Rumour: Sony Deal Will Bar Resident Evil Village From Xbox Game Pass

Sony now doing deals to prevent games being put on Game Pass but not put it on PS Now? I know it’s a rumour for now but if it’s true, how pathetic of Sony. No worries thought as I’ll just rent it for Series X instead ☺️

I'm more pissed with the fact that I have yet to own ff7 remake on my pc because of sony. As for RE8, I've already preordered it on steam.

Ultimately it will be all about who’s got the bigger wallet. Imagine what insane kind of money Phil Spencer will be paying for Battlefield 6 hitting gamepass Day 1!

If Sony is actually paying to prevent a title from entering Game Pass, but not adding it to PS Now, i think that might get into some very sketchy territory. That's the kind of stuff that never benefits consumers, and therefore, tends to get seriously looked at under anti-competitive laws.

I can sort of understand the Game Pass part.
They are paying to market a 3rs party game and don't want to being seen available at better value on a rival system.
The part that really boils my blood is the clause for 'technical parity'. So don't expect the Series X version to actually make use of the extra horsepower.

Let's face it they'll both be as bad as each other its just rare we see any documentation but do we believe Outriders or other day 1 Gamepass games haven't got something similar about PS Plus? The technical parity thing I suspect is more about modes available such as RT, 4K etc as I don't see how they limit PC.

Twitter is going mad even though you can still buy the game on Xbox (apparently that's a problem now), surely FFVII remake and the upcoming Final Fantasy should be of far more concern. Not to mention there was no guarantee this game would have been on Gamepass within a year anyway, with or without this

If this is true it's Sony all over... spiteful company...instead of just focusing on improving themselves always trying to do deals to keep multiplat games away from others for just a while lmao....why not use that money to improve your own game line up for the long run..

I find in laughable tbh pissing money away on things like exclusive Spiderman dlc for avengers or potentially preventing a game from coming to gamepass for a while haha

Not that I'm bothered as up just rent the game on the Xbox anyway lol

@blinx01 that bit would be very wrong but does it actually mean that, how are they going to limit PC performance? It does say subject to platform limitations, my guess it just means the modes available

@carlos82
I imagine what it means is they don't want the same modes on PS5 underperforming compared to the Series X version.

@vulcanraven01 perhaps but is probably more so that Series X doesn't have an option that the PS5 doesn't have. Judging by the demo it's likely going to be locked 4K60fps on both anyway and few games have had any significant differences between the platforms so far. It'll certainly be interesting to see when it launches but I don't believe the Series X version is really being limited in any significant way

Just proves as much as they say they aren't they are worried about gamepass. As much as I like sonys exclusivrs I'm not pay £70 they want for some gamrs

@StylesT Honestly after purchase of Bethesda and with Microsoft releasing a console that is better in almost every way in terms of design, Sony is in a bit of a "do whatever it takes" mode to defend their market territory. Now the move seems sketchy for sure, but they are just trying to do whatever it takes.

Who said that this game would of even been put on Game Pass?

So, basically, Sony is closing studios and spending money on third-party timed exclusivity: Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy XVI, Deathloop and Ghost Wire Tokyo (that backfired), Resident Evil VIII (if the rumour is true)... It's kind of sad. Third-party exclusivity is the worst strategy (whoever does it) in this business and in this case it's at the expense of closing first-party studios.

@Snake_V5
It was rumoured Xbox was after a big new release for May for Game Pass. This seemed to be the one everyone was hoping for.
The only other big games left in May are Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and Biomutant, so will probably be Biomutant.

Seriously Sony is so pathetic, they honestly so anti-consumer. They increased the price of the games, closer first party studios and started to invest in 3rd party games to make them "Timed-Exclusive". I get that Sony first party Exclusives are amazing but if you compare game Pass to what Sony offers there is no competition. If this rumor is true then this is nothing but another pathetic attempt to stop game Pass popularity which let's face it since the Aquisition and the multiple wins this months has been through the roof.

Sony should have just paid a little extra and gotten it for PS+ and PS VR. Of course, I'm glad this is coming to Xbone and Steam.

