Following two different weeks with back-to-back powerhouse State of Plays, PlayStation tiptoes closer and closer to the reveal of its potential Xbox Game Pass contender, thus far only known as Project Spartacus. Intended to challenge Microsoft's own iteration, Spartacus will offer a similar Netflix-for-games strategy, offering a gallery of varied titles at an affordable monthly rate, yet it remains to be seen how exactly Sony will enact its overall plan.
According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, PlayStation insiders are eyeing an announcement for next week, highlighting which games will be made available through the service and potentially what different price points the company is anticipating for monthly and yearly subscriptions.
The company has been busy gobbling up talent all throughout Q1 2022, including Destiny creator Bungie, Jade Raymond's Haven Studios, and Valkyrie Entertainment. Last year, SIE picked up Bluepoint Games, makers of the beloved Demon's Souls Remake, Firesprite, Housemarque, Fabrik Games, and more, all proof of its churning efforts in building a more stable pipeline of games and games makers.
As of yet, PlayStation offers two varied and separate services on its platform for its ecosystem of consoles, those being PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now. The latter is the closest offering Sony has in contention with Xbox Game Pass, however, the subscription service mainly focuses on cloud-based gaming, like Google Stadia, and typically offers a majority of Sony first party software.
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The company intends to combine both subscription services into a more consolidated offering, with the focus being primarily on PlayStation's long history of games and assorted third-party titles. While only a PS5 offering as of yet, video game demos could be utilized via the Spartacus service and broadened cloud gaming technologies.
Sony has relayed that the Spartacus concept won't feature day one releases, meaning subscribers play the game the very same day it releases. This has been the gold standard for Xbox Game Pass, allowing tons of gamers a chance to essentially demo the entire game for an affordable rate before buying into its full price point.
Xbox Game Pass currently has three different monthly subscription tiers: $10 for either console or PC only, or the Ultimate package for $15. New subscribers can even delve into the ecosystem with their first month at a mere $1. The service sees new games at a consistent rate with, as said previously, day one releasesd, like Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite.
It currently sits at an estimated 25 million subscriber count, highlighting the ever-necessary reasoning behind Sony's own forthcoming iteration. However, the question remains if Sony can deliver something as rewarding and as affordable in the face of Microsoft's giant. It all depends upon how much PlayStation will offer with the service for the right price, and if said games can attract more than simply Sony fans.
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