@oldenjon
I think the difference between last generation and this generation is that MS was moving out of first party studios at the start of the last generation, and they are coming into this generation adding first party studios.

All is true on the subscription and free stuff. Not sure if it is cost eating or just changing the expectations of the business model. They never charged a thing more for BC last generation and still aren't. Their history isn't eat costs for market share... Their model has been more consistent with creating change in the business model and sticking with the change.

@waverider
Your post has no logic. Just a rant trying to justify insecurity. There are many next gen only and optimized games both new and old available to XB owners.

All the vendors are making promises don't keep. Open your eyes.... Sony promised they believe in gens yet are shipping games on previous gen consoles. Sony promised Horizon, GT, R&C, and Returnal in first half of 2021. Yet, GT was delayed almost the next week, and Horizon is now for Holidays. God of War Ragnorok promised for 2021 and now 2022. Promised you can put an NVMe third party drive on PS5, still not fulfilled. Sony is just as bad as Microsoft if you actually look at their promises. Wanna keep going back? Remember online gaming would always be free? PS3 promised 1080p gaming at 60 fps, constant delays of first and third party games on PS3. Heck The Last Guardian got delayed a full generation. Yes, MS has been bad at promises but to say one has promised better then the other is just plain wrong.

You can demonize MS and that is fine. But to say Sony is an angel is just pure blindness.

@NeoGamer232 I think it's a bit of both. Microsoft has a new model, and the smart delivery options are no doubt factored into the cost of development, sure. It's a well known fact that consoles are sold at a loss, at the beginning of a new generation anyways, and I think it's fair to assume that this idea extends to the new services Microsoft is offering. Sony isn't just charging more because they can, it is more likely because there is an actual cost associated with post-development upgrades / content and it's not going to pander to gamers with discounts and promotions that aren't part of a bigger business strategy. I have doubts about how profitable gamepass and smart delivery are currently, they seem more of a long game scheme than something that makes a lot of money for Microsoft right off the bat. Sony is catching up in its own way, and improving from last gen over all. Bottom line is games like GoT aren't on Xbox, so it's rather difficult to compare.

@oldenjon
The way I look at GamePass is that if they keep bringing good stuff to GamePass I stay subscribed. If they don't then I will let it go. Personally, don't care about Microsoft's financials. I rate what is happening not what is going to happen. They can promise all they want, but I only assess delivery.

And so far GamePass has delivered for me. GamePass Ultimate is essentially the price of two games for the year. At any one time I have about 4-6 GamePass games on my console so it is paying for itself over and over again. While GamePass does have cannon fodder, there is a ton of good stuff there as well.

@NeoGamer232 Yeah I'm not trying to debate the merits of gamepass. Just saying it doesn't really make sense to hold Sony to the same standard when their strategies are so different.

What people are truly failing to see is that these companies have to make their money in order to keep delivering to the level that we've come to expect them to. Just like with anything else premium, that involves cost.

What it looks like is a particular part of the community that may HAVE to be more price conscientious expecting to receive what those who don't do. How many of them would go to a Porsche or Bentley dealership expecting to pay Prius prices?

Yes, Microsoft, will give it to you free and has a service that let's you play for cheaper, but these are things they HAVE to do to be relevant in the industry. Where are their consistent examples of excellence that you find in R&C, Horizon, Zelda, or Mario? What game does Microsoft have that can mentioned in the same conversation as these games?

Do you see Nintendo or Sony scrambling to "find" an answer to gamepass, quick resume, smart delivery, etc? No. Why? Because they both deliver on a level that MS cannot match in content alone.

It would seem that all the thrifty gamers have rallied onto the side of MS and believe that their constant whining is going to change how the other players play. If you can't afford it until you can, that's fine, but stop acting as though you're the voice for those of us who understand it takes money to grow. I'm personally old enough to look at a price and decide if I want to pay it or not without crying about it.

Sorry, but, it's not the job of these companies to make it comfortable for you to engage in something that's NOT needed. Gaming is a luxury, that same as fine dining, foreign cars, or the like. If your life efforts does not match the rising costs needed to partake, then perhaps a career change is in order or the exploration of a new hobby. You don't deserve an outcome just because you want it. Grow up.🤷🏾‍♂️

Well said NeoGamer

"Same with Greedfall and FFVII R. Just another cost where many gamers expect it in what they already have."

