The launch of new-gen consoles in 2020 gave gamers a lot to be excited about, but also a few things to be worried about. Not just the scarcity of the new consoles as supply still can't meet demand more than a year after launch, but also the increased price point of top tier games from big studios. Some developers have moved on up to $70 for a new game, a price a lot of people simply can't afford more than a few times a year, if at all after forking iver $500 for the console itself.
That's one of the many reason why Xbox Game Pass is revered, and also why rumors and reports PlayStation is set to launch a service of its own very soon are probably true. The service, which is apparently codenamed Spartacus, will allegedly combine PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now into one offering with three tiers to choose from.
As those reports continue to gain steam, Phil Spencer has shared his thoughts on how he feels about PlayStation potentially following in Xbox's footsteps. The Xbox boss spoke to IGN, saying PlayStation launching a Game Pass of its own was inevitable. “I don’t really look at it as validation. I actually, when I’m talking to our teams, I talk about it as an inevitability,” Spencer said.
As for what he expects to see from a PlayStation Game Pass-style service, without patting himself and Xbox on the back too hard, basically exactly what Xbox Game Pass currently offers. “The right answer is to ship great games, ship them on PC, ship them on console, ship them on cloud, make them available day one... I expect that's what our competitor will do."
Big titles being available via Game Pass on day one might well be the most appealing element of the massively popular service, which boasts 18 million subscribers at last count. The likes of Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 being available to everyone who has Game Pass without having to pay that $70 fee is a very big deal. As for shipping its games to PC, PlayStation has already been doing that, launching God Of War on the platform just a few days ago.