For several years now, our industry has undergone a real transformation and is moving towards subscription services straight from the music and movie markets. Currently, every console manufacturer has its own subscription for gamers, so we decided to check out the best.
In today’s material, we look at the most important subscription services on the market, that is, those from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, but without taking into account EA Play, Ubisoft +, Apple Arcade, Google Play Pass, Prime Gaming and a mass of other regularly paid services from other manufacturers. They are also known to be relatively important to the industry, but they are not critical.
Player subscriptions – what’s cheaper?
At the moment, each console manufacturer offers its subscription in several price tiers that differ not only in price, but also in content and quality of services. PlayStation Plus has three different variants – PS Plus Essential, PS Plus Extra, and PS Plus Premium. Microsoft offers Competitive Xbox Game Pass for consoles, PC Game Pass for PC, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate that combines the two services into one. Finally, we have the Nintendo and Nintendo Switch Online or an extended package called the Expansion Pack. Here’s what their prices look like:
- PS Plus Basic – zloty 37 per month / 100 zlotys quarter / 240 PLN annually (20 zł monthly)
- PS Plus Extra – zloty 58 per month / zloty 165 quarter / zloty 400 annually (33.33 PLN monthly)
- PS Plus Premium – 70 PLN per month / 200 PLN quarter / zloty 480 annually (40 PLN monthly)
- Xbox Game Pass – 40 PLN monthly
- PC Game Pass – 39.99 PLN monthly
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – 54.99 PLN monthly
- Nintendo Switch Online – PLN 16 per month / zloty 32 quarter / zloty 80 annually (PLN 6.66.00 monthly)
- Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack – zloty 170 annually (PLN 14.16.00 monthly)
As you can see, the Nintendo Switch Online and its extended package are the cheapest on a monthly basis with an annual fee, so if you are looking for the cheapest possible form of entertainment, the Japanese offer is something that should interest you. Unfortunately, the low price doesn’t come with high quality – but more comes on that in an instant. Before we move on to what we find in these subscriptions, let’s take a look at family payment plans. However, only Nintendo and Microsoft offer such options.
- Friends and Family for Xbox Game Pass – 103 zlotys per month for up to 5 people (PLN 20.60.00 PLN per person per month)
- Nintendo Switch Online Family Plan – zloty 140 annually up to 8 people (1.45 PLN per person per month)
- Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack Family Plan – zloty 290 annually up to 8 people (PLN 3.02 per person per month)
As it turns out, if you have a large group of friends or a large family of players, you can share the fee so much that the monthly cost of playing can be Only 1.45 PLN per monthwhich is below the average supermarket bar.
Player subscriptions – which one has the best offer?
However, as I mentioned earlier, this low price does not necessarily go hand in hand with the high quality of the subscription offer. The Nintendo Switch Online is perhaps the cheapest subscription of all, but its content is aimed at a narrow audience. So what about the Microsoft and Sony offering? This service is much broader, but the two services are slightly different from each other.
Currently PlayStation Plus in version Necessary It is a classic service where, apart from the online gameplay, we have many basic network functions and 2-3 games per month that we can add to the library. Issuance additional To all this it adds just over 400 games from the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 library, thanks to which we have access to really great titles of the first order. However, if you decide to make an offer excellent You’ll get more than 400 other games from PSX, PS2, PSP and PS3, which together put just over 800 games at your fingertips. As if that weren’t enough, PS Plus Premium offers so many Preview versions of the biggest AAA games that we’ll spend a nice many hours on each experience. Most importantly, Sony does not subscribe to their games for the premiere!
Xbox Game Pass It in turn is a library of 467 games available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X | S, where both slightly older titles and the entire catalog of Xbox game studios — both old and early — run, and a number of smaller and larger games hitting the service on premiere day. The same applies to PC gaming arcadeThere are currently 443 games along with a large catalog of games from the base version of EA Play. when buying Xbox Game Pass Ultimate You’ll get a combined console and PC offer, the ability to play a large number of games in the cloud and Xbox Live Gold. In total, this provides about 500-600 addresses that are immediately available.
nintendo switch online It is aimed primarily at lovers of retro climates. By purchasing a Nintendo subscription, you get access to more than 100 productions of NES and SNES, two exclusive online games in the form of Tetris 99 and Pac-Man 99 as well as a game preview system, that is, limited-time game offers, thanks to which you can play from time to time. Address in its full form without any additional charges. However, this is not the end of the attractions, because Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack It expands this library with games from the Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis, and larger DLC for games like Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Animal Crossing New Horizons. Most importantly, NSO is the only subscription where games don’t disappear over time, so the library is only constantly expanding. Together, this results in about 194 games + DLC.
The subscription offers are summarized as follows:
- PS Plus Basic
- Play online
- 3 games per month on PS4 / PS5
- PS Plus Collection (19 PS4 Games)
- PS Plus Extra
- PS Plus Basic
- More than 400 PS4 / PS5 games
- PS Plus Premium
- PS Plus Extra
- More than 400 games from PSX, PS2, PSP and PS3
- Game Preview – Extensive Trials
- Xbox Game Pass
- About 450 games for Xbox One and Xbox Series X | S.
- PC gaming arcade
- About 450 PC games
- The basic alternative to EA Play
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
- Xbox Game Pass
- PC Games Pass + EA Play
- Playing in the cloud
- Xbox Live Gold – Play online + 2 games per month
- nintendo switch online
- Play online
- Games with NES
- Games with SNES
- Tetris 99 + Pac-Man 99
- Limited trial versions
- Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack
- nintendo switch online
- Games with N64
- Games with Sega Genesis
- Big DLC
Player subscriptions – which subscription should you choose?
You may be wondering who we recommend choosing a particular subscription. In this regard, after reading the above offers, most of you have probably already decided, although we would like to help the undecided with a few tips. Here are our suggestions for which of the above subscriptions will suit you best.
- For those who want to be on the lookout and play the big premieres – Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
- For those who love indie games and smaller titles – Xbox / PC Game Pass
- For those who want to catch up – PS Plus Extra
- For those who love retro lighting – PS Plus Premium
- For those who love deep retro – Nintendo Switch Online
- For those who want to play for pennies and not be afraid of old games – Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack
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