Xbox Game Pass already looks unbeatable in 2023

star field. red autumn. Wo Long: A Fallen Dynasty. Minecraft legends. Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, Monster Hunter Rise, Lies of P, Rutin, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Atomic Heart, Warhammer 40K: Darktide, Ark 2, Flintlock, Guilty Gear Strive, Valheim on console, GoldenEye 007, etc. others, more.

Will you be getting a game in 2023? Or you’ll just start Xbox Game Pass select the tab every time you log into your console and do some browsing? Because I know how much I can pay for new $70 games a few times a year in the middle of a housing crisis.

To that end, Xbox Game Pass seems like an absolutely essential part of my gaming setup. In addition to the titles listed above, we’ll undoubtedly be getting more games in the future – we all know how much Xbox likes it. stuff into the service – and at a modest asking price of £10.99 per month for the top tier… what’s not to love? It also allows me to play on my phone, consoles or computer without having to transfer save data (and I have more options on my computer too!).

VG247 editor Tom Orry already talked about how magical the service would be if you were a kid, but I also want to throw my hat in the ring and say how ridiculous it is to get an Xbox Series X console. and 24 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from £20.99.

This is absurd; When I was a teenager, I had to sell my PS2 and all my obscure Japanese RPGs to get an Xbox 360 with Halo 3 – including using my kitchen janitor’s salary for a month. We paid a day or two a day for the subscription and they got access to a shiny new console and over 300 games. It’s out of this world, really.

But I digress, I was talking about 2023 on Game Pass. I know I will devote an extraordinary amount of time to Starfield (everyone on this site needs to provide you with content™) and I will dedicate my life to learning and acquiring all the secrets of Silksong. Speedrunners are just as good in the game as they were in the first Hollow Knight. Elsewhere, games like Lies of P (AKA: we have a Bloodborne house), Atomic Heart, and Routine will give me value – given that I’ll be interested, but probably won’t risk a purchase. out of service.

And then there’s Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden – each of which looks absolutely gorgeous in HD. The third is the best (fight me) and now the whole world will experience the darkest Persona on Vita or PSP (rest in peace) without batting an eye.

Wo Long at: Fallen Dynasty – a unique, brutally brutal and absolutely jaw-dropping evolution of the Nioh formula – and even the first few months of the year coincide. Not to mention summer. Not to mention everything Xbox has planned.

Meanwhile, there’s Sony on the water. PlayStation’s first-party output is unmatched (just look at the influence of God of War Ragnarok), and it looks like Sony is doubling down on this prestige gaming philosophy. But it’s surprising that the PS Plus relaunch hasn’t lived up to expectations, and you’d be hard-pressed to find gamers who speak of PS Plus with the same reverence they speak of Game Pass.

This is because it doesn’t offer the same value as Game Pass; if you’ve subscribed to the highest tier of the new PS Plus, the Premium tier, you’ve probably done so because you want access to PlayStation Classics. But consider: Sony has only added one PS1 game to PS Plus Premium in six months. Is it worth the premium for the subscription? Probably not, at least from where I’m sitting.

PlayStation and Xbox are like comparing apples and oranges at this point; both do different things. But considering they both offer subscription services that give you a library of games to play to your heart’s content, it’s hard not to compare and contrast. And in 2022, Xbox won the trophy for Value, Choice, Marketing and Execution. And it looks like Sony will be further behind in 2023.