Xbox Responds To All-New PlayStation Plus Announcement In The Best Possible Way

Console wars are for dweebs

Ewan Moore

Published 11:02 30 Mar 2022 GMT+1

Xbox has shared the best possible response to Sony's all-new PlayStation Plus subscription service.

Yesterday, Sony officially confirmed the long-rumoured overhauled PlayStation Plus. This new take on the subscription service offers multiple tiers, access to game trials, and a catalogue of classics stretching all the way back to the days of the original PlayStation.

Naturally, this new PlayStation Plus has drawn plenty of comparisons to Xbox Game Pass. On the face of it, the two are similar. A mix of classic and new games for a monthly fee, plus the ability to stream certain titles on a PC? Certainly sounds familiar. However, Xbox has the undeniable edge in a few areas.

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For one thing, Sony has made it clear that PlayStation Plus will not release its major first-party games onto the service on Day One like Xbox does. Sony's reasons are understandable enough, but Day One releases is easily one of the best things about Xbox Game Pass.

Then there's the differing approaches to classic games. Xbox Game Pass has a library of games going all the way back to the OG Xbox, accessible via a Game Pass subscription. But you don't need a Game Pass subscription to play classic games. If you own an older Xbox title, it's yours to play on Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S regardless of your status as a Game Pass subscriber.

While the new PlayStation Plus Premium tier has yet to confirm specifics, it sounds very much like anyone wanting to play PS1, PS2, and PS3 games will have to access them via their subscription regardless of if they already own the original.

It would have been easy, then, for Xbox to fire off a few cheeky shots at PlayStation here. But that's not what it did. Xbox has made it clear in recent years that console wars are for dweebs, and so responded to the all-new PlayStation Plus with a message of support - while also reminding people what Game Pass offers. They're still competing at the end of the day, after all.