Xbox Live Gold vs. PlayStation Plus: Which Is Better?
Both PlayStation and Xbox systems offer great games and plenty of features out of the box. But to get the most out of your PS4, PS5, Xbox One, or Xbox Series X|S, you need to sign up for their premium services: PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold, respectively.
If you’re considering buying a new console, its premium service could help you decide which one to get. Let’s compare PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold to see what they offer you.
Neither PlayStation Plus nor Xbox Live Gold is required for the basic functionality of your console. You can enjoy media apps like Netflix and Spotify, buy digital games, and play single-player titles without subscribing.
The PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S consoles all allow you to share certain benefits of one subscription with every user on the console. As long as you designate your console as your primary system and keep your subscription active, anyone using it can play games online without having to pay for their own subscription. For more, we’ve shown how to gameshare on PS5.
Note that in June 2022, PlayStation Plus expanded to include three different tiers. The base tier, Essential, is most similar to Xbox Live Gold. As a result, we’ll spend most of this comparison on PS Plus Essential and Xbox Live Gold, then cover the other tiers at the end.
Let’s walk through the primary benefits of both services.
While PS Plus and Xbox Live Gold still include some benefits for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, we exclude them from discussion here since those consoles are no longer current.
Access to Online Multiplayer
The key benefit to both PS Plus and Xbox Live is online multiplayer. On the PS4 and PS5, as well as the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, the relevant service is required for all online multiplayer in paid games, whether competitive or cooperative.
Thankfully, PlayStation and Xbox both let you enjoy free-to-play multiplayer games like Fortnite and Rocket League online without a subscription.
Only paid games require membership for online play.
Free Games Each Month
Both PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold offer «free» games (included as part of the cost) with your subscription. Here’s how they work.
PlayStation Plus Free Games
Each month, PlayStation Plus subscribers get to add a few free games to their library. Since the PlayStation 5’s launch, there have been three games per month. Generally, two of them are PS4 games, with at least one PS5 title that may also have a PS4 version.
The new PS Plus games arrive on the first Tuesday of each month and stay available until the first Tuesday of the following month. As long as you add the games to your library when they’re free, they’re yours to keep as long as your Plus subscription stays active.
If you let your subscription lapse, you lose access to any free Plus games you grabbed. However, should you ever re-subscribe, you’ll get access to those games again.
On PS5, there’s also a unique benefit called the PlayStation Plus Collection.
This allows you to play some of the PS4’s biggest hits on your PS5, thanks to backward compatibility. Like the other games, they’re free to download, but you lose access if your subscription lapses.
Some of the included games are Uncharted 4, God of War, Persona 5, and Resident Evil 7.
Xbox Games With Gold
Microsoft’s free game system is called Games with Gold. Historically, it provided two free Xbox One/Series X|S games, as well as two free Xbox 360 titles. Due to the backward compatibility of the Series X|S and Xbox One, all Games with Gold titles for older Xbox consoles are playable on the newer systems.
However, as of October 1, 2022, Microsoft no longer provides Xbox 360 titles as part of Games with Gold. For now, you can expect two titles that are playable on both Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
Like PS Plus, you’ll need to «buy» the games during their free period to add them to your library, and you’ll get locked out of your free games if you let your subscription run out.
However, any Xbox 360 titles you claimed through Games with Gold in the past are yours to keep forever.
Games with Gold releases games on a staggered schedule. One free game launches on the first of the month and is available until the end of the month. The other game is free from the 16th of the current month to the 15th of the next month.
Digital Game Discounts
In addition to the free games, PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold both offer a variety of discounts on their respective digital stores.
Of course, there are differences in the frequency and volume of what’s available. It’s hard to compare the services directly in this area, as the sales vary in frequency and value. You might find a Gold-exclusive sale on the Microsoft Store, or deeper discounts with PlayStation Plus than non-members get.
These discounts extend to DLC and consumable items, so it’s not just full titles. With PS Plus, you’ll also sometimes get exclusive access to betas, plus some freebies like add-ons for various games or profile avatars.
Other Subscription Features
We’ve covered the main features above, but PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold both have a few other considerations to keep in mind.
Cloud Save Storage
PlayStation Plus gives you space to store your game saves in the cloud. Subscribers get 100GB for PS4 saves and another 100GB for PS5 saves. This space allows you to back up your precious save data, as well as easily transfer your saves to another console.
