Games subscriptions ( Game Pass/PS+) vs owning

ecosse_011172

ecosse_011172

Gold Member
I've had both Game Pass (cheapo stacking) since Series X came out and PS+ (on and off for years) and it's gradually dawned on me that I really don't like not owning my games (ignoring the itSoNLyaLiCEnSE stuff).
Every time I see "soon leaving Game Pass" it annoys me, it has become more clear how important ownership is.
I like Game Pass as basically a demo service (if you get it cheap enough) but that's it. I have a few games I really am looking forward to playing on Game Pass (e.g. Metaphor Refantazio, Atomfall) but I'm going to buy them at a good price on a PSN sale.
Apart from my personal comfort with owning, I think the messaging that you don't need to buy games is unhealthy (look at how the music industry has been ruined).

Is it just me?
 
There's zero time for me to play all games offered on a service, and I usually stick to one or two games at the time anyway. So subs make little sense to me.
 
It really depends on which type of gamer you are.

I have the cheap gamepass stacked and in the beginning it gave me the opportunity to play games I would have never bought.

On the other hand, now I barely have any time so I normally have 1 game that drags forever. This led to one case where I was heavily invested in a game, pushing the final chapters and the game left gamepass without I even noticing. Simply one day I logged in and the game was not available anymore.

Basically if you have time available rent, otherwise buy.
 
Plus and minus to both.

Buying games means I also keep trying to like it, whereas on gamepass if something doesn't work, I drop it quickly.

Leaving soon section doesn't bothers me. I never check it. If something goes, I didn't had time for it. Am ok with that. Just focus on what I am playing currently.
 
Apart from the advantages of real ownership,

I don't enjoy subscriptions because they simply overwhelm you with an oversupply.

I am happy to spend money on games that I am looking forward to. The anticipation when placing the order, waiting for the package to arrive, unpacking it - for me, all of that is part of the experience.
In addition, paying the price for a single game gives it value which ultimately motivates me to give the games I have purchased a much bigger chance to convince me.

With subscriptions, I see the danger of looking into a game, not liking it right away, and moving on to the next game, not liking it right away, moving on the the next game and so on.

Falling into such a rut would kill the fun of gaming for me. The already low attention span that is hammered into our brains by current media content inevitably decreases even further. I counteract this by focusing on one or two games that I have purchased and that are then placed next to the console.
 
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ecosse_011172 said:
I like Game Pass as basically a demo service (if you get it cheap enough) but that's it. I have a few games I really am looking forward to playing on Game Pass (e.g. Metaphor Refantazio, Atomfall) but I'm going to buy them at a good price on a PSN sale.
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In a situation like this where a couple of games I have in mind…..

I simply download and play a couple of days or more. Game should completely grab me. Or else it gets tossed off.

If it grabs me I play it non stop.
 
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Horses for courses.

I like being able to play lots of different games. Some of them are incredible, some of them are good, and some are trash. Being able to take my pick without having to worry about the money is worth $20 a month to me. If I love the game - Sniper Elite, Stalker 2, Expedition 33 - I'll buy it so I can play it forever. Other games, like Doom The Dark Ages, I'm glad I didn't pay full price for.

Some folks don't enjoy that, and only wanna play what they buy. That's cool. As long as both options are available, I'm not sure there's an issue.
 
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I had the situation where I could buy Jedi Fallen Order for EUR 25 or to buy EA Play for EUR 25 for a year. And I was like "I'll play Jedi Fallen Order and then I'll play the other EA games, better deal". At the end, I barely had time to play Jedi Fallen Order, and the other games in the EA Play catalog, my subscription lapsed, and I had to buy Jedi Fallen Order again eventually.

So owernship is better for me. I have PS+ Premium to play games through streaming on my Portal, but besides that I tend to buy my games.
 