@Vincent294 Sony know that if gamers have the choice, between paying full price on xbox or full price on PS, they will choose PS 60-80% of the time.

But if the game is available to GP or even PSN+, that all the money they stand to make off of launch sales will be greatly deminished.

It's the only reason the whole idea of Sony paying to keep RE8 off of GP but not Xbox, sounds plausible to me.

This doesn't matter to me as i pre-ordered this months ago for Xbox 1. Cant wait for may. Someone remind me again what good exclusives sony has for Ps5

I own every RE game and I wanted to own RE Village in my account as well. So I do not care if it was going to be XGP Day One or not. But it is so pathetic of Sony to do sth like this. I mean, they did not even add this game to PS Now, they just did not want it to go to Game Pass. Sony has always kept the industry back and this is just a new example. Even though I had a PS4 last gen, with things like this, I never want to get a PS5 and be part of their ecosystem!

@Senua i actually don't think it's as big an amount as you think. BF6 will want/need gamepass as much if not more than Xbox will want it there. Plus they can also cut a deal where EA just gets a higher cut of the microtransactions. Lots of talk around the podcast community that there is a waiting list for developers to get their games into gamepass so xbox isn't hurting for content. Also it's not an exclusivity deal so it's also going to be much cheaper in that sense. I think that the Brink's truck's are as busy as some people imagine.

I remember one of Sony’s devs saying that Sony would have an answer to Gamepass soon. At the time, I assumed they would overhaul PS Now to make it more like gamepass. Now I wonder if this was the answer all along.

It's very standard stuff, really not worth the amount of anger being afforded to it. Was RE Village really going to come to GP in the near future anyway? REMake 2 and 3 still haven't. And it's not surprising, if they have a marketing deal with them, that Sony would be concerned how it might look if they are marketing a title that is available on a competitor's subscription service (just look at the ***** show they had with MLB)

Sony are doing so many stupid things right now and there is plenty to get pissed off with them about, but this really doesn't seem like one of them

Just buy the game. MS got all of you by the balls, ready for streaming only gaming in the future. Pathetic.

@Alan_Payne Yet. Sony giving free games and great ps plus games that don't get removed from the service.

I don't get the mentality that buying games is a bad thing now.

@LiterallyDoNotCare I do think that Xbox players need to be buying games still. I see so many comments about waiting for a game to come to Gamepass. Imagine the damage that has done to the sales of games on Xbox.

Instead of being Playstation VS Xbox (With Gamepass)

It’s become Playstation VS Gamepass.

It’s quite hard explaining to people (on either side) that you can still purchase Xbox games. But I can see the effect even in my own friends, who now play almost exclusively on whatever is on Gamepass.

I hope that Sony does shift the focus to increase its own 1st party output as Xbox will need competition, as history has show us each Corp. takes its turn at ***** the bed. Spending their more limited resources on preventing games going to other platforms, and if true limiting their performance, isn't beneficial to anyone. Xbox has 35 teams making games plus all the deals to get games day n date into gamepass vs going exclusive. Eventually Sony's methods will backfire as developers will opt out of these deals and they will have spent all that cash for nothing tangible. Invest in MORE content, don't money hat existing content.

@K1LLEGAL Facts. As soon as everyone adopts gamepass and get used to being cheap and getting everything on gamepass, some developers will side with sony and the 100m+ ps5 consoles.

The cryout about devs deciding to be better supported and not putting games on xbox will be huge.

@Krzzystuff output without quality doesn't matter.

Future arguments: I get xbox exclusives day 1 on gamepass and you don't get sony exclusives day 1 on ps now. Can't wait for the foolery to happen.

@SegataSanshiro No. I just disagree with the mentality.

@LiterallyDoNotCare Isn't it foolish to adopt the mentality of a producer instead of a consumer? Unless you work for Sony or are a stakeholder, what's the point in thinking like them? It doesn't benefit you, you're a consumer, which means that you want whatever is best for you. In this case it's cheap alternatives. If you want to buy games, you can. If you want to pay for a subscription service, you can. The fact that you're against an offering which lets you play hundreds of games for a low monthly price compared to buying each of those hundreds of games individually for a much higher price in total is absurd to me because you're a consumer. Once again, you want whatever is best for you, i.e. pay as little as you can and experience as many games as you can. Do you not buy games during sales either? Do you buy all your games at full price? In that case you're literally the most irrational consumer I've ever met and if that's not the case then you're contradicting yourself in terms of supporting developers.

