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Sony could be working on its answer to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass video game subscription service.
This is according to Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan, who was asked in an interview with Russian news agency TASS about how the company would respond to the Xbox Game Pass.
Ryan replied cryptically, saying that “there is actually news to come, but just not today”, before pointing towards the company’s cloud streaming service, PlayStation Now.
The CEO’s response comes in stark contrast to a statement he made in September, prior to the launch of the PlayStation 5. Back then, the PlayStation head ruled out an Xbox Game Pass-esque service, saying that it “doesn’t make any sense” for the company’s PS5 plans.
“We have had this conversation before – we are not going to go down the road of putting new releases into a subscription model,” he had told gamesindustry.biz. “We want to make the games bigger and better, and hopefully at some stage more persistent. So putting those into a subscription model on day one, for us, just doesn’t make any sense.”
Microsoft, on the other hand, has doubled down on its Game Pass strategy in recent months, with the service being touted as a key selling point for the tech giant’s new next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and S.
Xbox chief Phil Spencer has also described the service as “completely sustainable”, and even said that service will stay at its current cost for the foreseeable future.
“I say there’s no plan for us to [increase the cost of Xbox Game Pass]. We like the value that Game Pass is today and from a business model it’s completely sustainable the way it is and I mean that,” he said during an appearance on the Dropped Frames podcast.
Spencer also previously stated that he is “open” to make Xbox Game Pass available to users on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, adding that the company’s main priority is “reaching more players”.
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