Playstation Plus

[teddymeow]

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[monel]

Can I be the first to say I'm disappointed at the code name? Something like Operation Dumbo Drop, Operation Wolfie, Project rentagame, maybe?

[fishbowlhead]

Operation piss on their parade?

[monel]

Hey, not being negative. Just energising some ideation for brand synergy.

[Neon Ignition]

If they were going to do anything then this makes the most sense. From a PR perspective it will be enough to negate Game Pass but an equivalent service it's not. If they expand the offerings though it at least narrows it to a first party appeal vs first party appeal which they've had under control all four gens of rivalry

[teddymeow]

an equivalent service it's not.

Don't you start!!

[Neon Ignition]

I mean, at least I'm giving MS the higher ground on this one

Merging the subs is such an obvs move but ultimately it's literally the same thing that's available to gamers right now. Unless this replaces a solo PS+ sub for a more expensive merged one (in which case I'd be livid) then there's almost no news here unless Sony adds to the offerings in some way. Day One is clearly off the table for the obvious reasons that it bleeds money for it but given smaller games and devs have done well from it and MS has expanded its reach via cloud hopefully Sony has picked up something from that. I expect not though and instead we'll get an email saying New PS+ now with hundreds of free* games!

[Cassius_Smoke]

My prediction is:

A tiered approach that increases in cost per tier but gives more stuff.
Access to all the PSnow titles at the top tier, but downloadable rather than streamed.
An update to the ps5 firmware to emulate Ps1, ps2 & PS4 games natively. (already does PS4)
Maybe ps3 emulation if they can crack emulating the crazy Cell Processor. (This will probably come later as an E3 style 'mic drop').

[nonny]

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I mean at this stage they kind of have to do something. I know there was talk of them offering content from Sony movies and music as well...

[hudson]

If it doesn't have day one exclusives like Game Pass it may as well get in the bin.

[fishbowlhead]

Yep definitely, Sony are teh doomed if they don’t. Hang on ill just check the sales numbers, yep their waaaaaaaaaay behind, wait a minute more is worse right on sales numbers?

[nonny]

Yep definitely, Sony are teh doomed if they don’t. Hang on ill just check the sales numbers, yep their waaaaaaaaaay behind, wait a minute more is worse right on sales numbers?

They're not doomed, but they do need to compete in services, not just console sales. It just isn't that simple.

Funny enough there's this comment as well:

https://seasonedgaming.com/2020/02/14/sony-ceo-yoshida-says-playstation-platform-should-be-judged-by-user-count-not-hardware-units-sold/

They're selling PS5 like hotcakes for sure. But they also realise that if MS is building a subscription service accessible from multiple hardware platforms outside of consoles they can't just ignore that and stay the direct course.

So yes, they have to do something. PS Now is looking pretty 2nd rate these days so a makeover and richer content will be great for consumers.

In the last financial figures you can see PSN numbers pretty much plateau for the last 6 months. So all this just lines up really.

[hudson]

If they did go ahead and drop like new god of war day one on (I'm gonna call it..) PSPass, then that would be massive, right? Can you see them doing that? Fingers crossed.

[Cassius_Smoke]

MS are entering this generation with the previous 3 generations sales landing in last place.
GP is their USP and their biggest driver for sales, so putting Halo and Forza day one makes commercial sense. I don't know how MS juggle the cash involved, and I can't be arsed to get my head round it, but it's got to be cutting in to speculative profit had they just sold them full price.
What I do know is Horizon Zero dawn and spiderman each sold 8 to 10 million copies raking in hundreds of millions of dollars. Sony sure as **** aren't going to compromise that kind of income by giving the next ones away for 'free'.
BUT, if Sony can make a subscription service that competes, not even toe to toe, just on a similar footing, it's going to impact the only thing MS have over Sony right now.

[monel]

Sony have money but so do MS, although Mr Gates may lose half. Couldn't Sony buy lots of Xboxes or Xboxii, and destroy them? Or pay someone to make really bad games for the Xbox? If they need any more ideas, out of the 'box', please make an account here and pm me.