@blinx01 "The part that really boils my blood is the clause for 'technical parity'. So don't expect the Series X version to actually make use of the extra horsepower."

Yeap. I'm sure this is why we are swing both the PS5 and XSX versions with an odd 45fps on Rayttacing mode. I dare bet they are capping it on that mode to prevent Xbox extra horse power from simply spitting out 4k/60fps with RT on.

This whole deal is disgusting. One thing is paying for platform exclusives. This? This is anticompetitive garbage.

@SegataSanshiro If people are cheap, games made will be cheap. That's all. I think there's enough evidence of that with games released througout years.

Tf2 -> Apex. Drop in quality for example.

@LtSarge I'm on the side of the consumer. I want bigger games. Being cheap doesn't help. That's all. I want more quality on my games. I'm actually thinking for myself. A lot you guys celebrate mediocre games just because they are free. Idc about that. I want quality games over a higher output of meh games imho.

Wow this certainly shows how desperate Sony are if true, and pathetic and low life. Wonder what other games they will essentially ‘force’ to not be on Game Pass. No doubt Sony will be charging the full £70 for the games instead with no digital sales right? As if..
Sony reaching a new low daily now. And also forcefully limiting the power of a competitors console the game can use? Just so they can gloat how the PS5 is keeping up or is better, when it isn’t and it’ll be programmed like that. Pretty underhanded dirty games being played there if you ask me.

@LiterallyDoNotCare Facts your a Sony fanboy talking utter bull. And yes every word you type is purely your own personal opinion.

@SegataSanshiro Where are the games from them day 1 then? Ofc they aren't going to say something negative.

@S1ayeR74 No. I just don't like services and streaming only future.

It's all false btw.

@The_New_Butler When it comes to Jim Ryan and the new Sony board anything seems possible.. going by the last couple of weeks alone...

@S1ayeR74 I agree with you on that. Jim Ryan so far has been bad for PS. People say he's selling ps5 consoles like crazy, but he isn't responsible for that. The guys who made ps4 great are.

If this is true than this would be pretty pathetic by Sony, But than again it's Sony so it doesn't surprise me at all.. P.S I hope all Bethesda games are Exclusive to Xbox..

@SegataSanshiro Smaller scale AAA games or remasters. That's my point. MS working deals is fine. They should always do. If they want to pay all possible earnings for some of these AAA games and put them on gamepass, that's fine, but I know that won't be a frequent thing.

@SegataSanshiro there are some PlayStation trolls that are just better left blocked and not emgaged. The individual you are replying to is definitively one of them. Long history of just trolling, and here only to troll.

Sony is positioning itself to be the EGS of the home console space, lol. Which makes that baseball game winding up on GamePass all the funnier. You know Sony execs must have been fuming about that.

Although I'd be deeply surprised to see Village hit GamePass day one. That's a huge release.

@BlueOcean How did the Ghostwire Tokyo exclusivity deal backfire? Last I heard was that Bethesda/Microsoft are honoring it.

@Bmartin001 remember how there were leaks about Sony having an answer to GamePass? This is it. Anyone that thoght it meant better PSNow should be disappointed, it was all about paying publishers to keep games off GamePass.

@Ralizah the deal likely backfires by both games being day one on GamePass for PC, unless Sony had the foresight to start these block deals whenever they signed that platform exclusivity.

Not impossible but still doubt it. Platform exclusivity deals are usually signed up way earlier in the dev cycle.

@Tharsman

I think this is more indicative of Sony's "answer" to GamePass.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2021/04/rumour_ps_plus_expanding_with_playstation_plus_video_pass

As if TV and anime streaming were an answer to Xbox's laser focus on video games. It's like the reverse of last gen with the "SPORTS, TV, CALL OF DUTY" messaging at the Xbox One reveal.

