Since the rise of online gaming in the early 2000s, PlayStation and Xbox have continued to offer multiplayer access to millions of gamers. Xbox's introduction to online multiplayer was created in the form of Xbox Live on the original Xbox before being renamed to Xbox Live Gold when the Xbox 360 made its debut back in 2005.
During this period gamers were introduced to a friends list, voice chat, and downloadable content for the first time which has led many to consider Microsoft a pioneer for modern gaming standards. New features would eventually be integrated which include free monthly games and exclusive discounts.
While Sony initially offered free online services during the PlayStation 3 generation, the decision was eventually made to start charging for online access with the release of the PlayStation 4. Similar to Microsoft's offerings on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 gamers would gain access to not only online multiplayer but free games, discounts, and online cloud saves.
Now console players have come to terms with the need to pay for subscription services to play some of the most popular multiplayer games around. On Xbox Series X|S you will need to cough up $60 for one year access which is the same cost on PlayStation 4|5 for the PlayStation Plus Essential tier. The available features and price would lead you to believe they are very similar but on competing platforms. Well, I'm here to tell you at the time of this article they couldn't be further apart.
What games are available through PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold?
So why do I think they no longer compare in value, well it's simple really, it's the free games on offer. Since both services have offered free monthly games, that's been the key to improving user opinion in paying for such a service. Starting in October 2022 Microsoft removed Xbox 360 games from their Xbox Live Gold subscription service and failed to offer anything in its place.
As a result, the game comparisons each month have not gone just a little in PlayStation Plus's favor but I would dare say it's not even close to the same level of quality experiences. Let's take a look at how Xbox Live Gold games have stacked up the past couple of months versus PlayStation Plus Essential games.
May 2023
June 2023
July 2023
The biggest difference has to be the type of games being offered. PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers gain access to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games while Xbox Live Gold subscribers are usually only offered Xbox One games that tend to not even have a Xbox One X patch. Due to this difference in the quality of the game selection, the desirability has gone completely one-sided in PlayStation's favor.
How much value does PlayStation Plus bring in comparison to Xbox Live Gold?
While Xbox Live Gold used to offer amazing value by giving you full ownership of the Xbox 360 games given away each month, that's no longer the case as Xbox 360 games have been removed from the service. Similarly, the caliber of games offered on the service has dropped to mostly budget titles which resulted in the lowest value that has ever been offered for Xbox Live Gold members.
For the month of May 2023, Xbox Live Gold games had a value of $30 versus $125 for the PlayStation Plus Essential games. In June 2023 the value of Xbox Live Gold games was $38 versus PlayStation Plus Essential games value of $180. Our final comparison is for July 2023 which had a value of $24 for Xbox Live Gold games versus $130 for PlayStation Plus Essential games.
So far in the past three months alone, PlayStation has provided its Plus Essential subscribers $435 in value while Xbox Live Gold members were barely pushing $92. I'm not sure about you but I would think if I'm selling a service I would at least try to compete with opposing services but Microsoft has shown it no longer wants to compete. Why that's the case seems to stem from Xbox's latest subscription options which come in the form of Xbox Game Pass.
Is Xbox Live being replaced by Xbox Game Pass?
As you can probably tell PlayStation Plus Essential continues to offer big budget experience while Xbox Live Gold tends to offer indie games. I'm not trying to downplay indie developers but when I'm paying for a service I expect to get similar amounts of value out of it regardless of brand.
It's no question that Xbox Game Pass has impacted the industry in good and bad ways since the Netflix-style game service launched in 2017. This has caused Microsoft to no longer focus on Xbox Live Gold, instead opting to drag it along for a slow death following the backlash of a proposed price increase in 2021.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate presents an opportunity for Microsoft to increase the amount of income it gains each month from Xbox players without the negative reaction a price increase to its existing gold services brings. I believe based on the current trends, Microsoft may one day phase out Xbox Live Gold in favor of forcing players to subscribe to a more expensive Xbox Game Pass tier to access online multiplayer on their Xbox.
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