However, both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S provide cloud storage without a subscription. Microsoft says «as your game library grows, so does your cloud storage,» so the exact amount isn’t known.
Party Chat and Share Play
On both PS4 and PS5, even without PS Plus, you can create parties to chat with your friends no matter what game you’re playing. Xbox consoles also allow you to do this; you don’t need Xbox Live Gold to join a party and chat with friends.
PlayStation also offers a pair of features called Share Screen and Share Play.
Share Screen lets friends watch you play games, while Share Play lets someone else take control of a game—they can either take over from you or join as a second player in local play.
You need PlayStation Plus to host a Share Play session. Both people need PS Plus to use the «play a game together» feature.
PlayStation Game Help
The PS5 has a feature called Game Help that lets you see tips and tricks for supported games. It works without leaving your current game, so you don’t have to pull up a separate walkthrough in the browser.
This isn’t available on PS4, and requires a PS Plus subscription to use on PS5.
Automatic Updates and Other Perks
Finally, PS Plus enables some convenient features on PS4 and PS5, such as automatically downloading game updates in Rest mode. It also gives you priority shipping if you order physical goods from Sony’s online store.
The Cost of PS Plus and Xbox Live
The retail price of Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus Essential is the same: $60 per year.
Thankfully, you can find occasional deals on both that let you save $10 or more on a yearly subscription. As a result, you shouldn’t ever have to pay full price, especially if you wait to renew your subscription until Black Friday or other seasonal sales.
You can join either service on a monthly basis, but this ends up costing a lot more. They both cost $10 for a month or $25 for three months. Unless you’re only looking to play online for a short time, paying yearly makes much more sense.
At the time of writing, Microsoft isn’t selling 12-month Gold subscriptions directly, but you can still buy them from GameStop, Amazon, and similar retailers.
As mentioned above, we’ve looked at PlayStation Plus Essential here, but there are two higher tiers of the service. PlayStation Plus Extra ($100/year) includes access to hundreds of PS4 and PS5 games via the Game Catalog, while PS Plus Premium ($120/year) tacks on a classic library of titles from every PlayStation generation.
Similarly, Microsoft likes to push people towards its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription ($15/month). Like the higher PS Plus tiers, Game Pass includes full access to hundreds of games that you can download and play all you want as long as you’re a subscriber. Game Pass Ultimate includes Game Pass access on both Xbox and PC, plus Xbox Live Gold.
See our overview of Xbox Game Pass and comparison of the PlayStation Plus tiers for full details about each of them.
Depending on what you’re interested in, both of these options can provide more value than the base subscription alone. If you’re interested in even a few of the games available on the service for your console, it’s cheaper to play them through this service than to buy them outright.
We’ve compared Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus for a deeper look at both, including how their streaming offerings differ.
Premium Gaming With PS Plus and Xbox Live Gold
Now you know what PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold each offer, and can decide whether they’re worthwhile for you.
There’s no real «winner» between the two services, but they do have some small differences. Either one is required for online multiplayer, and the free games and discounts are effectively a wash. With free-to-play games and party chat now available at no cost on either system, there are fewer differences than ever.
Xbox including cloud saves without a subscription is nice, though PlayStation Plus does offer a few perks that Xbox doesn’t match. For those with a PS5, the PS Plus Collection is great for catching up on the PS4 library.
Whichever system you play on, you’ll get a lot of value out of either service.
Xbox Live Gold vs. PlayStation Plus: Which is better?
Ps5 Vs Xbox Series S
(Image credit: Android Central)
Xbox Live Gold
Xbox Live Gold has been around for a long time, and it offers many of the same benefits as its competitor. You’ll get two free games every month, discounts on titles in the store, and more.
Xbox Live Gold also features the ability to upgrade to Xbox Game Pass.
For
- At least two free games every month
- Up to 50% discount on certain Microsoft Store titles
- Ability to upgrade to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Against
- Xbox Game Pass has essentially priced out just having Xbox Live Gold
PlayStation Plus
PlayStation Plus gives you access to not only online gaming, but a large library of some of PlayStation’s best games. Better yet, if you want to upload saves and other items into the cloud, PlayStation Plus gives you a ton of space to work with.
