With the launch of the new PlayStation Plus, it’s an opportunity to compare Sony’s offer with what Microsoft offers. Between Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PlayStation Plus, which is the best offer? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each service?
To offer a broader and more coherent service in its ecosystem, Sony has completely revised its PlayStation Plus offer. For its part, Microsoft has been relying on its Xbox Game Pass service for several years and has managed to make it an inevitable topic of discussion in any conversation concerning the video game industry.
Between PlayStation Plus Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the two console manufacturers now offer a high-end video game service. We wanted to compare them to identify the shortcomings of each and the points on which it would be in their interest to improve.
Two different ecosystems
Generally when we offer comparisons on Frandroid, it is to better direct the consumer to the product that best suits their needs. Here, however, we are not placing ourselves exactly in the scenario, because it is above all your choice of ecosystem, more precisely of game console, which will dictate the service that will be offered to you. Indeed, the Xbox Game Pass is not offered on PlayStation and you will not have access to PlayStation Plus from an Xbox.
Despite this nuance to keep in mind, it is still interesting to compare the two offers to better understand the strategy of each. For the consumer, this can also allow them to better choose their ecosystem, even before buying a console, by knowing what service will be offered on the machine. Finally, we will come back to this, but Microsoft sees with the Xbox Game Pass an ecosystem far beyond the game console. This is less the case with the PlayStation Plus Premium at present.
Online play, cloud save and monthly games
If we take the analogy of a rocket, the first floor of both PlayStation Plus Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is undoubtedly the set of online services offered for a long time on console. We think of the possibility of playing multiplayer on the servers of Sony and Microsoft of course, but also of the ability to keep the backups of its games in the cloud. Sony reserves 100 GB of online storage space for PS4 game saves and 100 GB for PS5 game saves. The brand also specifies a limit of 1,000 games for the PS4. On the Microsoft side, online storage of game saves is free, with no subscription required. The function is therefore not part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, since it is free.
The biggest difference between Microsoft’s and Sony’s service at this stage is in the selection of games offered each month. On the Microsoft side, you are entitled to 4 games offered per month, which will drop to only two at the end of 2022, while Sony offers 3 games every month. Behind these figures hides a different editorial direction. Sony offers far more interesting games every month in PlayStation Plus compared to Xbox Live Gold. Here, there’s no doubt that PlayStation’s offering is the most compelling.
A large catalog of games on demand
On the upper floor of the rocket, the one accessible from the PlayStation Plus Extra subscription at Sony, we find the catalog of games on demand. This is the heart of the Xbox Game Pass offer: a catalog of several hundred games to download at no additional cost. To date, 454 games are included in the Xbox Game Pass according to the Game Pass Counter site which offers a census of the service. For its part, Sony offers no less than 400 games on the PlayStation Plus Extra.
Difficult to carry out a qualitative analysis of the more than 800 games distributed between the two services. It can be said that, in any case, you will get your money’s worth. On the Xbox side, Microsoft has worked well on its catalog to offer a wide range of games both at very high budget and indie games. The firm has a very broad editorial policy and will offer racing games as well as action, strategy, platform or even simulation games. Today, it seems difficult not to find a shoe that fits with the Xbox Game Pass as the service is very broad.
On the PlayStation Plus Extra side, the strength of the house is of course to integrate the best games from PlayStation Studios. There are very high quality and critically acclaimed games like Uncharted 4, Bloodborne, god of war, Horizon Forbidden West, Detroit Become Human or Marvel’s Spider-Man. As for external games, Sony relies more on quantity, with games that are sometimes quite old and less popular, but there are still great titles. We can thus mention the presence of great games Rockstar Games, Square Enix, Ubisoft or even Bethesda. PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers can additionally download a selection of retro games from the PS1 or PS2, but the catalog is very limited.
