Sony and Microsoft are going toe-to-toe with their subscription services, and fans are wondering if Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PS Plus Premium offers a better value. Comparing the two services isn’t easy as they both have their perks and drawbacks. There are a lot of variables in play, but we’ve done our best to determine a winner in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate vs. PS Plus Premium below.
Note that PS Plus Premium hasn’t officially launched yet, so this is a preliminary comparison of the two. We’ll revisit this article once Sony launches its new offerings.
Xbox Game Pass vs. PS Plus Premium: Games Library
The main draw of Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus Premium is that subscribers get access to a vast library of games that they can access and play at will. However, they offer entirely different catalogs for the most part:
Xbox Game Pass
With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can immediately access and download over 100 games on Xbox or PC. Many of these also include Xbox Play Anywhere functionality that lets you start a game on one platform and pick it up where you left off on another. It also includes Xbox Live Gold, which gives players two Xbox One games and one Xbox 360 game to keep each month. You also get access to EA Play which has an additional library of games you can choose from.
PS Plus Premium
Sony claims that PS Plus Premium will have around 400 PS4 and PS5 games and 340 PS1, PS2, PSP, and PS3 games available to play at launch. Unfortunately, the PS3 games have to be cloud streamed. However, titles from other platforms can be downloaded and played from the console. PS5 owners also get access to the PS Plus Collection, which contains a number of critically-acclaimed last-gen games. Additionally, PS Plus gives players three games each month to keep as long as they subscribe.
Winner: Tentatively, PS Plus
When it comes to raw numbers, you’ll get more games with PS Plus Premium. However, it remains to be seen whether they’ll outweigh Xbox Game Pass in quality.
Xbox Game Pass vs. PS Plus Premium: Cloud Gaming
Both Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus Premium include the ability to stream games to multiple devices via the cloud.
Xbox Game Pass
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gives players access to Xbox Cloud Gaming. You can stream most titles from Game Pass to PC, mobile, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S consoles. It’s one of the better cloud gaming experiences available and gives notably better performance when playing on Xbox One than having the game natively installed.
PS Plus Premium
Since PS Plus Premium is swallowing up PS Now, all the cloud streaming features from that service will be available. However, I always found the latency when playing PS Now games to be very noticeable, so we’ll have to see if Sony upgrades that when PS Plus Premium goes live. You can cloud stream on PS4, PS5, and PC, but there’s no mobile option.
Winner: Xbox Game Pass
Sony’s lack of mobile options means Xbox Game Pass is the more versatile service.
Xbox Game Pass vs. PS Plus Premium: Day One Exclusives
The Xbox Series X and PS5 are very similar consoles, and its exclusives (and brand loyalty) that drives sales these days. Unfortunately, Sony and Microsoft have very different philosophies regarding offering exclusive games on their subscription services on day one.
Xbox Game Pass
Microsoft intends to release every first-party Xbox exclusive on Xbox Game Pass the same day as retail. That means some of the biggest games of the year, like Starfield, will be available for no additional cost. Quite a few third-party games also launch on Game Pass on day one as well, which adds up to quite a bit of savings.
PS Plus Premium
On the other hand, Sony has no intention of adding its first-party exclusives to PS Plus Premium on day one. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan stated:
“In terms of putting our own games into this service, or any of our services, upon their release… as you well know, this is not a road that we’ve gone down in the past. And it’s not a road that we’re going to go down with this new service. We feel if we were to do that with the games that we make at PlayStation Studios, that virtuous cycle will be broken. The level of investment that we need to make in our studios would not be possible, and we think the knock-on effect on the quality of the games that we make would not be something that gamers want.”
Sony hasn’t commented on how long PS Plus Premium subscribers will have to wait for new games to hit the service, but we wouldn’t bet on it being soon.
Winner: Xbox Game Pass
It’s a no-brainer to give this one to Microsoft. Getting first-party exclusives (and some third-party titles) on day one is a tremendous value. As new games move into the $70 range, a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate pays for itself if you only play 3 first-party games on launch a year.
Xbox Game Pass vs. PS Plus Premium: Best Overall Value
To determine which of these services is the best value, let’s total what a year of each would cost:
- Xbox Game Pass: $14.99 x 12 = $179.88
- PS Plus Premium: $17.99 x 12 = $215.88
Despite having more games to choose from, the increased price and the lack of first-party day one release makes PS Plus Premium a worse value than Xbox Game Pass, at least on paper. We’ll take another look at it once it launches in June.
Overall Winner: Xbox Game Pass
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