IGN : Welcome back to Next-Gen Console Watch 2020, our new show following all the news and rumors on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Series S. This week, our host Daemon Hatfield, joined by Ryan McCaffrey, host of IGN's Xbox podcast, Podcast Unlocked, and Jonathon Dornbush, host of IGN's PlayStation podcast, Podcast Beyond discuss the growing gap between Xbox and PlayStation's subscription service options.
PSNow doesn't have to beat Gamepass. Microsoft's service is wildly more popular yet PlayStation continues to dominate Xbox in every major category. Sales, install base, revenue, demand, and popularity. PS4 hammered XB1 despite Gamepass and backwards compatibility being enormously popular on Microsoft's console. This generation is playing out very similarly to early last gen with PlayStation taking an early commanding lead despite Gamepass.
Sony has a different business model and it works. Services are certainly a part of it, but not ALL of it. And ppl seem to only concentrate on Gamepass when boasting about services without realizing that Sony has perhaps the most successful service on console. PlayStation Plus has well over 40 million subs and quite frankly trumps Games With Gold. PSNow has millions of subscribers and has improved dramatically over the past year. But even with all of that Sony still makes its living from install base and industry leading exclusives. It's a business model that has worked for them in the past and it continues to work to this day. That's not to say they haven't evolved, they have, but unlike Xbox they have not drastically altered their entire business model in an attempt to find their footing.
People get carried away with Gamepass. It's a successful service, it better be, it's Xbox's entire business plan. But please realize, PlayStation has been incredibly dominant for the last decade. They continue flooding their platforms with both quantity and quality in terms of exclusive content. They are the only console provider legitimately supporting VR. They have new, innovative next gen tech and PSVR2 on the way. They are already leading next gen by a wide margin and 2021-2022 are packed with heavy hitters. Forget hype and promises, PlayStation is delivering in real time and people need to respect that.
PS4 has already been the second most successful console of all time and PS5 is literally on the same exact pace while being dramatically more in demand. This is worldwide. PlayStation is global. That's why they dominate sales. The real question should be, can Xbox keep up with PlayStation despite having very little influence outside of NA and the UK. That's the real question, because right now they aren't even winning at home let alone in Europe and beyond. The media needs to put respect on Playstation's name. They have the games, sales, install, and innovation. PlayStation is winning, act like it.
Lol “keepup”
Gamepass has been around since 2017 and hasn't skyrocketed xbox in sales. But let's see what happens when all the studios they bought start releasing AAA games day 1 on Gamepass. Sony only needs to "keep up" once they start losing significant market share to Microsoft.
Eh. It doesn’t really matter. They’ll both sell consoles and put out games. People will be fans of one or the other. Sometimes both. Arguing over which is better is just pointless.