Sony's MLB The Show 23 Costs $70 on PS5, Nothing on Xbox Game Pass

Depends whether you wanna rent or buy really

Why do people confuse subs and purchasing? Is it just for the clicks? How about if I spend £70 on the game instead of £120 on GP, do I not then get to play it “at no extra cost” too 🙄

Not quite the same of course, because I will actually own it. Meaning I can sell it when finished. Or give it away to a friend, etc.

Of course if I got it on GP I could have hundreds of other games to rent at the same time. Which I may or may not be interested in…

Do you see how different, and totally unworthy of comparison these things are?

Just lazy.

@get2sammyb
Little practical difference between buying and getting to resell when finished, and renting. Except you get to choose when you no longer require the game, rather than having it yanked from a subscription service without much warning. Can you think of any other difference?

It isn’t sustainable. Dead Space Remake sold 80% on PS5.
Microsoft has conditioned their player base to not pay full price or anywhere near it.

Be careful what you wish for. Games are only getting more expensive & publishers have to find a way to extract money.

If Sony jumps in, it’ll be a free for all to the bottom dollar.
It’s horse armour in disguise & look how that turned out.

I would hope that Sony are growing SSD behind the scenes with the free money they are getting with it being multiplat so we can get something new.

Yeah I dunno why you’d buy the game for $70 if you also have gamepass, doesn’t make sense it’s not on Ps+ since that’s a Sony platform.

Should we really care? I mean its not like this game has a huge fanbase outside of a few select countries.

@thefourfoldroot1 How much value do yearly sports games hold??

@aj21009
Depends when you are finished with them, not much after the next one is out of course. I find them totally repetitive so get bored with them quickly if I do play them.

It's completely out of Sony's hands, as you mentioned in the article. MLB publishes the non-Sony versions and Sony doesn't seem to want to put the game on their own service day one. If Sony says to the MLB it can't be put on Game Pass, then MLB probably says that they will revoke the license, leaving Sony without the property at all.

I imagine that the MLB was pretty adamant about being able to do whatever they wanted with the non-Sony platforms, while dangling that "license removal" clause over Sony's head.

@uptownsoul You mean like Hi-Fi Rush that has a 90 on Open Critic? This is such a stupid thing to say.

@awp69 don’t worry, they’ll find some way to move the goalposts and say that doesn’t count.

Honestly the best game Xbox has published in over a decade tbh.

@awp69 your 100% correct. 90 on Open Critic I guess is not good enough?

I see lots of copy and pasting going on.

I'd rather sony scrap the MLB franchise, even if Microsoft picked it up it would be required to be on playstation consoles anyway, so playstation gamers wouldn't lose out.

That then frees up San Diego studio to make actual playstation exclusives and better ones at that.

@KaijuKaiser Just stop. Nothing to do with this game? Lol. You really believe that?

@KaijuKaiser Yeah, and Forza Horizon 5 was horrible. I’m sure Forza Motorsport will be too. It’s a really dumb thing to say that MS games are going down in quality. Only part of Halo Infinite that was bad was the way multiplayer turned out. The campaign was great.

But sure, all the MS games that come out are gonna suck.

Can we stop trying to make this story a "hot button" issue every year? Sony has been very clear about their intentions with first party games and MLB was very clear about taking the flagship MLB game multiplatform.

We don't know what their publishing and licensing deal looks like, but clearly whatever it is they've done it's working. People still buy The Show on PlayStation and players with Game Pass enjoy it on Xbox as part of their sub.

It will always be an odd situation, but it's clearly one no one intends on changing.

@KaijuKaiser called it. Moving the goalposts like a good predictable little pony. Let’s disregard that it was in active development for years under Microsoft, their management, and their funding. Nope, they had nothing to do with it. /s

Or maybe sony could make next MLB a live service game that gets yearly roster updates and continues for years, get that sweet micro transaction money from xbox/pc players via season passes etc.

@RudeAnimat0r
Yeah, it’s strange Sammy appears to have picked this hill to die on. The predictability with which he runs this “story” is almost comical. Real bee in his bonnet about it, lol

@uptownsoul That’s one game that they screwed up multiplayer. Campaign was still good. And other flagships like Forza Horizon are still great and going strong. It’s not “GamePass is ruining games”.

Anyway, Sony has great games too, including MLB. I’m not saying one is better than the other. I just think the GP is killing game quality is not true.

@get2sammyb it's probably some very big cheques.