@SegataSanshiro Don't care dude. Already classified as "fanboy" just because I have a different opinion. These people need to learn that not everyone will agree with their opinions on this site.

MS does the exact same deals to exclude sony from some games, so I don't get any of these people. Gotta keep stabbing at the better selling consoles I guess.

@Tharsman

Actually that was exactly my first reaction as well!

Sony's new approach seems sooo much like Microsoft's Xbox One in 2013. It is also an interesting "coincidence" that back then MS had Call of Duty and FIFA marketing deals, which is in Sony's hands right now.

Well, the tables have turned and now Xbox seems to be the one that is all about "video games".

@SegataSanshiro No. I don't think people are fine with other opinions (neither pushsquare), even if they are wrong. But whatever man. You brought nier replicant as an evidence so you're not understanding me at all. I meant games like re8, c2077. Huge gap there.

edit: neither nintendolife (I've seen very high thumbs up comments that has had my eyes rolled). Circlejerking communities is what these sites have.

@SegataSanshiro Keep mocking. I wish I could enjoy as many games as you do. I'll give you that. I really envy that I could enjoy more games, but I don't.

@MaccaMUFC PSNOW is old Playstation games. It doesn’t have new releases on there.

@Johnnel Sony will never copy Gamepass!! PS exclusives sell up to 10 times more copies than Xbox exclusives!! For example Halo 5 sold just over 3 million copies, Uncharted 4 sold about 20 million copies!!

I love Game Pass and why Xbox is now my main system now, along with not getting a PS5 at the moment as I'm waiting for the bigger 1st party games for that, as that all I be playing on it.

Yet even if there wasn't a deal I don't expect every game to come to Game Pass or in a timely manner, Res Evil Village is one till today I wouldn't even think about it in regard to Game Pass for a few years at least.

Outriders and MLB has spoiled us, on what we should be expecting.

@Tharsman Yes I thought that, after reading your post the individual is blocked.

The RE games I always buy day one physically either way, so this doesn't bother me in the slightest.

@Tharsman Doesn't surprise me how Sony is doing something sketchy and anti-consumer like that. If there is anything I have learned about them during the PS4 generation is how they are the most anti-consumer of the big 3 gaming companies. So much of what they do is to fuel their rabid fanbase at the expense of people who don't want to be a part of that fanboy nonsense.

@sjbsixpack The thing is Sony can't just try to bank off their past generation success going into the next generation, that is what they did entering the PS3 generation and it was a disaster for them.

@JayJ i think PS3 is the lowest selling Playstation ever. PS4 sold over 113 million machines an i really think PS5 will top that, may even beat the PS2 which is the world biggest selling video game console ever. It’s the exclusive games that sell Playstation, they really are incredible, mind blowing games! I have the Series X for Gamepass, any 3rd party games on Gamepass an that’s where i play them unless it’s a must have game that i buy on release. I was wanting Outriders an was pleased it came to Gamepass on day 1. I also want RE Village an would luv that to come yo Gamepass on day 1 too. I doubt i’ll ever buy an Xbox game. The PS pad is another reason i’d rather buy on PS if the game isn’t on Gamepass.

@sjbsixpack Well first off Sony's games are pretty much all in the cinematic 3'rd person style so that isn't something that will appeal to everyone, and second all of those games are past gen titles, we haven't seen much in the way of PS5 exclusives. Once again this sounds like Sony when they were trying to bank off the success of the PS2 entering the PS3 assuming everyone would flock to it because of their past gen titles and success.

Utterly bolocks move by Sony, maybe MS should aquire another big publisher 😁, to compensate.

So I'm about to be hated on for saying this but what's the problem with Sony doing this? Microsoft can go buy mega third party developers and keep their games exclusive but sony cant buy third party timed exclusives and exclusive content? Sony clearly dont have the money that Microsoft have, so this is the best Sony can do at the moment and the only thing they can do.

@UltimateOtaku91
It's not MS's fault that Sony can't go toe to toe with them. Paying for timed exclusive games to appear on your platform is one thing; paying for games to not appear on a competitor's platform is quite another.