For
- At least two free games every month
- 100GB of cloud storage
- Three subscription tiers
Against
- Day-one releases not available in PS Plus Premium
Xbox Live Gold vs. PS Plus: What’s the difference?
(Image credit: Android Central)
A few years ago, the debate between PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold might have been raging on across the internet.
In 2022, though, the two services are nearly identical in what they offer to players: Both services are vital if you play a ton of online games on either the PlayStation or Xbox side, and both give out free games and discounts. For that reason, one is not definitively better than the other.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| Xbox Live Gold | PlayStation Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Free games | ✅ | ✅ |
| Online multiplayer access | Yes (not required for free-to-play games) | Yes (not required for free-to-play games) |
| Cloud saves | Not required | Required |
| Exclusive discounts | ✅ | ✅ |
| Price | $10/month or $60/year | $10/month or $60/year |
| Upgrades available | Yes (Xbox Game Pass Ultimate) | Yes (PlayStation Plus Extra or PlayStation Plus Premium) |
Xbox Live Gold vs.
PS Plus: Game Pass or Premium?
While Xbox Live Gold doesn’t offer too much that PlayStation Plus doesn’t, it does give players the ability to upgrade their Xbox Live Gold account into an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate account. This adds on the Xbox Game Pass service for an extra $5 per month, giving players both Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass. PlayStation Plus also gives subscribers the option to upgrade their membership to access hundreds of games on demand, not unlike Xbox Game Pass.
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For those who might not know, Xbox Game Pass is essentially Xbox’s answer to Netflix for games. The service hosts a ton of games in its rotating library, and one of the bigger selling points for it is that Xbox exclusive games launch onto the service the same day they launch at retail. Sony, on the other hand, will not release its first-party games day-one into any of its PlayStation Plus tiers.
Xbox Game Pass isn’t exactly the same thing as Xbox Live Gold, but Microsoft is clearly trying to get players into its ecosystem by offering bundles for the services.
For just $15 per month, players can have access to the benefits of Xbox Live Gold, while also getting access to a ton of old and literally brand new games via Xbox Game Pass, along with the ability to stream games to mobile.
PlayStation Plus Extra ($15 per month or $100 per year) and Premium ($18 per month or $120 per year) also include a games catalog with hundreds of titles in their subscriptions. Where they differ is that PS Plus Extra only includes around 400 or so games for PS4 and PS5. Anyone who upgrades to Premium will have access to an additional 340 classic games from PS3, PS2, PS One, and PSP. Premium subscribers can also stream PS3 and PS4 games directly to their console or PC.
What PlayStation is doing instead of day-one first-party releases is giving PlayStation Plus Premium members the option to access limited-time game trials, letting players sample PlayStation’s newest releases for free for a couple of hours before deciding to purchase the full game.
Xbox Live Gold vs.
PS Plus: The choice is yours
(Image credit: Android Central)
In their most basic forms, Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus Essential are basically the exact same service for different consoles. It only gets interesting when you throw Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Extra/Premium into the mix. For those wondering what service is better in the hopes of picking up a new console, the value that Xbox Game Pass provides at the moment is just too good to not recommend Xbox Live Gold.
Xbox Live Gold
The gold standard
Xbox Live Gold offers many of the same perks that PlayStation Plus does, including two free games every month, cloud storage options, and the ability to earn some discounts on the Microsoft Store.
PlayStation Plus
Free games every month
PlayStation Plus offers players the chance to play games online, while also benefitting from some great games given out for free every month.
PlayStation Plus also gives you 100GB of cloud storage, discounts across the PlayStation Store, and more.
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Anthony Nash has been writing about games and the gaming industry for nearly a decade. When he’s not writing about games, he’s usually playing them. You can find him on Twitter talking about games or sports at @_anthonynash.
With contributions from
- Jennifer LockeGames Editor — PlayStation, Android, VR
90,000 PlayStation Plus compared to Xbox Live Gold. Microsoft has more, but Sony has something to answer
Journalists are summing up the results of the year for PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold subscription services. This time Sony was more generous
Polygon journalists calculated how many games PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold subscribers received in 2021, and also calculated their total cost, average rating on Metacritic, age.
nine0003
It just so happens that in 2021, PlayStation Plus subscribers were a bit more fortunate:
- A total of 40 games were given away for a total of $1,424.60.
- Average Metacritic score: 73.8 / 100.
