Xbox Game Pass may get Microsoft exclusives day one but don’t expect the same to happen for PlayStation any time soon as Sony has said its current PS Plus strategy is working.
Speaking to GI.biz, Sony’s vice president and global head of subscriptions Nick Maguire indicated Sony won’t copy the Game Pass approach to exclusives, despite the rise of $70 games and revealing PlayStation is testing PS5 streaming.
Sony instead opts not to release its first-party games on PS Plus on launch, with the likes of Horizon: Forbidden West coming a year after.
“Letting those [first-party] games go out to the platform outside the service first, that’s working and that will continue to be our strategy moving forward.”
“We’re happy with our strategy. Putting games in a bit later in the life cycle has meant that we can reach more customers 12, 18, 24 months after they have released,” Maguire said.
“We’re seeing customers still get excited about those games and jumping in. For us, that’s working. Occasionally, there will be an opportunity to invest in a day-and-date like Stray and we will jump on those when they come in.
“But for us, letting those [first-party] games go out to the platform outside the service first, that’s working and that will continue to be our strategy moving forward.”
As Maguire mentioned, Sony did release the Cyberpunk cat game Stray on PlayStation at launch. But these games are a far cry from what Xbox Games Pass gets on day one, such as exclusives like Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, and the upcoming Starfield.
The decision not to add its games to PS Plus day one also comes at a time of growing concern around the affordability of video games, with some developers going to great lengths to keep their titles at $60. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom recently became the first Nintendo game to hit the $70 mark, though the company insists this isn’t the new normal.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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