Finally, paying a developer to dumb down the competitor's version is just vile. This is not moving the industry forward, but running it into the ground. This is anti-consumer in every sense of the word. If "this is the best Sony can do at the moment", after how succesful the PS4 was, then maybe they're not as good as people have made them out to be.

@gingataisen but that wasn't the full story

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2021/04/no_sony_didnt_pay_for_performance_parity_in_resident_evil_village_on_ps5_ps4

@UltimateOtaku91 there is a big difference between all the things you mentioned.

Buying a studio, owning it and taking responsibilities for its entire financials for exclusive content is, imo, all well. The buyer now is taking a big risk of gigantic losses even if things just get delayed. Studio is likely already in a position where they were struggling to stay afloat without being acquired.

Financing a whole third party game for exclusivity is a lower level of the above, the financing party is taking a big bet on the product, although not as big as plainly owning it. Product might still not even exist without their support.

Paying a third party for a timed exclusive also sucks for the consumer, but the financier is likely tossing enough money at the developer to make the product possible. Not a fan, but don't hate it either.

Paying a third party, not for exclusivity, but simply to prevent consumers from getting access to a potential deal throughout a whole year window.... now that's no longer about the competitor, that is about intentionally blocking consumers from getting a good deal.

Doubt anything will happen, but in the US, companies have faced anti-trust lawsuits for less, not because of anti-competitiveness, but because it sabotages the consumer. Apple's case over ebooks come to mind. Just doubt anyone cares enough about games to make a fuss about this.

I'm not bothered by this particular deal (i don't play RE) and i just see it as Sony covering their backs. They're co-marketing the title so will be paying $$$ for some of that marketing and want to ensure they're not paying $$$ just to have the Microsoft cut a deal that see's it go onto GamePass

Understandably, Sony will not want to be paying for advertising on TV, billboards etc etc just for the game to be essentially free on Xbox but $70 on Playstation

However, if there is a financial deal here whereby Sony have paid $$$ in order to prevent this going onto GP, then that's the part that i'd see as poor form on their part. Any $$$ that they are paying could be better spent to get the game onto their own service sooner or even day 1 which would benefit their own customer base

If i were a Playstation gamer, i'd like to think Sony are willing to drop money on getting me more things rather than spending $$$ on the competitors customers getting less

@JayJ PS5’s been out a few months, give them chance! We know we’ve got Ratchet an Klank, GT7, Horizon, God of War, Kena, Death loop coming. Returnal is out in about a week, that game looks incredible.

@Ralizah Microsoft honoured those deals and Sony, obviously, didn't expect Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax after paying for two small exclusivity deals, plus these games will be released on PC and Xbox along with all new ZeniMax games that will be exclusive to PC/Xbox.

Meh. I'll wait until it's 75% off in 90 days and buy it then anyway. And in my backlog it will sit, next to RE7.

Yawn what do you expect from sony these days🥱...

@sjbsixpack "Sony will never copy Gamepass!! PS exclusives sell up to 10 times more copies than Xbox exclusives!! For example Halo 5 sold just over 3 million copies, Uncharted 4 sold about 20 million copies!!"

That is not true. The Last of Us sold 8 million on PS3 and almost 12 on PS4 so you're comparing sales on two platforms with Halo 5 that is only available on Xbox One and sold 5 million copies and not 3.

Besides, The Last of Us II sold 4 million copies only. How many Sony exclusives have sold as many copies or more than The Last of Us I on PS4? Only two, Spider-Man and Uncharted 4. I ask because you are talking PS exclusives sell 10 times more copies that Microsoft's and that isn't correct.

@BlueOcean So the temporary exclusivity deal didn't backfire. Gotcha.

@Ralizah You don't understand what I say but it's okay. The small timed exclusivity deals met Microsoft buying the whole company and now those small deals that Sony are paying for look ridiculous and anti-consumer. Sony don't acquire studios, they close them and pay for third-party marketing and timed exclusivity. Sony are focused on those movie-like first-party hits and shady practices like this:

https://mobile.twitter.com/JezCorden/status/1384687040273469440

Just like when Jim Ryan bashed Series S and Mark Cerny manipulated the truth about PS5 technical specifications and avoided talking TFLOPS and sustained performance (the PS5 CPU and GPU are variable unlike Series X) when he presented it. PS5 is surrounded by questionable decisions.