- Average «age» of games: 1.4 years.
- The newest game. Distributed simultaneously with the release: Control: Ultimate Edition, Destruction AllStars, Maquette, Oddworld: Soulstorm, Operation: Tango, Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, Hunter’s Arena: Legends, Hell Let Loose, First Class Trouble. nine0012
- Oldest game: Mortal Kombat X (6.5 years old).
- Donated games to Sony. 5 pieces: Destruction AllStars, Concrete Genie, Farpoint, Days Gone, Predator: Hunting Grounds.
Xbox Live Gold :
- A total of 49 games were given away for a total of $1,074.51.
- Average Metacritic score: 73/100.
- Average «age» of games: 7.13 years.
- Newest game: Warface: Breakout (0.
8 years). - Oldest game: Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb (17.9years old).
- Games given away by Xbox Game Studios. 3 pieces: Gears 5, Conker: Live & Reloaded, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
The PlayStation Plus subscription, unlike Xbox Live Gold in 2021, offered to receive «forever» (while the subscription is active) some games at the time of the premiere and more new ones » young» projects.
In contrast, Microsoft has a similar (sometimes games leave the catalog) offer in Game Pass. For example, Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite were immediately available. Also, in the catalog at once (and not several games per month), many other games are available, which periodically appear in the catalog on the day of release. Sony does not have such an offer yet, although there are rumors of an analogue. nine0003
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PlayStation and Xbox. Comparison of services.
Introduction
The new generation of consoles is almost out, which means the new season of blue vs green holivars is officially open. For those who are buying a console for the first time and have not yet decided on a platform or who are just interested, I will try to compare as objectively as possible what Sony and Microsoft offer in order to attract new players to their ranks (or persuade old ones to «betray»). However, here I will not compare who has a longer console or whose teraflops are more beautiful. No, I will only go through the subscription services of both platforms. nine0003
I’ll clarify right away that I live in a country where PS Now is available and am, at the moment, an active subscriber of both competitor platforms. All prices will be in Euros, but dollar amounts should be equivalent. The cost of subscriptions and the number of games in them are current at the time of writing (11/12/2020).
I apologize in advance for possible mistakes, I have not written in Russian for a long time and there are no Russian letters on my keyboard.
Assortment
First, let’s take a quick look at what each company sells. Sony is pretty simple, offering two subscriptions at the same price:
-
PlayStation Plus — 9€/Month, 25€/Quarter (3 Months), 60€/Year
-
PlayStation Now — 9€/Month, 25€/Quarter (3 Months), 60€/Year
The Xbox is a little more complicated. They have the following:
-
Xbox Live Gold — 9€/Month, 20€/Quarter (3 Months), 40€/ 6 Months, 60€/Year
-
Xbox Game Pass for PC — 10 €/Month
-
Xbox Game Pass for Console — 10€/Month
-
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate — 13€/Month
It’s also worth pointing out that both Sony subscriptions and the Xbox Live Gold subscription can be purchased in retail stores or on third-party sites in the form of a key for all periods and often with small discount.
Game Pass subscriptions, at least in our country, in the form of a key can only be bought for 1 or 3 Months and the official price for 3 Months does not become more profitable as for other subscriptions, the same 30€ for a regular and 39€ for the Ultimate version.
Now let’s go through all the services in more detail.
PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold are two direct competitors, they can be compared head-on. In general, both subscriptions are almost the same and it doesn’t matter which side you are on, if you want to play Battle or Cold with friends online, you will have to issue either PS Plus for curling or Xbox Live Gold for boxing «. Hardened PC players simply spit on such approaches from a high bell tower, but for «console players» these are harsh realities. If you want piu-piu with friends — pay! However, these subscriptions provide more than just online access. The most delicious is a freebie every month. A freebie, of course, in this case is not quite a freebie, because you still pay for the service, but nonetheless.
Every month, each subscription gives away several games. The word is given in quotation marks, because with a condition. You can play these games at any time of the day or night, but only if your subscription is active (paid)! nine0003
What about games… Xbox Live Gold gives you 4 games every month: 2 current-gen games (Xbox One S|X so far), 1 Xbox 360 game, and 1 original Xbox game. How things will be with the new generation is not yet known, but most likely they will either add a Series X | S generation game to the distribution, or replace it with one of the current ones. Since boxing is great with backwards compatibility, you can play all these games on the new consoles without any problems.