@PenguinLtd I play almost every PS 1st party exclusive and I love them (Ghost of Tsushima was probably my favorite game of last generation, maybe Sunset Overdrive, it’s close), but Xbox/Gamepass has quite a lot to offer as well. Most of those PS5 games take me a couple of weeks to beat, then I’m typically back to Gamepass filling in those gaps. It’s also nice, that you can buy any 3rd party games with MS points pretty easily. I even buy PS5 games with MS points, occasionally. I personally think both consoles are really great right now, which is a nice change of pace after PS was so dominant last gen.

@thefourfoldroot1 What is wrong with choice? Buy if you want. Ill play it on GamePass.

We all win with choice.

Xbox has the option because Microsoft pay upfront to put a game on their service. Nobody knows what that figure is because they don't disclose those numbers, it could be a ridiculous amount for all we know.

The only part of what you wrote that matters for ps players is this, "Sony has said in the past that it’s not sustainable to release first-party titles day one into a subscription service".

If the boss of the company is telling you this, why are you continuously expecting a different outcome? This is just another article designed to stir up unnecessary toxicity. I look forward to reading about this again for MLB The Show 24.

gonna skip this year. can put that money on another game.

@Hypnotoad107
I do this too. Get about £25 a month in Amazon credit through MS Rewards, which typically goes straight to Sony. What else am I going to do on the commute?

@n1n0dan Good thing about GamePass, we don't have to skip this year.

@UltimateOtaku91
It makes way too much money for Sony to not continue making them. However I also would like to see sports titles in general adopt the GaaS model as its a perfect fit honestly.

@Sakisa Hi-Fi Rush began development in 2017, Microsoft bought Zenimax, which housed Tango Gameworks in March 2021, so yes, we can disregard that it was in active development for years under Microsoft, their management, and their funding. As usual they came in, bought other peoples work, and people like you try to tell everyone that Microsoft made it.

@UltimateOtaku91 Thing is this is Sonys #1 seller. Theyd be better off losing kratos then this cash cow, even if it means bolstering game pass. "We" may not like it but that's the theme of gaming these days....

@thefourfoldroot1 fwiw so far mlb hasnt been yanked from gp until the next year's version replaces it.

And I agree with you but for opposite reasons. People keep saying Xbox players get games "free" and it's "not sustainable" which is silly, I pay $180/yr for rental access. Public libraries are "free" game pass and plus extra is not...

But with this game the sad part is that Sony COULD offer their subscribers the same option but choose not to. While having to admit they're still making money on xb and they don't even get the publishing cut they're.

@Fight_Teza_Fight 100% this. If Sony follow suit, we'll look back at this period and be able to pinpoint the exact time that gaming as we know it died.

I dont want Sony or other developers to be releasing half-baked, unfinished titles like Halo infinite. We can argue all day about the state games are released in these days, but if all the big players move to a game pass like service, the overall quality of individual titles will suffer imo. Its just not sustainable.

As for MLB, i'll say again, the optics are bad - but ultimately, any anger should be taken up with MLB who have screwed Sony here. Makes you wonder whether Sony will renew the deal when it expires. Suppose it depends on how lucrative it is. Im sure they dont ultimately care as they will no doubt take a fair chunk of whatever Microsoft pays MLB each year to put it on gamepass

@awp69 we won't know if gamepass will effect the quality of Bethesda games for quite a few more years, hi fi rush was in development 3 years before the acquisition, redfall and starfield were also in deep development before the acquisition, same with Activision if that deal goes through, over the next 2-3 years any games they release would of been in development before the acquisition. We will only find out if their games decrease in quality really starting end of this gen or start of next gen.

In terms of hi fi rush it's not fair to say its bad quality as it's not meant to be a AAA block buster game, it's more of a passion project on par with an indie level development whilst their main teams work on another game and Ghostwire Tokyo. Similar to obsidian with pentiment, their main team is hard at work with outer worlds 2 and their B team made pentiment for the mean time.

@uptownsoul Believe what you want to believe. I’m looking forward to all of the MS (and Sony) games coming. We’ll see how sh***y the MS games are.

@PenguinLtd Why hang yourself up on one console ffs, i couldnt give a monkeys who makes the console or its games, i got a ps5 for the excellent 1st party games and bought a series s on gumtree for £120 and three years gamepass for £80. (Currently playing Gamecube games on it via Dolphin), Spread the love man, dont miss out on great games due to blind allegiance, the console manufacturers sure couldnt care less about you, is that not obvious to any of us gamers nowadays

@thefourfoldroot1 I don't see it as amusing but each to his own.