Games I love whose creators I want to reward, that I expect I might want to replay - I buy (often in CE)
Games I want to play but whose creators I do not care about and expect never to replay - I rent (if available in sub)
 
ZehDon said:
As long as both options are available, I'm not sure there's an issue.
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Thats true. As long as both options are available everything is fine. Its just when too many people lean into one side, its more likely the other side gets canceled completely. Thats why I am so stubborn. If you want something to stay, you actually have to use it.
 
Elitro said:
Simply one day I logged in and the game was not available anymore.

Basically if you have time available rent, otherwise buy.
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Leech on Gamepass for day 1 access and buy later when it's cheaper. 👍

Eventually you'll have to pay standard price for the subscription though, makes the yearly cost quite high. And I'm not there on accepting that cost yet personally, it'll depend on the software output, this year so far has been great but we'll see how the second half is.

If we break it down a bit we're talking about the cost of 2 pizzas per month. Maybe it's not too bad? (Bargaining phase?)
 
I don't like subscription services at all, it gives you an illusion of great value, but how many of those games do you actually play? I will much rather pay full price for games that are worth it and get other games with heavy discounts.
 
When I played Persona 4 on GP I had like ~10 days before it leaves the service. That was... interesting for sure.

I usually have some 1 month of GP PC going on but this is from key selling sites (cheap ass trials), I won't pay full price for it, hahaha.
 
Owning.

Also, I should choose the games that I want to play, not some corporation telling me what I should play next just because they got a cheaper deal from a publisher.

Subscriptions aren't bad per se. They are okay to compliment your gaming. But they cannot be the main way I play.
 
The nice thing about subs is the ability to play a variety of games, but ultimately since I have a pretty good grasp of what I like to play having been a gamer for 40 years I usually just buy what I think i'm going to like. I've found a few games via subs that I wouldn't have otherwise played, but the majority of games I download I never would have purchased in the first place.
 
I'm not against GP philosophy but most of the games have lenght and value that exceed that kind of service
If I play Persona 3 or Clair Obscur I spend the 90% of my game time in the next 3-4 months on it. If I have to stop to play when I come back to the game I buy it I'm sure there will be again, not so sure on GP
And yes, I'm one of those gamers that sometimes get and old game he completed long time ago and play it again

GP should be a platform for those who want to be noticed in the market, not the tool for a geedy company to kill competitors
 
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I'm definitely in the 'owning' camp, but I'm not blind to the advantages of Game Pass and I usually pick up a monthly sub once per year. It's a great way to finish games I wouldn't want to pay for (like Hellblade 2) and most of all to check some potentially interesting titles. I wish we just had more free demos & trials without having to pay for a subscription.
 
No way, the concept of Game Pass and subs like Spotify are the same. Spotify is pretty much all music. Game Pass is some of the music, maybe, a year after it came out, and not too popular, or is popular but the artist wasn't sure if it would find an audience so took some upfront cash. And it's 3 times as much. And music takes 80 hours to listen to one song.

Just the same thing
 
It really depends on your personal situation.
Some people still buy movies and don´t stream them. I know its a bit far fetched, compared to games, but for me it´s similar.
I went the full PS+ Premium route now, streaming PS5 games over the Portal (I only have a PS4) and playing whats worth it on the PS4.

My basement is full with old consoles and games from previous generations and I rarely play them at all.
 
I've used Gamepass three times, two $1 subs and a 'free' 3 month promo from buying the Legion Go last year( and I'm not sure how, a forth month was added to that). Generally I may play 3-4 games a year and I'd rather just wait till they were on heavy sale and play them at my own pace.
 
I think people are just lightweights. I probably play more on subs, and also buy more. Anyone truly serious about playing lots of games and seeing as much diverse content as you can has figured out the benefit of the sub. People don't need to have sales explained to them like they've never waited to buy something on discount later.
 
I have PS Plus Premium and wanna know what? I always prioritize the games i end up buying and not what shows up on any subscription service. And since i'm 37 means i end up not having time to even get to the PS Plus games usually.

I can't imagine making my gaming choices part of a company's tastes and what's available in a subscription service instead of my own tastes. Couldn't live like that. This is supposed to be a hobby lol.
 
