These FTC v. Microsoft documents -they’re the gifts that just keep on giving, right? In a recent statement dug up in said documents from Jim Ryan, it was revealed that the PlayStation President and CEO believes – or at least believed – that PlayStation Plus is a better gaming subscription service than Xbox’s Game Pass.
Once upon a time (as the documents make clear), Jim Ryan spoke quite damningly on the topic, throwing shade at Microsoft over the green team’s popular subscription service and making a bold claim that – at the time – PlayStation Plus boasted double the subscribers that Xbox Game Pass did.
But there’s a reason for that.
Is PS Plus Better Than Game Pass?
For many, it’s a subjective argument – but for those that back their respective platform, it’s a non-starter. Let’s not get into that portion of the debate, but instead, let’s take a look at what Jim Ryan said in these leaked FTC v. Microsoft documents:
I talked to all the publishers, and they unanimously do not like Game Pass because it is value destructive, not only on an individual title-basis, but also or an industry level. The recent number of subscribers that Microsoft announced on January was 25 Million. I am sure everyone has their own views on this, but I personally was expecting a larger number given all the money they have spent. We have close to 50 Million PlayStation Plus subscribers. We believe we have a meaningful subscription service.
So, Ryan spoke to ‘all the publishers’ in the gaming world and received unanimous feedback – Game Pass is awful. Back in January 2022, it was confirmed by Phil Spencer that Game Pass had surpassed 25 million users, and Jim Ryan responded by stating PlayStation Plus had 50 million subscribers.
Well, yes.
That’s because – for many years – PlayStation Plus was Sony’s Xbox Live. It was a required subscription to play online, so of course tens of millions of users boasted a membership. On the other hand, Game Pass was – at the time – a totally optional subscription service that rewarded players with a curated library of games. So, PlayStation Now.
What would it have looked like if Jim Ryan had compared PlayStation Plus to Xbox Live Gold back then?
This is an extension of a story that surfaced back in June during the FTC v. Microsoft trial
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out what Phil Spencer said about Xbox’s Asian market growth
Of course it’s better than GamePass, i unsubscribed from GamePass after being subscribed for a year. It’s a rubbish service that lives on filler indie titles, i’m not subscribed to PS+ either, but the lineup is much better. There’s also a correction i want to make, GamePass is not popular as the article indicates. Phil Spencer himself said that GamePass hasn’t grown in 9 months, and that Xbox employees don’t like GP.
I’m sorry but that statement is just factually incorrect. The proof is in the pudding Microsoft Studio game comes out on Game Pass and a lot of other day one releases on top of that. The same can’t be said for PlayStation. Reternal is on there and the Horizon games as well but that’s just not enough and they aren’t on there soon enough. It is good I do like the service but it does not compare to the Xbox game pass from a consumer standpoint
It’s not even close to game pass. I have both. With Game Pass I can stream games on my phone with PS5 Remote Play I have to have my PlayStation turned on and be in the same general area and it doesn’t even work half of time. The game’s on the PlayStation game pass are much older games that you don’t really want to play that much while game pass on Xbox always has the latest greatest games. Thanks to Xbox game pass I hardly need to buy any games anymore except for Call of Duty and basketball but with PlayStation the best games take a while before they come on there. I don’t know how old Gran Turismo will be before it’s on there but they do have a couple nice games just not nearly as many as Xbox game pass and the prices going up a lot soon
They both suck.
This guy is a massive liar Sony needs to fire him after all the problems he’s caused. The political stuff, the comments on ABK, all these comments he keeps making
Of course he has to say that, he’d be stupid to admit the truth
LMFAO HELL NO! Gamepass is leagues better than PS Plus. Harming devs? It’s the opposite as MS is helping them, paying them. Iffy on a game, it’s on GP then I’ll try it and if I like it I’ll support them by paying for the game. Anyone that thinks PS Plus lineup is better is lying like mofo xD
Don’t need to be a fanboy (Lame) for any platform to see which is better, Im primarily on PS although soon I’ll move to PC so no more paying for dumb subs for me, I’ll still keep my PS5 for whatever exclusives they may have, but I also have Gamepass on my iPad and it’s great.
There are always these self-righteous individuals who don’t understand the need for continuous improvement. Returning to reality, they will ultimately decline.