its answer to Xbox Game Pass, a monthly subscription that would allow access to an evolving library of games on PlayStation consoles. And imagine that Phil Spencer sees this rumor with a very good eye while Microsoft could legitimately feel copied. In an interview granted to IGN and reported on January 17, the person concerned confided: “ When I hear that others are doing things like Game Pass or wanting to come to PC, that makes sense to me, because that’s the right answer. »
With these words, Phil Spencer suggests that he thinks first of all about the interests of the players. The arrival of a PlayStation Game Pass would offer one more opportunity to indulge in one’s passion, no matter if it doesn’t make Microsoft money. He says : “ I don’t want to sound like I’ve got it all figured out, but I think the right strategy is to allow its users to play the games they want to play, where they want, and give them choice in how build their library. »
Why a PlayStation Game Pass would be good for Microsoft
The simple idea of seeing Sony in turn launch a Game Pass would be a great validation of Microsoft’s – paying – strategy. No offense to Phil Spencer, who refuses this observation. In his eyes, the Game Pass is rather ” the right path » to propose « great games, to launch them on PC, on console, on the cloud, and to make them available on D-Day with the subscription. If Sony comes to imitate this positioning, then the Redmond company would be seen as a pioneer behind an applauded initiative.
The argument of competition should not be neglected either. The various players feed on what others are doing to keep things moving in the right direction — and the whole market benefits (starting with the players). To feed its PlayStation Game Pass and make it a major weapon to compete with Microsoft’s service, Sony will necessarily have to find additional benefits for subscribers. In short, it will have to innovate.
Finally, this type of subscription is a way to attract a new audience, which can create a virtuous circle. We can even add an economic argument to it: imagine a reality where we could pay around thirty euros (the combined price of the two services) to enjoy all the Xbox and PlayStation games on a multitude of devices and without any technological barrier. After all, being a Netflix subscriber doesn’t prevent anyone from wanting to access the Disney+ catalog as well.