Now PlayStation. From March 2019, PS Plus is only giving away 2 games for the current generation (PS4 so far). Previously, you could also get 4 games: 2 for PS4, 1 for PS3 and one for PS Vita. However, the PS3 and Vita are no longer relevant and Sony has stopped distributing games for them.
And then an uninformed reader will think: “Oh, well, it’s clear that boxing has 4 games a month, Sonya has only 2. The choice is obvious!”. But here the question of quantity versus quality arises. It’s pretty rare for Xbox to give away popular blockbusters, AAA, commendably amazing games for the current generation. Often these are indie or commendable titles, or blockbusters from past generations. Perhaps on the new generation and with the new policy this will change, but for now it is, that is. nine0003
Sony has had at least one AAA-level game almost every month for the last 2 years or so. Not always «raisins» of course, but commendably for sure. Also, Sony recently introduced the so-called PS Plus Collection specifically for the release of new consoles. PS Plus Collection is a collection of 20 amazingly commendable games (with the exception of the «pass-through» Days Gone according to StopGame). This collection will be available to all PS5 owners who subscribe to PS Plus.
It is not yet known how long this collection will be available. Whether it will be updated or available for PS4 users is also not clear. But, at least for beginners, this is a very good offer. nine0003
Also worth mentioning is that PS Plus has access to 100GB of cloud saves. On the Xbox, the size is not indicated, in theory for any games without restrictions, and it is available without a subscription at any time.
Xbox Game Pass and PS Now
It’s not entirely correct to compare head-to-head here, since the services are quite different. At the time of launch, each service provided access to games in completely different ways. Many users, and the authors of StopGame themselves, talk about Xbox Game Pass as a Netflix from the world of games. This is not entirely correct from the only thing they have in common is that you need to pay for them every month. Under this definition, PS Now is more suitable, although it is not as ubiquitous as Netflix. nine0003
I think everyone (well, almost everyone) already knows that Netflix is a service that allows you to stream movies and series on almost any device, as well as download some of them and watch offline through an application that can only be played on an electric iron didn’t bring.
Xbox Game Pass
What is Game Pass?.. It’s a monthly subscription to a fairly large library of games. Games range from the very first Xbox to the latest Xbox One S|X (later also Series S|X). nine0003
The library is constantly being updated, some games are leaving, and others are coming in their place. At a minimum, all games published by Xbox Game Studios are always in the library. One of the key features of Game Pass is that all games from internal studios (even big ones like Gears, Halo or Forza) are available on the day of release, at no additional cost. Also, as a bonus, subscribers receive discounts in the store for games, DLC, and more.
To explain the rest of the benefits of Game Pass, you need to be reminded that the subscription comes in 3 options: for PC , for Console and Ultimate . This is important because full access to the library, built-in Xbox Live Gold subscription and EA Play (more on that in a moment) are only available in the Ultimate version.
To date, the Game Pass library has a total of 494 ( 482 in the Russian version of the site). games. Enough for every taste. There are a lot of popular and just good games. The full list can be found here. Of these, 349 ( 340 in the Russian version) are available on the console and 226 ( 222 in Russian version) on PC. If you signed up for a PC or Console subscription, you’ll also need to subscribe to Xbox Live Gold if you want to do shooting, running errands, or racing with friends.
Also, if you take the console version, you won’t get all 349 games. No. After all, there is no EA Play in the subscription for the Console.
EA Play
This is an independent service from Electronic Arts, which also provides access to their games for a subscription fee, except for new releases. And apparently after some kind of “collaboration” between EA and Microsoft, EA Play became available on Xbox, but exclusively for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers and only for consoles (available on PC since December).
By the way, EA Play is also available on PlayStation, but for an additional fee of 4€/Month. nine0003
So if you paid for Game Pass only for the console, you will have 84 fewer games available (that’s how many games EA Play is adding at the moment).
Now let me tell you why I think Game Pass is not really Netflix (at the moment). You see, all the games in the Game Pass library cannot be streamed, only downloaded and installed. Only at the end of September this year, Microsoft added the so-called xCloud(Beta) service, again, exclusively for Xbox Game Ultimate subscribers and also not in all countries. On the Russian-language version of the site, it is not listed in the list, so I will assume that it is not available. nine0003
on the left on the official Russian version of the site, on the right on the German (Austrian)
XCloud
XCloud is now in beta versions and already allows you to stream 195 Games from the main library of Game PASS only on smartphones and only on smartphones Android tablets (not yet available on iOS due to special Apple policy). Microsoft plans to add the ability to stream to PC in 2021.
