Exciting news about Project Spartacus is expected from Sony this week, as everyone is now saying. However, don't get your hopes up for a Game Pass competitor.
Although players have been demanding for months that the PlayStation Plus offer needs to become significantly more attractive in light of Game Pass, ultimately it will probably only amount to added value, likely also because Sony is not making progress with PlayStation Now alone.
Merging of PS Plus & PS Now?
Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad expects this to happen, anticipating a merger of the two services with Project Spartacus, ultimately to be sold as added value for subscribers. (On Twitter) Ahmad writes:
"Sony's overhaul of its services won't directly compete with Xbox Game Pass, but rather aims to create added value through a tiered approach. It's more about combining the two existing services into one and adding additional perks. PS Now's growth has been slow."
A bargain bin instead of day one releases?
Should these assumptions prove correct, Sony will continue to prioritize its existing back catalog over day-one releases, making it available to players simultaneously via PlayStation Now. Whether this is truly what players want remains to be seen.
That an announcement can actually be expected this week, as was the case recently Bloomberg reports, is now also supported Greg Miller from Kinda Funny Games, who have specifically postponed their current issue until the end of the week for this purpose. They are even expecting more than just one announcement and are talking about a "very interesting week" for PlayStation.
Rumors suggest that Project Spartacus will comprise three phases, including access to PlayStation Now, exclusive game demos and trials, discounts, and of course, online play. Whether this translates into added value ultimately hinges on the price, where Sony has repeatedly proven to have a less than stellar track record.
I think this whole AAA Day-on-Day thing is rubbish anyway. But Microsoft can afford to bleed the competition dry; they can't do anything else. I think Spartacus will just be a combination of PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now. Mostly streaming, no PSone or PS2 titles with trophies, etc. Sony will only do the bare minimum because Jimmy Jimbo wants to make a quick buck with some "stroke of genius" again. It's not being thought through properly, but that's nothing new for PlayStation since the PS5 launch and with Jimbo at the helm.
And I don't believe a word these "insiders" say anymore. It's always such hype about nothing. Especially when it comes to horsepower.
It will only be added value if the price doesn't increase. But that's unlikely; I expect it's just a gimmick to push Now, just repackaged. You can wait a long time for day-one games from Sony. They're too stingy for that.
This has nothing to do with being stingy. Offering Horizon for free to all PS+ subscribers, for example, would simply result in a loss.
But I'd be in: Just take out a subscription with BMW and get the new car right when it launches.
But of course, the subscription shouldn't be too expensive…
In short: Sony simply can't afford to compete with Game Pass. And Microsoft isn't doing it out of altruism or customer-friendliness, or because they're less stingy, but to ultimately have a large user base that will retain Game Pass even after price increases. Because Microsoft, too, won't want to operate at a loss with Game Pass indefinitely.
You can't expect the children on this page to be able to think that far ahead 😉
Furthermore, Microsoft is doing this because they don't have a strong selection of exclusive titles. Sony, on the other hand, does, and everyone happily pays their €80 subscription fee. So what would motivate Sony to launch a subscription model that costs them money?
But anyone can figure that out. However, one could, for example, rethink the business model. Capcom or Ubisoft don't charge €80 and don't demand upgrade fees; their money doesn't grow on trees either.
Watch gamingbolt's video. Then you'll know that it's not just us criticizing Sony, but the press is also starting to have doubts.
Microsoft isn't losing money on the Pass; they made a profit in 2020, but not a huge one, as they had far fewer users then than they do now. Currently, as of January, they have 45 million users… Now calculate what kind of monthly revenue that translates to… If Sony could afford a large initial investment, they would do the same.
Really? Do you have any figures to back that up, or is your statement based on the one statement from Phil Spencer on the subject? He obviously has to report positively about it, otherwise his shareholders will abandon him.
“Phil Spencer recently defended the model in an interview, calling it ‘very, very sustainable’ instead. He said it would ‘continue to grow.’ ‘I know a lot of people like to write that we’re burning money now to end up with a pot of gold,’ Spencer told the interviewer.” Axios.
But that's not true. "No, Game Pass is currently very, very sustainable. And it's continuing to grow." Whether he also means "financially worthwhile" by "sustainable" is, of course, still open to question. At least Xbox seems satisfied, though. – Source: https://jpgames.de/2021/11/xbox-game-pass-ist-sehr-sehr-nachhaltig-forza-horizon-5-faehrt-rekord-ein/
It's still just the net profit... from that you can deduct the billions it costs to buy studios (at least proportionally converted to Game Pass), the ongoing costs for providing the servers, third-party studios that are paid to offer their titles via Game Pass, etc., etc.
Microsoft isn't bothered by this; they definitely won't go under because of it, but Game Pass will definitely become more expensive in the long run. That's to be expected. It remains to be seen what Sony will do about it. Currently, we only have supposedly anonymous hints and nothing—I mean absolutely nothing official.
Game Pass has never made a profit; it barely covers its costs. Xbox in general has never made a profit.
How expensive do you think game development costs are? How many games would you like to see in a Game Pass-like service each year? How many users would such a service need just to recoup its development costs?
The problem is that as soon as they reach around 100 million monthly users (which is what they're aiming for, something toddlers like Max don't understand), and prices rise by just 10%—and they will—then Microsoft can easily finance all the games they probably already own from third-party developers for a day-one launch, and still make a hefty profit. That's Game Pass's sole objective right now: subscribers, subscribers, and more subscribers.
Exactly, the dream of 100 million users 😀 At the beginning of the year, the number was just 25 million. They'll never reach 100 million. And that's precisely when, as Mark Westside already mentioned, the price will skyrocket (and not just by your 10%, which I'm sure you've somehow made up yourself). Or, in the end, the whole thing will be scrapped. Like so often with Microsoft. Look at Kinect, Windows Mobile, the Nokia acquisition, etc., etc. The list goes on. Microsoft has failed at so many things, and they'll never have the upper hand over Sony in the gaming market either.
But you still think that the ridiculously overpriced acquisition of Activision/Blizzard will pay off and that all titles will be exclusive to the Xbox 😀
You'll be in for a rude awakening when the games stop coming to PS (and they will), and then PlayStation will only go in one direction: straight down. Go ahead and laugh.
Whether that remains a dream is another question; that seems more realistic to me than what goes on in your dream world.
I'm currently playing Castlevania: Lord of Shadows 2 on the Xbox One X at 4K 60fps, or optionally 120fps but 1080p. It's nothing like the crippled version on PS Now with 30fps and screen tearing. I'm afraid they'll just merge the services. No benefit for me.
A typical day one Game Pass 70% game. Not bad, but nothing more. Even 500fps doesn't improve it. But hey... everyone has their own standards. And please write Shadow instead of Schadow next time... it's painful on the eyes!
No, I got it myself. Imagine, you can buy games individually in the Xbox store. Aha, now it's a terrible game, but if Kojima made it a PS exclusive, then it would be a great game?
You know what? I'm going to buy light bulbs on Amazon and write a review ;)
Shadow