PlayStation Plus vs Xbox Game Pass – How the two gaming subscription services compare – Times of India

Now that Sony’s revamped subscription service for PlayStation has finally made it to users, it’s time to answer a few much-asked questions; It is time to answer the much-asked question; PlayStation Plus or Xbox Game Pass? Which one is better? It is not very easy for Sony as Microsoft has left no stone unturned to make Game Pass one of the best subscription services for games out there, and being one of the users, it is good, if not the best.
The PS Plus is not very different from what Xbox has to offer. Both have three tiers and offers free games, exclusive discount and whatnot. So we will be comparing the tiers – Sony has PS Plus Essential, PS Plus Extra, and PS Plus Deluxe whereas Xbox has Live Gold, Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate.
Sony PlayStation Plus Essential vs Xbox Live Gold – Benefits, price and more
The cheapest tier of Sony’s new subscription service takes on the Xbox’s much older Live Gold. What is common between them? Well, you need to be subscribed to either of them to play online multiplayer on your respective consoles.
Both PlayStation Plus Essential and Xbox Live Gold offer free games, but Xbox only gives the older titles compatible with Xbox One and Xbox 360, while Sony also offers new titles even compatible with PS5. Even the discount is the same – around 10 per cent – during sales.
Also, Sony is a little stringent with cloud storage. The plan really doesn’t matter with PS Plus when it comes to cloud storage. Sony offers 100GB of free cloud storage for game data on PS4 and PS5. Meanwhile, Microsoft is pretty flexible with it and gives unlimited storage, which expands as your saved data increases.
However, the PS Plus Essential does have the edge over Xbox Live Gold – you get free exclusive content on games – which is available on Xbox Game Pass. Also, you get access to the PS Plus Collection- a library of more than PS 4400 games – for free but only available for PS5.
The pricing for the Essential tier costs the same as the PlayStation Plus before Sony reintroduced the new tires. So, the PS Plus Essential comes at Rs 499 a month, Rs 1,199 a quarter or Rs 2,999 a year. Meanwhile, Xbox Live Gold costs Rs 349 per month, Rs 749 per quarter and Rs 1,999 yearly. Yes, PlayStation Plus Essential is costlier than Xbox Live Gold, but it justifies its cost with a catalogue of free games on PS5 and exclusive content.
Sony PlayStation Plus Extra vs Xbox Game Pass – Benefits, price and more
The PS Plus Extra offers the same benefits as the Essential and access to Game Catalog. As per the pricing, Sony’s mid-tier plan is pitted against the Game Pass. But is it as worthy as Game Pass? Not exactly, if you count the number of titles offered with the Game Catalog compared to the Game Pass.
With Game Pass, Xbox offers around 400 titles for free for Xbox One, Xbox 360, and the newer Xbox X/ S. Meanwhile, PlayStation’s Game Catalog only has somewhere around 300 games.
Also, PS Plus does not have a first-day release benefit like the Game Pass, at least with in-house titles but third-party developers have an option to release the game first for PS Plus subscribers before releasing it for everyone.
The PlayStation Plus Extra comes at Rs 749 per month, Rs 1,999 quarterly and Rs 4,999 for a year. Meanwhile, Game Pass costs Rs 349 a month, Rs 1,049 for three months, and the six-month plan costs Rs 2,099.
Microsoft does not offer a yearly subscription, but even if you buy the six-month plan twice, you will save a handful of money. And other plans are also substantially cheaper than PS Plus Extra. So, Game Pass offers more value for your money than PlayStation Plus Extra.
PlayStation Plus Deluxe vs Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – Benefits, price and more
PS Plus Deluxe and Game Pass Ultimate are the top tiers of both subscription services, and they stack well enough against each other. Both offer a wide range of free titles and support cloud gaming and online multiplayer. But which one is better and offers the most benefits?
Both Sony and Microsoft have their cloud gaming services, and you need a subscription to their top-tier plan to access it, which levels it for both. But, Xbox Cloud Gaming is available on mobile, while the PlayStation Now games can only be played on PlayStation 5 and PC. And you get more titles on Xbox Cloud Gaming, including popular ones like Fortnite. But the, cloud gaming is not available in India, so it does not make any difference to us.
Coming to the titles offered, PS Plus Deluxe offers a catalogue of retro games from the days of older PlayStation consoles, and it has around 300 games, in addition to the other 300 games in the Game Catalog. And it puts it in line with what Game Pass has to offer. But, you get a free subscription to EA Plus, which offers many free games and trials from the house of EA. Also, Game Pass entitles you to a 10-hour trial, while the PlayStation Plus trials are limited to 2-3 hours at maximum. And how can you forget the day-one release, which allows free access to the games to those subscribed to the Game Pass from the first day itself?
The biggest benefit is that Game Pass Ultimate lets you play games on PC, too, for free, and there are many titles available for PC.
The PS Plus Deluxe comes at Rs 849 per month, Rs 2,299 for three months and Rs 5,799 yearly. Meanwhile, the Game Pass Ultimate costs Rs 499 for a month, Rs 2,999 for six months, Rs 5,999 yearly and Rs 11,999 for two years.
The pricing is very close, but the benefits such as a free subscription to EA Play, one-day releases, and PC games make Game Pass Ultimate a much better deal compared to the PS Plus Deluxe.