Many xCloud games require an Xbox controller, but some games support screen input. I personally tested a couple of games, I can say that the picture quality is not bad, and the input lag is almost imperceptible. Despite the fact that the Internet speed was approximately 15Mbps / 10Mbps (Down / Up). nine0003
Doom Eternal via Xbox Game Pass app for Android
I tried Dead Cells and Doom Eternal . Both games have control issues when playing with a controller. For example, the right bumper (RB) for some reason calls up the menu and all functions tied to this button in games become unavailable. In Doom, the right stick didn’t work and the camera in the game turns into Doom 1993. The right trigger (RT) seemed to be constantly stuck and Doom-guy «snacked» non-stop. nine0003
And the on-screen controls in Dead Cells seemed very inconvenient to me, the buttons on the right side are rather small and scattered, and if you call up the menu screen, the buttons override it.
Buttons on the right side are rather small and stuck
Even more buttons on the screen
In short, it is clear that the service is in beta test. Nevertheless, playing Doom on a 6-inch screen while sitting anywhere, even on the push, is at least fun (hello from the Switch). nine0003
Bottom line, even with Game Pass Ultimate, if you want to play all the games in your library, you need both a console and a PC. I have already written “currently” or “today” in many places, because the Xbox Game Pass service is constantly evolving and improving. They clearly want to move away from being tied to a specific hardware so that users can play anything, anywhere.
If anyone is confused, here is a brief comparison of the three subscription options where and what is available * :
nine0002 * — with the caveat that xCloud is not available in all countries
PlayStation Now
Now Sony.
Fortunately, there is only one subscription option. And the main disadvantage is that it is available in a limited number of countries.
Currently only are officially supported 19 countries : Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Canada, USA and Japan . Moreover, half of the European countries from this list were added only in 2019.year. And it’s really a pity that so few countries can try out PS Now, because the service is very competitive. Of course, you can trick a VPN, but how well or badly streaming works through it — no idea.
Initially, the service was created only for streaming, boasted a modest library of games and was available in only a few countries. And despite this, for the 3rd quarter of 2018, PS Now had more than half of all the profits among similar services. nine0003
( source: SuperData Reseacrh)
I didn’t find more up-to-date statistics, but I’m sure that Xbox is probably already ahead of Sony in this regard.
So far, Sony is taking a slightly different path, but perhaps just the same strong competition from the Mikes will force them to at least expand the geography of the service.
But what do you get right now for 9€ a Month, 25€ for three or 60€ for a Year, if you still managed to connect to PS Now? Library of over 90,133,700 games (or rather 739). Full list, but only in text form. Of these, 17 games are for PS2, 349 games are for PS4, and the rest are for PS3. The number of games is not constant. Just like with Game Pass, some games come and some go. Of the important, it is worth noting right away that Sony exclusives on the release of here never appeared and most likely will not. Days Gone, for example, has just been added and also for a limited time.
But right here, just like with Netflix, you can stream absolutely all games. True, not on all platforms. Currently only available on PS4/PS5 and PC via the client. nine0003
Also on PS4 and now PS5, 364 games from the entire library are available for download.
These are all PS4 games and almost all PS2 games. PS3 games can only be streamed. And frankly, if they could also be downloaded and played backwards, I wouldn’t touch Xbox Game Pass. Maybe only in the month of release of Halo or Gears games (also Ori, both parts are awesome).
It is very important to note that the maximum stream quality is only 720p, which is somehow rather weak in 2020. Yes, and the Internet speed for a stable stream needs 25-30 Mbps, which is significantly higher than the official recommended 5 Mbps. By the way, xCloud also streams in 720p, but it works more stably at a lower speed. nine0003
Both PS Plus for Pew with Friends and EA Play for Pew with Friends in Battlefield are not included with PS Now and must be purchased separately.
And by and large, that’s it. PS Now just has a big pile of games, all of which are streamable and half of which are downloadable.
Conclusion
I do not believe that some services, in their current form, are unambiguously better or worse than others.