This kind of stuff is why I can never get on board with PlayStation. Instead of offering an alternative to Game Pass or something else for the consumer that's unique, they instead pay off companies for timed (and dlc) exclusivity deals, block out innovative competitor subscription services, and hold back game quality on other platforms because their system isn't as powerful...

Who thought it was coming to gamepass?!?

The arrogance of some gamers.

Sony try to strike deals to make their platform more attractive and their only competition less attractive.

Big spoiler coming up...

And some of you are ready.....

Xbox strike the same type of deals.

I know you want to believe Sony is the big bad but this is basic stuff all businesses try and do.

Stop being loyal to one block of plastic over another it’s not a sports team.

@Stocksy You do realize that most of the RE games have come to Game Pass (including Resident Evil 7) right? Most people knew it wasn't going to launch on it, but would've likely come to it later. That isn't the biggest gripe most commenters are having on here. This isn't a matter of arrogance, it's a matter of not consumer friendly practice. Xbox offers an alternative subscription service and will buy a company outright. Sony pays off 3rd parties to block out services, reduce the quality of games, and do timed/dlc exclusivity deals.
One is innovating and growing, while the other is just fighting to prevent it.

@BlueOcean No, I understand just fine, I just don't look at the world through the filter of a hardcore Xbox fanboy.

The point of the exclusivity deal was to have the game available on PS5 for a period of time before Xbox. As far as I can tell, that's still happening, so it objectively didn't "backfire." What you consider "anti-consumer" is beside the point. Both Microsoft and Sony have extensively engaged in the practice of buying up timed exclusivity for games, and, frankly, Microsoft's practice of snapping up successful companies in gigantic deals and probably retaining exclusivity for their future games is infinitely more "anti-consumer" if you're a Playstation fan who previously enjoyed Bethesda's games.

Anyway, I'm sure Microsoft's acquisition of Zenimax was probably in the works for a while. $7.5 billion deals aren't made in a reactionary manner.

@Ralizah When it comes to the comparison of timed exclusive and dlc exclusive 3rd party deals, sure Xbox has done them. But, Sony does them all the time and it isn't anywhere near close to the same amount. You can try to make it all just hardcore Xbox fanboys. But, it really is the case and Xbox has been moving away from the practice of locking out competitors and instead offering new alternative options. Xbox offers a great value in Game Pass. Sony responds by paying off companies to not let games be on it instead of creating their own alternative consumer option. One is moving us forward, while the other is pulling us back kicking and screaming. I bet you will still see some top Bethesda games on PS5. If Sony had bought it, you know for a fact that none of them would ever see the light of day on Xbox ever again.

@BlueOcean Spiderman an TLOU 1 sold over 20 million copies, Uncharted 4 sold over 16 million copies, God of War 4 sold over 12 million copies. In comparison Gears 5, one of Xbox best sellers sold 4 million.

@Ralizah "I just don't look at the world through the filter of a hardcore Xbox fanboy".

Neither do I.

@SegataSanshiro Anyone can see that Sony are cynical. They said that they believe in generations to justify their poor backwards compatibility service, suggested that Series S would hold Series X back and that the true power will be on PS5 because of their "new generations" motif, then asked Capcom to hold Resident Evil VIII back on Series X technically while making the marketed as PS5 exclusives cross-generation games from launch title Miles Morales to future hits that still don't have a confirmed launch date like Horizon 2.

"It's not fanboying".

True and that's why many more people appreciate Xbox now compared to the early Xbox One days. People that think that it's because of the Xbox fanboys are fools. It's more that Sony fanboys can't see.

@sjbsixpack I just corrected the wrong information in your comment. Besides, it's almost impossible to know how many copies do new Xbox games sell as that is not disclosed. In any case, the numbers you wrote were wrong so I posted the correct known figures.

