Since Microsoft announced the purchase of Activision Blizzard, sony has been the main voice opposing the completion of the agreement. Publicly, the Japanese have claimed that the acquisition is anti-competitive and that it jeopardizes the presence of key franchises, such as call of dutyin PlayStation. However, doors inwards the look would be quite different. To the point that from the Asian firm they wouldn’t even consider Xbox Game Pass as competition.
So I would have let you know jim ryanCEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, during a question and answer session with his employees (via Insider Gaming). Asked about the competition in the market, and about Xbox Game Pass in particular, the head of PlayStation would have been blunt.
“When we consider Xbox Game Pass, [sus cifras] they seem to be declining. […] In two years, we have sold more PS5 than they have collected in subscribersand they have been doing it for 6 or 7 years, “said the executive, according to the leak. But he would not have stopped there. “We are just below 50 million subscribers and they are in their 20s, but there is more work to do to increase that number,” Ryan reportedly said, comparing with PlayStation Plus users.
Xbox Game Pass is one of the pillars through which Microsoft wants to take advantage of the purchase of Activision Blizzard. From the beginning, the Redmonds have been clear in their desire to take over the intellectual property of Bobby Kotick’s firm, including call of dutyto your subscription service.
But from PlayStation they have affirmed time and again that, when Microsoft controls the Activision Blizzard franchises, nothing will stop them if one day they decide to cut off access to their titles on platforms other than Xbox or PC. However, Jim Ryan’s statements would prove that, beyond any genuine concern, Sony reportedly overreacted in expressing concern over the acquisition.
Xbox Game Pass Still Doesn’t Scare Sony
The fight for the fate of Activision Blizzard is long, and we have talked almost endlessly about it. From Sony they accused Microsoft of offering an agreement “inappropriate on many levels” to maintain call of duty on your console. Those from Redmond have come out to deny it, assuring that they promised to keep the releases of the franchise on PlayStation under equal conditions for 10 years. And the dart crossing has become more intense in recent weeks. To the point that Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, said that Sony wants to grow by making Xbox smaller.
However, when talking about Xbox Game Pass, Jim Ryan’s statements would not be extremely far from reality. Let’s not forget that Microsoft’s subscription service has not met growth expectations established for the fiscal year 2022. The platform was expected to increase its number of subscribers by 73%, but it finally did so by only 28%.
Although from Microsoft they have valued the great growth that their proposal has had on PC, the truth is that they ended up being very far from their projection. Does this mean that Xbox Game Pass is a bad product or doesn’t have enough to attract gamers? Of course not. In fact, this year the Redmonds have taken a big leap by expanding access to Xbox Cloud Gaming to a greater number of territories, and have promised to add a long-awaited feature: support for cloud gaming with keyboard and mouse.
The biggest problem with Game Pass is the same one that Xbox has suffered in general during 2022: the lack of new exclusive AAA games. Since Halo Infinite, which arrived at the end of 2021, Microsoft has not released even one new top-tier exclusive title on its platforms. and the delays of Starfield Y redfall They have been one of the great disappointments of the last 12 months. Phil Spencer have hinted that history will reverse in 2023, but players would rather see than believe.
2022 has not been kind to PlayStation Plus either
That Jim Ryan believes that Xbox Game Pass is not competition for PlayStation is interesting for different reasons. But mainly because he adds a little more spice to the dispute between Microsoft and Sony over the purchase of Activision Blizzard. However, 2022 has not been exceptional for the Japanese either when it comes to subscription services.
The launch of the new PlayStation Plus — which merged the old PS Plus and PS Now — has been far less rosy than Sony expected. In fact, during the first month available, the renewed Asian platform lost almost two million users.
It is true that PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass have more differences than similarities. But the approach that Sony has given to its new subscription has not aroused passions among users either. Not just because the levels now they are more expensivebut also because of the difference between the content available according to regions, and because of the refusal to include exclusive games since its launch.