& therein lies the problem. Gamers expect free upon free upon free. All for a game they did not actually purchase. Now I agree or will say that it would be nice to see those upgrades move forward regardless. I do own VII:R on disc & will admit it would've been nice to just upgrade the digital PS+ version. However, this entire attitude of I'll wait till it's on PS+/Gamepass etc is one of many things wrong with gamers; death threats and revolts over delays are atop that list. On top of that mentality now we have gamers expecting games offered for free to also offer free upgrades. While there may be handouts aplenty in the world expecting them is a major problem. These aren't charitable companies nor are games a necessity.

As for Spiderman. I will also admit that was kind of BS. Though I bought the DLC on sale and didn't even touch any of it until after I got the platinum trophy in Miles Morales, but I still bought the game and DLC. It's also a major reason I stay away from DLC; because I often never touch it & have long since moved on from the game. At the same time, while it would be nice to have that upgraded version I honestly don't give two shits. The PS4 version is more than capable of still being enjoyed, played and still looks great on PS5; coming from Pro. Ghost Director's Cut along with Death Stranding DC. another two I don't care about. Ghost was a great game but I already got the platinum and have zero interest in going back.

Sony found themselves on a pedestal with the success of PS and PS2. I do feel like they're sitting back on that pedestal and getting, perhaps, a bit greedy and arrogant. However they have also earned that spot on the pedestal from years of investing heavily into developers and acquiring them. From releasing so many great games it likely shatters any game publishers library in quantity and quality. It's only a matter of time before they truly shoot themselves in the foot or Nintendo/MS take the reigns and force Sony to rethink operations; as doubtful as it seems. While Sony continues to brings phenomenal 1st party titles they do need to check themselves. Just not for most reasons one would think, imo. 2 cents.

@SurgicalMenace
With your car analogy there are many cars that are more status cars then they really are premium cars. They have 95% of the features of Bentley or whatever but they aren;t as expensive and are higher volume. In reality people buy Bentleys to say they bought a Bentley rather then it being a real special car that you can't buy elsewhere cheaper.

NeoGamer2329h ago(Edited 9h ago)

***You can demonize MS and that is fine. But to say Sony is an angel is just pure blindness.***

Demonise MS?? Isn't that what you MS kiddies are trying to do with Sony/PSN?? Lets get some FACTS going shall we BOI???

https://www.pushsquare.com/...

PS Plus Subscriber Count Reaches an Impressive 47.4 Million
87% of PS5 owners are subscribed
LiamCroftby Liam Croft Wed 3rd Feb 2021***

As of 4 months ago, Jimbo has raised PS+ Subscriber count to 47.4m and not ONCE has PS + had to humiliate itself by offering it for $1 per month/quarter.. Of those numbers, 87% are actually PS 5 owners.. As Jimbo is getting more consoles to the market than Spenser, this is over 100% of the Series S/X userbase.

***There are now 47.4 million active PS Plus members, representing an increase of 8.6 million compared to the same time last year.***

In just 1 year, Jimbo has raised the subscription ownership over 22%.

Seems like PS owners are perfectly happy with PS+, which has 2x the subscribers of Gamepass.. With 120m PS 4/5 owners compared to 50m XBoneS/X - Series S/X, which has come nowhere near PS 3s 85-90m shove the fake concern up your jacksie and direct it to where its really needed.

"Same with Greedfall and FFVII R. Just another cost where many gamers expect it in what they already have."

Greedfall is by Spider Games and FFVII R is from SE, both of which Sony doesn't own. And if you actually bought both games, you got the next gen upgrade for free.

So besides Spider-Man (which got a PS5 version 2 years later) and GoT, they've been good. TLOU 2 even released a PS5 performance patch and same with Ratchet and Clank PS4 getting a 60 fps PS5 patch after getting released for free back in March. And they even gave away a bunch of free games at the beginning of the year for everyone, like Horizon, Subnautica, the Witness, etc. Subscription cost? There are constant deals on PS+ all the time - got 3 years for $60 (normal price for a year) a few months ago and they normally have half price for a year around black friday (Xbox Gold was almost double the price at $60 for 6 months till user backlash made them walk back on it in January).

"Yes, they have the best games"

Which is why if you care about games you'd get the system. If you prefer to wait a while on empty promises (the cloud...) or wait for games (Halo Infinite was originally a launch title...), you can go elsewhere.

I'm no fanboy and yes MS have games but you have missed a few PS5 exclusives off your list.

Returnal, Astrobot and Destruction allstars...I think.

I have a series X and it doesn’t have games. There I said it.

"What is exclusive next gen ps5 only? Ratchet and Returnal (which is a very niche title). Then what? Even Demon Souls is a ps3 remake. Everything is cross gen right now and will be for"

Copy weak argument, paste. Copy, paste. Copy, paste.

