A reader argues that Game Pass has little to offer a veteran gamer and explains why he’s never subscribed to it on his Xbox Series S.
Before anyone assumes I’m just criticising the current golden child in GamePass, let me be clear that I completely agree it is the best value service in the market at the moment. The problem is, that value is only fully realised when you have no prior hardware/games.
For context, while on the whole I’ve been spent far more time in the PlayStation camp (PlayStation 1, 2, and 4) I’m by no means committed to them for the sake of it, and happily deviated to Xbox 360 when it offered better value.
But fast forward to this generation, and you have two equally priced, equally powerful (more or less) consoles. I purchased the PlayStation 5 as soon as I got the chance to and while I’ve only played a few native PlayStation 5 games I’ve still been happy with the improvements in graphics, frame rate etc. on my PlayStation 4 catalogue.
Now we come to the crux of my argument. As a PlayStation Plus subscriber for around six years I’ve amassed a quite substantial collection of games which I may not own but will continue to have access to as long as my subscription is active – which like many others, I intend to do so as I play online regularly. I’ve browsed Game Pass four or five times over the course of the last year and found a substantial amount of overlap.
Excuse the terrible maths, exaggeration, and generalisation, but it seems at least 70% to 80% of games on the service have either been offered for free via PS Plus, I have already played/own, or are currently on PS Now (admittedly, not a great service).
I deduced that figure by looking at the games that interest me and, generally speaking, it stands to reason you’d find something similar for other tastes. Add to that the fact that if an existing gamer wanted to play a game that’s more than two years old they’d have probably done so by now given its low cost and you arrive to my realisation: what would Game Pass offer me?
The answer is free, day one first party exclusives. But then again, it’s well established that Sony offers the better games. Granted, Bethesda is definitely a coup, and a huge loss if it remains Microsoft exclusive, but then again they’ve been following the Rockstar script for a while now (Why make something new if the old is still earning you money?) with Elder Scrolls still some time away. Across the board, the interval between game releases for Bethesda isn’t comparable to other studios. They’re a back catalogue filler but not a release schedule filler.
I did buy an Xbox Series S with the intention to sign up for Game Pass for any games that interest me. Result: I’ve had the console six months and not signed up yet.
Of course, this comparison only works for those that play regularly, but for Microsoft to really, genuinely begin to target regular Sony gamers it needs MORE. In my mind, they are one substantial studio away from competing on this front. In my opinion, someone like Ubisoft would have made a much better investment than Bethesda due to their annual releases and huge catalogue of (mostly) great games. Or even EA for that matter, instantly enticing every annual sports gamer.
So the problem is that no matter how much people yell from the rooftops that Game Pass is the best thing ever, I still look at it and find it disappointingly empty. It might be the future, as the premise is excellent, but until the execution is refined it’s not the present for me.
By reader Ahmed
The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.
You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.
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