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ecosse_011172 said:
Apart from my personal comfort with owning, I think the messaging that you don't need to buy games is unhealthy (look at how the music industry has been ruined).
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Err everyone decided enmasse that they didnt feel like paying for music once a 'free' option became available. It was streaming that saved the music industry by providing a service people were willing to pay for.
 
poppabk said:
Err everyone decided enmasse that they didnt feel like paying for music once a 'free' option became available. It was streaming that saved the music industry by providing a service people were willing to pay for.
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No, not everyone at all.
Now, 99% of acts make almost nothing from streaming and have to tour endlessly and sell LPs to scrape a living while the record companies get rich.
 
ecosse_011172 said:
No, not everyone at all.
Now, 99% of acts make almost nothing from streaming and have to tour endlessly and sell LPs to scrape a living while the record companies get rich.
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46RTvGjLApJoaXY6.jpg


Ok not everyone - but people deserted buying music in droves before streaming services even really had a foothold.
 
I prefer to own my games than pay to rent them.

I might be in the minority here, but I do replay games, especially classics. I recently completed Duke Nukem 3D for probably the 10th time. I plan to replay Jedi Outcast next.
 
Fess said:
Eventually you'll have to pay standard price for the subscription though, makes the yearly cost quite high.
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Yes, the full cost is still quite higher.

Nonetheless, if you play a lot I would wager that it is still worth it. And as you mentioned, the cost is fine to play day 1 releases, especially if you plan to finish them in a month or 2.
 
ecosse_011172 said:
I've had both Game Pass (cheapo stacking) since Series X came out and PS+ (on and off for years) and it's gradually dawned on me that I really don't like not owning my games (ignoring the itSoNLyaLiCEnSE stuff).
Every time I see "soon leaving Game Pass" it annoys me, it has become more clear how important ownership is.
I like Game Pass as basically a demo service (if you get it cheap enough) but that's it. I have a few games I really am looking forward to playing on Game Pass (e.g. Metaphor Refantazio, Atomfall) but I'm going to buy them at a good price on a PSN sale.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's how I used GP when I had it. I would demo a bunch of games and then decide which ones I really wanted to invest my time in. Very few, it turns out! Those I would buy. The rest I would pass by.

ecosse_011172 said:
Apart from my personal comfort with owning, I think the messaging that you don't need to buy games is unhealthy (look at how the music industry has been ruined).

Is it just me?
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No, of course not. Many people have voiced the same concern. There is some nuance involved. Sub services offering a legacy catalog is not a bad idea. It's the Day 1 giveaways popularized by GP that have been so damaging. On the upside, Xbox's decision to step on that particular rake has served as a useful object lesson to Sony and Nintendo. If they were curious how that would work out, they just need to look at Xbox (the console, not the publishing brand).

Personally, I'm not all that concerned about "the health of the industry," so arguments along those lines always fall flat with me. The industry can look after its own health. I'm not here to make decisions that will "support the industry," and I'm not going to feel guilt about pursuing my own interests. However, I do enjoy supporting individual developers from time to time, and I know I can only do that through buying games, not playing them on a subscription service.
 
It's not just the lack of owning that's the issue for me. It's not having access to choose the exact game I want to play. At least with GameFly, I had the option to get any game I wanted, regardless of publisher.
 
Subscription services is great during the 1st year I subscribe as I have access to a big library of game I might not have played yet, but once i play all the games I care about, i rather just buy and own games i actually want to play rather than wait and hoping something interesting drops on the renting service.
 
I rarely keep games permanently and if I ever feel the need to replay a game, it's far enough along that it's often at $9.99 or so. If I ever buy a game at full price, I usually end up re-selling it days after beating it.

GamePass + Gamefly is ideal for my personal preferences. Game Pass's day 1 releases alone justify its cost for me.
 
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For people who dont even play MP, subbing to a plan right off the bat has value issues since the first $60 dollars (whatever it costs in the US for 1 yr service for PS Essentials/GP Core) is dead cost. In Canada, GP Core can be bought for $90 and PS Essentials is $110.

