So, was it as good for you as it was for me? Sony finally revealed to the world the release date and more importantly the price of the PlayStation 5. The PS5 launches for €499 while the PS5 digital edition will launch for the princely sum of €399.
Thankfully, the rumour of Sony falling back into their PS3 pricing ways was proven not true with two incredibly priced machines. But it was not the price that tickled my fancy last night. No. It was Sony’s clear attempt to get in on the Game Pass style market without sacrificing their new IPs.
With the launch of the PlayStation Plus Collection, Sony has specifically targeted that same market that game pass has made home. The collection will be added “an added benefit to the existing PS4 benefits that PS Plus members receive for a single subscription price.”
But at What Cost?
However, there’s no confirmation on whether the current PS Plus price will remain the same. Watch this space but it’s doubtful that the service won’t cost a little extra while still staying well the below the price of Plus and Now seperately.
18 of the “generation defining” games on PS4 will be available to play on PS5 at launch, including God of War, Detroit: Become Human, Days Gone and Bloodborne to name a few.
Whether the catalogue of games is complete at 18 or whether Sony decides to add more as the generation continues, this is the first time Sony has directly challenged Xbox in the subscription space.
Following the event, Sony President Jim Ryan poured cold water on PlayStation’s new exclusive games coming to the the PS Plus collection citing the production cost of these titles.
Many of their big-budget AAA games cost well over $100 million to produce so it wouldn’t make financial sense to bring them to PS Plus Collection. For this reason, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate still has an edge by offering their MS’s own first-party titles at launch.
So, while PlayStation is starting to make moves against Game Pass, I don’t think for a second that they’ll make it the centre of their console offering, like Xbox are doing with Game Pass.
And to be honest, i’m glad Sony are still not fully on board with the Game Pass style service. Why change what’s not broken? Now give me God of War Ragnarok, Boi.