There is no doubt that Sony is living a golden moment. The company is having great success with PS5, and the PS Plus service is also a real money makeralthough if we compare it with the Xbox Game Pass it is clear that there is an important difference between the two, and this represents a “disadvantage” for the Japanese company.
Microsoft has opted for include, from day one, its exclusive triple A games on Xbox Game Pass, something that Sony has not done and is not willing to do. This has an explanation, and in the end it all comes down to money. For the Japanese company, its triple A franchises represent a very important business model that starts from a very clear base: selling copies of games to generate as much income as possible.
Sony is aware that if it were to launch, for example, the long-awaited The Last of Us Part III on PS Plus from the day of arrival of said game you would be losing millions of dollars in unsold copies of the game, because PS5 users, and PS Plus subscribers, would not need to spend more money to play it, since they would have it available through that service.
This benefits Sony, That’s clear, and it’s totally understandable that the company doesn’t want to give up all the millions of dollars it receives through the sales of its exclusive games, but at the same time it’s not good for the player. Microsoft, by contrast, has no problem giving up part of the revenue that he would get from the sale of his exclusives, and has already confirmed that Starfield will be available on Xbox Game Pass.
Bethesda is convinced that despite this the game is going to sell wonderfully, and frankly I am pretty sure of it too, as long as they don’t screw up with the launch and that the game arrives well polished. As for Microsoft, this strategy allows you to offer a more attractive service and strengthen the Xbox ecosystemsomething that in the end also translates into more income and that could help him close the gap with Sony, although for this I am clear that he will need Activision Blizzard yes or yes.
In summary, Sony prefers to sell its games at 70 or 80 euros from day one and make cash as much as possible, something that is perfectly normal because as a company in the end what matters is money, without more. Once that exclusive game is no longer as profitable, and its sales have dropped greatly, it is when it is willing to take it to PS Plus and also to PC to continue making cash. This is part of the staggered strategy that Sony recently commented on.