Then from there the extra tiers are more costs, but have more games a features. The next tiers will stretch to $200+.

For anyone who always subs to Xbox Gold for MP since the 360 days like me, the incremental cost is small especially with their past insane promo stacking which was 6 years of GPU for almost zero extra costs over basic MP sub plan. The new promo conversion is by far not as good. But the extra annual cost I think is $200 now. But home sharing with a buddy it's half that. So for $100 extra I get GPU over GP Core. Totally worth it.

I'm not a collector, so I dont care about owning the game forever as I probably wont play it again. There are some games I'll replay to death in the past like old COD games and on PC HoMM 3. But most games I dont go back.

I dont know about PS+, but for GP games you can buy them at a 20% discount too. I dont know the exact details on timing (day one or it happens later), but you see that GP member sale price in yellow font all the time.
 
diffusionx said:
I had GP for years and hated it because ultimately it dictates what i play and not me. But it's good for a certain type of gamer.
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While that can be true it's no different than having Netflix or Apple TV+.

- Oh a new season of Silo is up, cool!
*starts to binge Silo*
- Oh a new Doom is out, cool!
*starts to play Doom*

The upside, if you don't like it just turn it off, no buyers remorse.

With full price purchases it's the reviewers and my economy that dictate what I play. Don't know if that's any better. Means I'll let someone else's taste go before my own and I'll only play a couple of 9+/10 games per year and will skip the rest, I'll also play longer than I want to not have buyers remorse.
 
Fess said:
While that can be true it's no different than having Netflix or Apple TV+.

- Oh a new season of Silo is up, cool!
*starts to binge Silo*
- Oh a new Doom is out, cool!
*starts to play Doom*

The upside, if you don't like it just turn it off, no buyers remorse.

With full price purchases it's the reviewers and my economy that dictate what I play. Don't know if that's any better. Means I'll let someone else's taste go before my own and I'll only play a couple of 9+/10 games per year and will skip the rest, I'll also play longer than I want to not have buyers remorse.
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No, it's quite different.

One, games leave gamepass. Two, if you follow the game industry closer than you do the tv industry, as many of us do, you will likely find games not on gamepass you're interested in. Three, if you really like a game - like lets say Age of Empires 2 - it's actually way way cheaper over time to buy it than stay subbed just to play it. You're not going to watch Silo continuously for months or years.
 
Fess said:
1. Play day 1 on Gamepass.

2. Buy cheap later if you like a game enough that you want to own it.
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This is where I'm at. If you can't or don't want to buy a new game outright and it's on Game Pass, just play it there. If you want to support the devs still, buy the game then, or when it's cheaper at a later date.

If I can own physical, I'd love to. If not, digital works as it's usually cheaper and there's no other choice. But man, I'll forever miss the excitement of opening a new physical game, the smell, the booklet, etc. :cry:
 
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diffusionx said:
No, it's quite different.

One, games leave gamepass. Two, if you follow the game industry closer than you do the tv industry, as many of us do, you will likely find games not on gamepass you're interested in. Three, if you really like a game - like lets say Age of Empires 2 - it's actually way way cheaper over time to buy it than stay subbed just to play it. You're not going to watch Silo continuously for months or years.
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Most games dont disappear off a sub plan so fast. If someone subs to play it and a year or two later it leaves and they still either didnt get around to it, or want to keep playing it for more years, they can just buy it dirt cheap. But in the meantime the gamer still plays it for cheap on sub plan along with the tons of other games.

GP skews to newer games too, so anyone wanting to play it right away is paying full price and keep it forever.

But the costs are going to be sky high for game purchasers who want to buy day one or early on. Especially moreso since most gamers are digital now, so the guy cant even sell it back to a store and get $30 back.

Its no different than Netflix. You can sub for $15/mth and gets tons of TV and movies. TV/movies drop off sub plans too. Or you can cherry pick what you want on Amazon or a Google play download and buy it for $10. Hardly anyone buys because the value isnt there even if you want to watch it a ton of times over and over again for years after it drops off the service. Collectors may want ownership or a plastic case on their shelf, but a lot of people will just sub.