Xbox Game Pass bets on recent games
We must still address the issue of new releases, an important difference between the strategy of Xbox and that of PlayStation. Microsoft is known to integrate its internal productions from its many studios on their release days. The firm also goes so far as to pay for external productions as soon as they are launched. We can cite Back 4 Blood, A Plague Tale Requiemor Total War: Warhammer III.
Sony has explicitly stated that no PlayStation Studio games will be offered upon launch on the PlayStation Plus Extra. However, the firm does not exclude the addition of external games as soon as they are launched. This is the case of the independent game stray whose release on July 19 coincides with its arrival in the PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium. Sony also offered games in the PlayStation Plus Essential as soon as they were launched.
Still, Microsoft puts the Xbox Game Pass at the center of its equation. The first objective of Microsoft is to increase its number of subscribers, in front of the sales of games or consoles. That of Sony remains today to sell PlayStation consoles and games.
Cloud gaming: Xbox is ahead
PlayStation Plus Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate both include an offer of cloud gaming. At Sony, it’s rather simple since the entire Extra catalog is playable in streaming. The firm adds a selection of PS3 games available only in streaming, because neither the PS4 nor the PS5 offer backward compatibility with Sony’s 3rd home console. Access to the service is from a PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 console or a Windows PC. Regarding newer games, these are the PS4 versions of the games at the moment. Sony does not offer PS5 versions in cloud gaming. As a result, it is often impossible to synchronize your saves between a PS5 and the service of cloud gaming from Sony.
With tech giant Microsoft behind its back, Xbox has truly taken the lead in the realm of cloud gaming. A shame when you know that Sony was the first to offer a service of this type and to invest in the field with the acquisition of Gaikai in 2012. Today, the Xbox Cloud Gaming service is universally available: from any browser , on Xbox console, on PC, on mobile and tablet, on Mac and even from Samsung screens. No backup problem since Microsoft took the step very early on of storing and synchronizing everything online between its platforms. Since 2021, the servers have been equipped with hardware Xbox Series X compatible to run the latest games. The downside at Microsoft is the catalog since all Game Pass games are not necessarily available in cloud gaming. However, Microsoft has made great efforts on the subject and more than 350 games are available in the cloud catalog.
In both cases, the stream sent is 1080p while other streaming services cloud gaming go up in 4K. The latency is quite low and the service of good quality.
Game demos: a Sony exclusive
One of the strengths of Sony’s offer is undoubtedly the integration of trial versions. Failing to offer its PlayStation Studios games in the catalog upon release, Sony wants to offer players to get an idea of expected games thanks to a free trial. For a few hours, you can try recent games like Horizon Forbidden West Where Tiny Tina’s Wonderland. If you decide to purchase the game, you keep the achievements and your progress with the full version.
And the user experience?
One thing does not appear in the offer comparison tables: the quality of the user experience. It is, however, an essential element to take into account. Here, Sony is lagging behind for the moment, but this is an area where the brand could improve over updates. The PC streaming application does not offer any search engine and browsing the catalog is difficult. The interface offered on the console also leaves something to be desired. Some games included in the catalog are not promoted by Sony and require manual research.
On Microsoft’s side, not everything is perfect either. The Game Pass application on PC is still unstable for many subscribers and the translation offered in the French version of the interface on console is not at all at Microsoft level. However, the firm offers an interface with fairly simple navigation and interesting sections. You can very quickly resume a game that you started on another device.
Microsoft’s offer is cheaper
Difficult to make a comparison without looking at the prices of each offer. The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is offered at 12.99 euros per month in France. You can also subscribe for much less, while the PlayStation Plus Premium is offered at 16.99 euros per month. This price drops to around 10 euros per month if you subscribe for 12 months at once, but this represents a significant investment (119.99 euros).
Overall, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is therefore generally cheaper, offers newer games, and cloud gaming more advanced. The user experience is also better.
For its part, Sony can pride itself on offering some new functions such as trial versions and can above all rely on its catalog of PlayStation Studios games which has many excellent games that cannot be found elsewhere. The PlayStation Plus Premium offer is still quite expensive considering what it offers at the time of writing.
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