@NEStalgia
Those with ultimate are likely to be savvy enough to get MS Rewards to pay for it, no? Meaning it is one part of MS subsidising another. I’d be surprised if many people spent $180 cash a year.
Anyway, not really my point. I just find this articles opinion Ill thought out and reactionary, which makes me react, lol.

@thefourfoldroot1 "and totally unworthy of comparison" - that's patently absurd. They're both methods you can use to acquire and play the game - they're absolutely worth comparing.

For some people, Game Pass is a sunk cost - which means the game IS "free" for them. For others, the difference in cost might be enough for them to make the switch - even without a deal, you could get a half-year of Game Pass for the cost of this one game.

As for the whole own vs rent argument, if there was ever type of game worth renting rather than buying it's the annual sports game, which gets minor updates each year. Heck, if you buy two different sports titles ever year, and if both those titles were on a service such as Game Pass, those titles alone would pay for the entire service.

@Intr1n5ic you say 'as usual' when games like Pentiment only exist because of gamepass which Obsidian has admitted, and the only reason Psychonauts 2 even came out finished with all the bosses and stages intact is because of Microsoft's funding which Double Fine has admitted, so they do have an impact on the games and developers they buy, even with projects mid-development, even if only in part, so yes, i'm sure they had a decent impact on Hi-Fi Rush in terms of development, and they DEFINITELY had an impact with gamepass fostering its success as a shadow drop.

But looking at your post history, you're the exact poster i'm talking about as a 'pony that just moves goalposts' so tell you what, i'll disregard your opinion on the matter.

@RobN
You seem to believe I think GP is bad value. I don’t, it is insane, unbelievable, ridiculous value. And completely different ownership values and methods that have different impacts on the industry.

@thefourfoldroot1 Yup, fantastic deal. I actually have about $300 in points right now that I might use towards a new PS5 when the new model comes out. I’ll probably have $400 or so by that time depending on if I pick up FF16 on launch or not. A lot depends on release dates for me. If Starfield comes out around the same time, I’ll play that and wait for a sale on FF16. Definitely a lot of choices.

Baffling why they can’t just stick it on PS Plus if it can be put on Game Pass. I do find it funny when people claim that this way Sony can avoid going down the live service rabbit hole when that’s seemingly all they’re developing at the minute if you discount Insomniac. So we get live service schlock that you have to pay £70 for.

Is there anything left of the dead horse at this point?

@nessisonett perhaps ms have a subscription exclusivity deal? That Epic games case last year showed that they happen. Though obviously it's a bit odd that ms would have one for a Sony produced game. Still possible with MLB involved.

@thefourfoldroot1 You seem to have a problem with comparing a game's availability on Game Pass vs only available for purchase on Playstation - specifically, "Why do people confuse subs and purchasing?" I have no problem with that comparison (and nothing in the article seemed to confuse the two). The comparison is fair, legitimate, and noteworthy for those interested in the title.

If GP did this with more sports games that I care more about, I'd probably subscribe. But they don't, and since my three-year conversion of Gold-to-GP ran out, I haven't bothered to renew.

@Fight_Teza_Fight

That 80% is for physical sales. We don't know what the digital numbers are yet. Plus I believe that's only for the UK?

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/dead-space-is-no1-but-launch-sales-lower-than-the-callisto-protocol-uk-boxed-charts

Also, it remains to be seen how "sustainable" gamepass is. While I prefer to buy things outright and I don't want a total takeover of rental programs, I was able to complete Plague Tale Requiem and As Dusk Falls with my recent 1-month sub, so it's a great feature of Xbox.

@Sakisa I've spoken about this before. Gamepass helped get Pentiment made because that type of game is perfect for a subscription service. It has a shorter dev cycle and it provides padding for their library. It was also a small niche game that disappeared from practically everyone's radar the same week it came out. Meanwhile, Obsidians big AAA Evowed is in development hell.

Microsoft's money helped get Psychonauts 2 finished, that's a fact, but again it was already deep in development. They came in at the end and said here's some money, we own this now.

I'm not arguing that a trillion dollar company with unlimited funds can't have an impact on funding games, of course it can. I'm saying that their track record of nurturing their own studios and putting out consistently good content is garbage.

@Jarobusa good thing about being a pc gamer, i dont have to be a fanboy. yes i ll wait.

@Fight_Teza_Fight I agree with EVIL-C as the thing is you don't know if it is sustainable or not? As I suspect your basing your 80% PS5 sales on physical. Which in places like the UK only make up 10% of sales.

@uptownsoul At least they have Ori. Kinda.