Demons Souls, ratchet and returnal is a hell of a better effort than what MS has given. It's as simple as that. End of story.

The titles are ALL 3rd party titles. That has NOTHING to do with Playstation. Playstation isn't going to mess up their relationship with 3rd party developers when they are active partners. That's just idiotic. Also the article should be about both and not single out Playstation since Xbox, Gamepass and a title mentioned for Xbox having the same issue are mentioned multiple times.

" didn't matter to me regardless"

Uhh.... okay? This is about everyone not just you. Lol. Just idiotic. No one cares about your personal situation. This is about gamers in general. As for this being a miss-step? Well if Xbox has the SAME issue then how can you call it a miss-step? Utterly terrible logic all round from the writer and its sad that anyone even believes this will be a miss-step for Playstation and not Xbox. Wow.

Playstation has no control over what a 3rd party developer wants to do they don't own them. They're partners. If Sony had that kind of power over their 3rd party developers you guys would ALL be talking about how Playstation is taking away the freedom of their partners and Xbox isn't. They literally can not win in this regard. Just how clueless do you have to be to not understand that?!

Well those same games have free upgrades on the series X. doesn't matter to the average consumer if Sony's the publisher or not. It's PS plus it's Sony service. To the average consumer that looks like Sony is the one being greedy, not the third party. Especially when those same third parties are giving the upgrades for free on the Xbox. It's just a bad look if you're the market leader act like it and lead the market. The only thing Sony's leading in market right now is the game prices.

And it's funny some of you want me to list the games I'm playing on Xbox, what?! Lol I have my gamertags right in my profile if you want to see what I'm playing go ahead and look I'm not going to sit here all day and list all the freaking games I've been playing.

Points in the article are valid whether you want to agree with them or not. To the average consumer this practice makes Sony look greedy. and even with the new stuff about ghost of tsushima directors cut coming out, that's pure greed!

It's not about the third party or who's putting the game out. It's about the platform. You have to admit getting an upgraded version of a PS4 game on the PS5 is kind of an issue. it should be automatic like smart delivery but it is not it's an extra step that you shouldn't have to do. If I get the PS4 and PS5 version of a game with my purchase why not give me the version that is best suited for the system I'm playing it on? It makes no sense and it's a limitation of Sonys setup obviously. Why else are they charging you $10 just to upgrade your PS4 copies to PS5 copies like with GoT?

well yeah that's why they are giving it with ps plus and not charging retail price for it. Do you expect it to be the same thing? It's hilarious that you guys are making an issue out of this, but if you compare the ps plus games with xbox gold games, GWG look like @ss

@ fgfgfgfgfg

Lol u keep shitting on XBL GwG and praising ps plus but the reality is they both have good months and bad months. And it's all subjective anyway, so trying to argue it as fact is laughable and part of the reason people look down on Fanboys. GwG and plus are the same damn thing lol. It's like arguing coke vs pepsi. This month ps plus is giving out a wwe game, another call of duty, and a walking simulator that was free on Xbox a year ago. Nothing special, but apparently that's your vibe

Dude there is no point...N4g- smooth brain

@Neo

Again why are YOU comparing Gamepass which is $180 a year to a $60 service?! It's just as idiotic and disingenuous as what the writer comparison. The writer doesn't even mention Xbox Live Gold ONCE. Last I checked Gold IS comparable to Plus. So explain that logic?!

You're reaching for the stars like this idiot writer. Permanent title or not YOU compare 2 completely different services and now you're talking about Coleco? The point is the services aren't comparable why is Gamepass even mentioned? For example you mention the upgrade for Gold like its the same? How? 1st of all Gamepass is a different service and 2nd that deal is ending so its literally irrelevant.

There are a whole TWO titles on Playstation and ONE on Xbox that has set the same precedent. So how come both you and the writer aren't up in arms for Xbox then? Oh right BOTH of you needlessly mentioned Gamepass though? So SONY is the problem and is Xbox isn't?! Even though both have the same issue?! Uhhh okay 👌. Again like I said, idiotic.

to bingbangbong:

The point is, you need to compare PS+ (3 games per month) to GPU (383 games currently), because they cost the same.

The PS+ doesn't even give you PS5 versions of games.

@rak

IIRC I got the PS5 versions of Destruction allstars and Oddworld soulstorm with PS+ and both at release too. Combine that with the PS+ collection that comes with PS5 and it ain't a bad deal as that also contains some games that were patched for PS5.