Music is similar too. You can probably buy any song out there for just $1. But people do Spotify.
 
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I don't really replay the vast majority of games I play.
If I can rent a game for $15 for a month instead of spending $70 on it then that's probably what I'll do.
The exception being games I really want to support, or long games that I'll play for multiple months (I'd rather own for $70 than rent for 3 months for $45).

If 10 years from now I feel like replaying some game I played through a subscription, I'll probably be able to pick it up for like $10.
 
duck_sauce said:
I dont care about owning games. I play them and i move on. The less i pay for playing them the better.
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This is pretty much my feeling on games as well. There are like 10 games max that I'd ever really care about owning. Out of that 10 only about 5 ever have a realistic chance of me replaying them.

With that said I didn't like the sub services. It changed my thought process to gaming and almost made me feel pressured to play certain games before they leave the service instead of games I wanted. Also to try and hurry and finish a game so I can get to the next one before it leaves the service.

Eventually I realized I have plenty of money so what am I worried about trying to save a few hundred over a year on games? Like that sort of money means nothing to me so why would I care. So I just went back to buying games and buying what I feel like playing next instead of worrying about what might be leaving the service soon.
 
100% owning until is possible.
I restricted myself to Steam and Switch 2, don't care about the rest and sub services.
 
I look at it like renting games. If there's an expensive game i want to play, and probably play once and forget about then i'll sub to the service. But if it's something i'll continually play, or a long game like Persona, then i'll buy it.
 
diffusionx said:
No, it's quite different.

One, games leave gamepass. Two, if you follow the game industry closer than you do the tv industry, as many of us do, you will likely find games not on gamepass you're interested in. Three, if you really like a game - like lets say Age of Empires 2 - it's actually way way cheaper over time to buy it than stay subbed just to play it. You're not going to watch Silo continuously for months or years.
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If you only play one single game, sure. But I mean, Spotify would be the same if you only listen to one album over and over. It's a rare exception, few are that one-sided.

Otherwise, once a game leave the service the price has usually gone down. You can play all kinds of games that seem interesting day 1, then buy those you feel like you need to own at a lower price later.

Those that aren't on the service you can buy as usual, no different from movies on Netflix, wait for a Netflix release or buy.

So far this year I've played these big releases:
Expedition 33, DOOM The Dark Ages, Oblivion Remaster, Avowed, Ninja Gaiden 2, Wuchang. Planning to play AC Mirage too and The Outer Worlds 2.
That's like $500 or something close to it. Can't say I regret having the sub…
 
I prefer to own my games, but I'll subscribe from time to time if there is a game that I want to play that I don't want to pay full price for or I'm not sure if I will like.

Games that I know I will like I buy digital. Games that I'm unsure of or know that I will play once and never touch it again then I'll buy physically or play through GP/PS+ if it's available.
 
Fess said:
If you only play one single game, sure. But I mean, Spotify would be the same if you only listen to one album over and over. It's a rare exception, few are that one-sided.

Otherwise, once a game leave the service the price has usually gone down. You can play all kinds of games that seem interesting day 1, then buy those you feel like you need to own at a lower price later.

Those that aren't on the service you can buy as usual, no different from movies on Netflix, wait for a Netflix release or buy.

So far this year I've played these big releases:
Expedition 33, DOOM The Dark Ages, Oblivion Remaster, Avowed, Ninja Gaiden 2, Wuchang. Planning to play AC Mirage too and The Outer Worlds 2.
That's like $500 or something close to it. Can't say I regret having the sub…
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This is why I said that gamepass is good for a certain type of person. I didn't say that gamepass was awful or useless. One who wants to play a lot of games and is fine being, basically, told what they are going to play.

Most of the games you mentioned are not interesting to me at all and I wouldn't have played them on gamepass or paid for them. I dont klnow why people need to defend this service especially to someone who acknowledged its strength.
 
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