Honestly, Anyone that spends full price on these yearly copy and paste d micro transaction ridden garbage sports games and cheat ridden fps mp titles deserve to be ripped off.

Way better to be something on a sub service considering the predatory micro transactions baked into them.

Not Like you are selling these games for more than 10 bucks anyways. So please, stop pretending ownership of these games is a worthy investment.

@Intr1n5ic Their track record of fostering devs is garbage, I agree. I don't think them bankrolling devs should be disregarded like you're doing though. Especially if it lets devs that have gotten screwed over in the past by other Publishers like Double Fine and Obsidian make what they want to make.

And doing the 'but that game doesn't count though' with Pentiment is the exact goalpost bulls*** i'm talking about. It reviewed very well, it found an audience, and is considered a success. Diminishing it as 'padding' because it isn't big AAA third person self important game #6468564 that wants 60 hours of my life is what I see way too many people do these days.

Once Sony realises they can't make a TV show or movie off this one they drop it soon enough.

Quite simply, Sony sells lots of copies of MLB the Show, so they want to continue selling them. Microsoft knows they won't sell a ton of copies and they won't make as much from each copy sold, anyway, so they pay to put the game on Game Pass. It isn't too hard to understand why Microsoft went the Game Pass route when there are more games selling on competing consoles and selling more copies. They had to do something. It just so happens they have so much capital, they can do something like Game Pass and lose tons of money in the process in an effort to try and tilt the whole industry to a subscription model. It's working on the Xbox side of things, which is why game sales are tanking over there. Sony and Nintendo are wise not to follow suit.

Articles like this have fanboys of other consoles salivating to bash PS. Lol

@cragis0001 @EVIL-C The Uk is one of Xbox’s biggest markets. There was a leak a couple of weeks ago that PS5 is at 10.5 million & Xbox at 8.7million lifetime sales.

We also know that Xbox does have a larger digital/physical split, but that nowhere near brings it close to PS5.

If Sony jumps into Day1 like MS the 100million+ budget for AAA games suddenly turns to sub 50million max.
Nintendo would never do that. They believe in quality & the value of their games.

Also for context Callisto Protocol cost $160million+.

MS can get away with deals like this because the exposure of these games enhances sales on other platforms. If Sony joins the fray & says ‘we’ll pay what Microsoft is paying or the game won’t be be put on our platform’ publishers will be screwed.

Game pass is great for Indie/AA games to get exposure, but if Day 1 sub games become a reality you’ll never get a GOW:R, TLOU, Uncharted ever again.

This is an industry. It needs to make money.

@CielloArc it has a fanbase in the biggest greatest country in the world though so that counts more than few , haha

@Jarobusa M$ had nothing to do with it , they can’t make games to save their lives so they buy multiplat devs instead . garbage game company that introduced the worst practices in gaming

@get2sammyb
Unfortunately, we don’t get to have the cake and eat it too. But I’m fine with not having that option, if we continue to get the great games that PS Studios release. On the other hand, Xbox users don’t have the option of playing a quality triple A single player game 😁.

I don't understand who pays $70 for a sports game that will immediately be outdated in a year or less, if anything is the one genre that's tailor made for GP.

@Fight_Teza_Fight

Again, as Gamepass (and Sony's clone service) is still a *relatively new business model, we can't say definitively what the numbers are, as that data is AFAIK all internal.

"MS can get away with deals like this because the exposure of these games enhances sales on other platforms." Hmm, I'd need some data on that claim. Fanboys aside, as they don't care what Microsoft is doing or offering on GP, I guess you're suggesting word of mouth and other social media exposure from others using GP will raise awareness? That's certainly possible, as there's a lot of popular streamers out there.

There's still plenty of ways this industry makes money, commonly through DLC, service games and tons of other cosmetic trinkets and crap like that. I think I made it quite clear that there's questionable aspects of these subscription models, and I always prefer to buy something outright, but there is room for both models to co-exist.

As an aside, the various fanboys around here in the comments really need to lighten up a bit, jeez..