@SegataSanshiro Same here, I bought a PS4 before an Xbox One so I wasn't the biggest Xbox fan and now I'm convinced that the best console and services are on Xbox. Even last generation, I enjoyed Xbox One (my first Xbox console) the most. Series X is fantastic and the Xbox Games Studios upcoming games will be the icing on the cake.

@BlueOcean none of my figures are wrong other than i might be a bit under as my sources are a couple of months old. It is a fact Playstation has massively outsold Xbox every gen other than the PS3 an 360 which was close. I luv both machines but it’s a fact PS sells more, prob because of the exclusives. They’re like AAA Hollywood blockbuster movies, the movies that get rated in top 10 movies ever, that you can play the part of the main character. I know that’s not to everyone’s taste but it is to mine and millions of others. I have PS5 an Series X an both are incredible. First Xbox i’ve owned an i’m loving Forza Horizon an the Gears games. Gamepass is fantastic. But i slightly favour Playstation simply because the exclusives are in a league of their own. The story, the acting, the graphics, the gameplay, the emotion. They’re an experiance.

@SegataSanshiro I basically agree with all of that. Microsoft is clearly doing more for its customers right now in terms of both services and ensuring older software still works well on newer hardware. Xbox won't look super hot for the next year or two since all of its big first-party games are a few years out (aside from Halo, I guess), but assuming stuff like Everwild, Indiana Jones, Perfect Dark, etc. is actually decent, all of those hitting GamePass on day one while Sony charges $70 per game is going to make an impression. And that's only going to get worse if Bethesda keeps releasing big, popular games. The next DOOM, Elder Scrolls, etc. day one via GamePass... it's going to have a huge impact on the industry. And while Sony is sitting pretty right now with a bigger industry lead... their long-term strategy doesn't seem nearly as competitive.

If Microsoft keeps growing GamePass like it has and doesn't make any serious missteps, I could see it being a lot more difficult for Sony to sell people on their next console out of the gate.

@BlueOcean honestly, i don’t get how some can say this. I respect your opinion of coarse but i have both PS5 an Series X. I love both machines, SX is the first Xbox i’ve owned, Gamepass is quality. Loving Forza Horizon and the Gears games an really looking forward to the Flight Sim game. But the Playstation is the better of the two at the mo. You get 20 PS4 exclusives for free, yes they’re PS4 games but boosted to 4k 60 fps, and the games are all AAA top quality titles. God of War, Uncharted 4, Days Gone, The Last of Us to name just 4, some of the best games ever made. Then there’s Astro Bot which is fantastic an really shows what the pads haptic feedback can do. If you subscribe to PS+ you get 3 free games a month, 1 PS5, 2 PS4, up to now we’ve had 2 PS5 first day release games. Then as mentioned above the pad, the pad is incredible, you feel everything!! And on top of that the exclusives. Yes, we only have several up to now but Demon’s Souls in particular is incredible an looks stunning. The upcoming exclusive titles over the next few months looks mind blowing! Returnal, GT7, God of War, Horizon, Ratchet, Death Loop.

@SegataSanshiro the games kind of are free. They’re advertised as a bonus. So you’re paying to play online, for the servers, security, etc. The games are a free bonus. Depends how ya look at it i suppose. I wouldn’t knock anyone for saying they prefer Series X/S, they are incredible machines but for me they’re identical. Some amazing 3rd party games on both machines, but then there’s the PS exclusives an for me the pad. I’ve always preferred PS pads, i like my sticks side by side. Wen playing on mates Xbox in past my left thumb always drifted on to the d pad.

@SegataSanshiro i bough Xbox for Gamepass, i have 7 year old twin boys an they had 7 games for my PS4 that only they played, over £200 worth of games. Then i wanted Outriders, World War Z an Death by Daylight which are on Gamepass so in long run Xbox will save me money.

That's fine., i was buying it anyway.

@BlueOcean
Hey, I was reading some of your comments. I needed a bit of a giggle.

@sjbsixpack That's not a problem. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

@Banjo- God of War sold 20 million, TLOU 2 sold 22 million, Horizon Zero Dawn sold 12 million.