@Imani You do realize that the tech sector has had layoffs across the board recently, right? Amazon, Google, Meta, Shopify, hell even PlayStation laid off 90 people last year. https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/04/04/playstation-reportedly-lays-off-nearly-90-employees-in-north-american-offices-due-to

The sensible (non-fanboy) among us, we get it, it's pushsquare. Xbox bad cause Xbox bad. Great analysis... >_>

@EVIL-C https://twitter.com/BenjiSales/status/1617993607017017344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1617993607017017344%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

MS has money to burn. Despite results like this. Everything is down despite the series X being like 2 years old? It’s the Netflix of gaming. All that matters is content, content, content.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Those are some interesting (and not that surprising) figures. Thanks for posting those. Yeah definitely the Netflix analogy is a fair comparison (Netflix themselves have their own issues), I was thinking that but didn't mention it in my previous reply, lol. 2023 is looking better, which will be interesting to see if it raises the hardware revenue, which was down despite robust sales.

not much of a story here. the bigger question should be this: why have sports games not adopted the live service model yet? people should pay one price and get 7 years of support out of it... perhaps if you want the roster changes for next year, you pay a $20 upgrade or something.... but this model is outrageous for a sports game that generally needs to be purchased on a yearly basis. well, i know why this hasn't happened yet... because enough people are more than happy to buy the same game 7 times per console cycle. i won't stop them.

@Intr1n5ic nonsense.

@tallythwack with annual release sports games, I’d go rent. I have no value in sports games when the next year’s title comes out. Now Last of us or God of War, that is a heck no to rent and a buy i would think for most of us. Then again if people really are one and done with those titles a rent isn’t a bad idea there also. I have PS+ and GP, and i use them to test new games, and continue to buy my Digital copies of favorite series. Everyone is different but this does add value to GP any way it is sliced.

@EVIL-C Facts, i mean Google just laid off 12,000 people and amazon 18,000, Microsoft 10,000. It is coming from all tech companies at the moment. But like you said Xbox green, xbox bad, me want no competition, team blue, everything else dumb and bad. I mean this industry needs a grow up to the big world pill, i have both consoles and they are both really good and have areas to be better in. I try and leave it at that. But you know, the internet!

@TheCollector316 however GP last said was profitable, so either your numbers are right or the accountants at MS is right. I’ll let the internet decide. Services are a part of tech now to some degree or the other, sure microsoft has money to start one and go through the growing pains, I’ll give you that. But look at Spotify vs Apple, Spotify runs at a lose or at best break even. Apple is backed by a 2 trillion dollar company and yet both are competing, Sony don’t have to add games day one if they so wish not to. But would it be too much to ask to get some better deals on it, so we all don’t cancel our subscriptions. I mean it can’t be that hard to get PSone games on there, the whole reason I signed up for it. I am keeping my fingers crossed it gets better cause even tho i buy most of my games on Xbox and PS, i still enjoy the services for what they offer or in this case could offer. I am giving Sony one more year to work out licensing agreements to bring more PSone classics and then I’m out, GP is more than likely here to stay.

@Green-Bandit I was a horrible fanboy during the GC/PS2/Xbox days (I was also a stupid teenager at the time XD), so seeing how absolutely nothing has changed amongst fans, whereas company executives themselves have (mostly) nothing but positive things to say to their rivals when a new 1st party release does really well for example, it saddens me much of that hasn't brushed off on the community of players.
I too have both systems, a Switch and a gaming laptop, but even if i didn't, hating on rival system titles or services is beyond ridiculous and irrational. The psychology behind it baffles me.

@Intr1n5ic before they started to buy dev teams they had 5 studios and 3 IP’s. There wasn’t much to manage. Then they went to almost 30 once the ABK deal is done. There will be some growing pains there. But the old saying was MS was to hands on and thats bad, now they went hands off and thats bad. So i am sure they are working on figuring out how to start getting these teams together and the right amount of coaching and support. Once they do they have AAA releases galore hitting a service day one for 3-5 years that becomes a monster in the room for everyone and Jim Ryan knows it, Hence he don’t want games like COD on GP day one. The one area Sony can’t compete on is services and that’s MS only chance at getting more marketshare and so they have to go that way, business is a war so to speak and MS knows they can’t outsell PS hardware on promises and few releases, as a PS5 and Series X console owner, i am loving a more different approach from the two and think this will benefit gamers and the console space for years to come. We don’t need another PS4, Wii U and Xbox One gen, that doesn’t help the industry grow and become larger. Before anyone reads this and thinks i am a microsoft shill, i will drop this line my house of me, my wife and daughter is 100% full Apple. We own zero Microsoft products outside of my Xbox. I merely want the industry to be it’s best and we need all 3 companies doing well. Not just 1 or sometimes 2.

@Green-Bandit

Microsoft knows it isn't profitable. That's why they spin it. They say it is profitable because more money comes out of Game Pass than they spend on putting content on Game Pass, but that isn't the full equation. How much revenue are they losing because of Game Pass tanking game sales? Phil Spencer is a master of doublespeak. He at one point answered the question of Game Pass's profitability by stating it was sustainable. When your company was worth over $2T at the time of the comment, you can sustain all sorts of things, even spending billions buying content and giving it away for pennies on the dollar.

@EVIL-C very well said buddy, i was never a fanboy of a console brand, but more just a fan of consoles when i was younger and now older, i owned a PS2,GC & Xbox. Now i have a PS5, Switch and Series X. I just want the industry to be healthy and not just 1 or 2 doing well but all 3. I like that they are all using their strengths to gain their goals and yes MS has money to support a young growing service more than a Sony, but that didn’t stop sony from having awesome games hit last year and thats why we all bought a PS5 and are here on this site. GP is a killer service and getting better by the month it seems. When they get COD and Avowed and Fable, Elder Scrolls, HellBlade 2 etc etc , that is only a win for the industry of players that choose to play and enjoy those. I am cool with people that only want one console or simply prefer just one, but to bad mouth the industry and competition is just childish and makes our industry look bad in the public eye.

@TheCollector316 when you had the type of gen the Xbox one had you have to spend money to regain trust and excitement around the brand. You have to show players it’s worth investing your time and money here. Thats their jobs and they didn’t do it well enough last go round. I applaud them for saying we are here and putting their money where their mouth is unlike Google, the second one of their investments goes south they can it and move on and i ain’t just talking Stadia. That would only be one of many of the example. I love my Xbox, for certain games more than my PS5, but i love my PS5 for certain games, i just want them both giving gamers a great experience and i will give them both my time and money. GP is helping create a space for smaller games and that is a great thing for devs and players, GTA 6 don’t need GP, but MS first party games coming to GP day one and staying there is the anchor of GP. It’s what the players can count on to be there and stay subscribed. As for if GP is or isn’t profitable, thats not your or mine business, that is for MS to decide and us to consume. I heard how GP was going to be AA and indie and fail, then it turned to COD on GP will kill PlayStation as we know it. Well that sure did take a spin around the wheel of death in a interesting fashion. Seems like when MS spends the money to add the heavy hitters to GP, it’s scaring some folks, well then that alone say’s it’s a good business move from MS, one we don’t all have to agree with, but it makes them a force in the industry and we need that, we need console and PC doing well, it’s the future of the industry. I ain’t trying to come on here and talk crap to no one, it’s a PS site, i expect non sense to be said of the competition. But it’s that very competition we need to support a healthy industry. But Jim Ryan isn’t going to the courts to fight for COD cause he really thinks MS will pull it from PS, they offered Sony a 10 year deal, along with Switch. He is fighting to keep COD off GP, cause GP is the one area Sony can’t fight MS one on one and he knows the bigger it gets the harder it is to tackle in 4-10 years. They better not take it off Sony, i just bought a Dual Sense Edge, i need all the shooters i can get to try it out on HAHA

@uptownsoul “ Microsoft's quality since Game Pass is inconsistent at best...and bad at worst.”

Review scores don’t seem to back up this statement at all. Xbox had a dry 2022 as far as AAA titles (though Grounded, Pentiment, and As Dusk Falls were all great smaller titles). But metacritic scores of Xbox games that have released this gen compare well to Sony games. Microsoft even won Metacritic’s publisher of the year award n 2021. They’re doing fine. They look like they’ll have a decent 2023, as well. I’m excited to see what Sony has coming this year. Spiderman 2 is going to be huge, but I’m curious if they have a couple of surprises up their sleeve.

Of all game types sports games would be best suited to a subscription model as players stats and teams get shuffled year to year.

@Fight_Teza_Fight 80% only with physical copies when it’s known Xbox players have mostly adopted digital purchases and in a region where PlayStation is overall much stronger than Xbox, honestly that metric isn’t a valid comparison, and yes, Game Pass may be a factor into lower sales for some games, but it’s nowhere near what you’re implying.

@thefourfoldroot1 Nah there's the enthusiast Internet types that are doing the subsidy thing, and that's cool and all. But most people just pay. I'm actually just paying. I keep meaning to check out the rewards thing, I'm sure I have some cache of points sitting around somewhere. I havent yet though, the real price is totally reasonable even if I spend most of my play time playing things I own, I try plenty of stuff and use the cloud services for things I own but are on gp as well. You did remind me though I really should look into the rewards thingy, but that's really not how the majority use it.

@ichiban It's a huge tv show already. Sony just doesn't make money from it . Though usually they sold the cameras and broadcast equipment so they still make money on the TV series

If its on gamepass it should be on ps plus. This is why I cancelled ps extra in November, its a really poor service in comparison. Improve it and I would resubscribe

@Juanalf

Because not every gamer is the same. Some people only buy this game or any of the other sports games and that’s entirely what they play for the whole year until the next release. They’re only spending the asking price and that’s what they allocate to their yearly gaming budget because that’s worth it to them and all they care about playing.

Dead article.

No mention of sales figures at all which speak for itself on whether Sony is making the right decision here…….which they are!

@get2sammyb In your replay to in1rin5ic you’re saying that you don’t believe Sony doesn’t have control of their product? What about Death Stranding on PC GamePass?

Publisher relationships as you suggest are cultivated. So if MS struck a deal with the MLB, who publishes the game for that reason. You suggest Sony is to ask them politely to extinguish it? These deals are likely for 10 years for all we know, think Spider-Man and Sony in the reciprocal.

Sony could pull an EA and say no dice, and make their own Baseball 2025 The Show, but they won’t. They know it, MLB knows it and MS knows it. XB is strongest in the US, MLB is most popular in the US…..

Sony needs to be paid or developing it, the only way around that is to ask MLB to compensate their loss of sales for forcing them to put it day and day. But why would MLB do that? So players that don’t buy it in droves now can play it for free? Like after 2 years, there’s a fear all PS4/5 players will skip over to XSX suddenly? For game they don’t mind paying for?

I fail to see the logical reason here?

Xbox gamers have the choice of renting the game as part of their Game Pass subscription. If they like it, they can then buy it digitally at a lower price than it will be on PlayStation. That's a huge difference in offering.

As for people saying, "I can trade the game in on PS5 when I'm finished". Sports games hold no value beyond their first month on sale so good luck with that.

Lol it's kind of funny that I can play this game "free" on my series x but I have to pay full $70 to play it on it's home console, ps5 😂

@tallythwack And why would I want to buy it? In Game Pass whenever MLB 23 is coming out, MLB 22 is out of Game Pass, but there is literally no reason to play 22 when you have 23.

@thefourfoldroot1 Yeah. Because it is 120$ per year for one game, right?
Or maybe you pay 120$ and outside of MLB The Show 23 you will also be able to play Starfield, Redfall, Forza Motorsport, Hi-Fi Rush and cluster**** of other games...
(also, there is still an option to buy in outright on Xbox)

@Fight_Teza_Fight Did you get those data from UK physical chart?
Really? When everybody knows that Xbox has higher digital purchase rate?
Please. There are plenty of examples where Xbox version of game sold almost same amount of copies as PS version when you count in digital. For example Modern Warfare 2.
So there is literally nothing that supports your argument that Xbox players are not buying games full price. Because I can tell you with full confidence that 14,5 billion yearly revenue from Xbox division does not come only from Game Pass subs and 4$ games

@Intr1n5ic Please...
We know how it goes
If Bethesda makes a good game, it is despite Microsoft.
If Bethesda makes a bad game, it is because of Microsoft

I can bet that if Starfield end up as a disaster, people would be pointing fingers at Microsoft as if they were to blame. Despite the fact that Starfield entered development long before buyout.

@Godot25
As per the post you are responding to:

“ Of course if I got it on GP I could have hundreds of other games to rent at the same time. Which I may or may not be interested in…”

So yes, I do realise that, obviously.

I’m failing to see your point.

@Godot25 Well, as previously mentioned with regard to other games, Starfield was in multi platform development for almost 6 years before Microsoft bought Zenimax and said this is ours now. If it turns out to be a disaster it will be the fault of Bethesda and nobody else, but without question there will be people out there pointing fingers at Microsoft and how they oversee the output of studios they now own.

I expect Starfield to be a massive contender for game of the year and I hope Bethesda pull it off. I've been a huge Fallout fan since the start and I'm hoping this is the game that makes me want to invest in a Series X.

Different business models lead to different Consumer choices.

Sony is strictly a 'Sales' business first and foremost. Every 'product' they make, whether Hardware or Software, is made to be 'Sold' - so anything that negatively 'impacts' Sales is 'bad' for them. Hence 'Exclusives' on PS ONLY to make you 'buy' a PS, hence no 'day 1' Sub to impact 'pre-orders' and launch day 'Sales' etc - everything designed around SALES with 'services' very much a secondary income stream...

MS is very much more a Service driven Company NOW. 'Sales' are purely 'optional'. You NEVER have to BUY their Consoles, all their games are on other 'platforms' - PC and Cloud, don't need to buy their Software, its all on Sub services - sales are Secondary to their 'MAIN' business model.

To get into the Playstation Ecosystem, it costs an upfront fee of $400+ to buy a PS5 - let alone any games you may want to Play, to get into the Xbox ecosystem, you just need $10 a month and can play on Hardware you already own.

Cloud is the 'entry Level - 1080/60, limited Library, lowest cost
Series S - improved Visuals/performance (1440/120) and Library, small upfront cost
Series X - improved Visuals/Performance (4k/120) and Disc Drive, larger upfront cost
PC - Best Visual/Performance potential, largest Library of Games but also has the highest upfront costs.

That's the BIG difference between Sony and MS this gen - that is why Sony don't do anything to jeopardise sales - either of Hardware (by making Software available on 'other' platforms) or of Games (by making them available on Sub services) Day 1 as that would 'negatively' impact 'SALES' which are the most important 'metric' to Sony as a SALES driven business...

I never expected MLB23 on PS+ because it impacts on Sony's business model too much. Why put it in PS+ when it would affect PS sales figures. They want to brag that MLB23 sold BEST on their platform, beating Xbox maybe 5:1 on Sales, being #1 in 'SALES' charts etc etc...

@Fight_Teza_Fight I don't buy it. You say Games Pass doesn't drive sales but there have had been many Devs that have said differently on social media or in interviews. Sega even praised Games Pass for helping franchises like Yakuza & the Two Point titles grow. I myself have bought many titles after playing them first on Games Pass & many more that have not.

That's really interesting: so the Xbox version cost nothing to produce, while the PS5 one cost millions..? The reality is that Microsoft are subsidising their video games division for long term strategic reasons and that means the fantasy economics of gamepass. They do this because, whilst being in the business for 20 years, and spending billions on acquisitions that have failed to deliver, they have failed to build a creative, studio ethos and anything more than niche properties. Running gamepass as a huge loss leader is their one USP.

@MasterVGuides am sure sony wil survive if they lose MLB lmao its a American sport most popular sport is Football ⚽️

@thefourfoldroot1 you are paying $70 for 1 single game then you have to pay $60/year to play online. those are extra costs lol meanwhile a game pass subscriber paid $120 a year and has a library of 490 games, he paid only $0.05 per game including MLB23 while you paid $70 for 1 game. when he's done with MLB he deletes it and install new games that gets added every month. more than 50 new games are added each month. consuming tons of games at a very low cost is much better than reselling a disc. you sell it for what? $40? by that time a game pass subscriber will consume like $600 worth of games lol

@tallythwack I rather rent a game, finish it then uninstall it then play like 60 new games per year on game pass that ar worth over a $1000 than buy and "own" a $70 game and resell it later for few bucks lol you sell it for what? $40? by that time I'd have consumed over $1000 worth of games lol think think

@alienwithin
You seem to have far more time to play games than me or most people. If I was a kid again, didn’t have a full time job, or a wife, I might get through 60 games a year.

As with all subscriptions, the value depends on how many games you can get through, which depends on the level of free time and the type of genre you like (I’m more a JRPG guy and those can take 200hrs each, which is about a month game time for me).

All power to you though.

@alienwithin yeah you can get through 60 games on gamepass ,because the majority are garbage indie games ,that you play for 5 min,quality over quantity kiddo ,id rather play 3 fantastic games per year ,than the majority of throwaway garbage on gamepass ,think,think.

@tallythwack 1- Game pass games have higher scores than the games you call "quality" LOL they're the highest rated games every year.
2- how many new games are there on PS+? absolutely 00 new games lol everything is old.
3- soooo MLB 23 is trash indie? Guardians of the galaxy? monster hunter rise? Madden NFL 23? and 2021 game of the year it takes two? Mass Effect legendary edition? Forza horizon 5? persona 5 remaster? Deathloop? Guilty gear strive? Battlefield 2042 indie? Wo long fallen dynasty? Grid legends indie? F1 22?
LOL fanboy blinded by fanboyism

@tallythwack majority of game pass games are triple A games from EA play, Betheda and Xbox studios.
game pass had over 100 new games in the last 3 years and they're the highest rated games on metacritic, while it's only $9/month, PS+ premium is $17/month and had only 2 new games in the last 3 years lol both are indie games scoring mediocre 83 and 63 on metacritic lol what a disaster.

I'd rather play high rated game pass games for just $9/month on a $500 console than pay $550 for console then $550 for VR then another $70 per 1 game to play the 79 metascore horizon LOL or $70 for Forclosed the square enix masterpiece with 63 metascore and 1.3 user score LOL