How to choose the best game subscription service (2021): Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Stadia

The game is starting to look more and more like Netflix: Instead of buying discs at the store and taking them home, subscription services from Sony, Microsoft, Nvidia, and others let you access a wide range of games for monthly or even monthly prices. even stream them without long downloads. But between Xbox Live Gold, Game Pass, xCloud, PS Plus, PS Now, Nintendo Switch Online, and everything else, it’s hard to know which does what — and which is worth paying for. And that’s before we get to mobile gaming. Let’s break them all.

Update November 2021: We’ve expanded this guide to cover Nintendo Switch Online, Apple Arcade, Google Play Pass, Google Stadia, GeForce Now, and Amazon Prime Gaming subscriptions.

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PS Plus vs PS Now

Let’s start with Sony, which has a slightly simpler set of services. If you have a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5, you can subscribe to two different services: PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now.

This is Sony’s online multiplayer service. For $10 per month (or $60 per year), you can play online with friends and opponents. (No subscription required, you can just play the single-player games offline.) PS Plus sweetens the deal by giving you a few free games each month, which you can keep for free as subscribers. If you have a PS5, PS Plus Collection 20 more of the best PS4 games for you to catch up on. There are also exclusive discounts for PlayStation Store—And best of all, you can usually buy PS Plus super cheaply from Reputable eBay seller or buy code from Amazon, so it is an easy buy.

PlayStation Now is Sony’s game streaming and subscription service. For $10 per month (or $60 per year), you get access to hundreds of PS4, PS3 and PS2 games — 800 of which you can stream instantly to your console or PC over the internet without having to download and install them. Or you can download and play over 400 PS4 games in a more traditional, offline fashion. You’ll need a stable internet connection for streaming to work, but otherwise, it’s like Netflix for PlayStation games—and it’s also the only way to play PS3 and PS2 games on modern consoles. Friend. You also don’t need a particularly powerful PC.

Note: PS Plus and PS Now are separate subscriptions, so if you want to stream multiplayer and stream games online, you’ll have to upgrade for both. PS Now’s streaming is also different from PS Remote play, allowing you to stream games from your PS4 or PS5 in your home to another PS4 or PC. Remote Play is free for everyone as long as you own the console and the game.

Xbox Live Gold vs Game Pass vs Game Pass Ultimate

Xbox Stable Services is even more confusing — there are three separate subscription services, some of which have separate tiers, and include other subscriptions bundled in them. Here’s everything you can sign up for from Microsoft.

Xbox Network

Formerly known as Xbox Live, Xbox Network isn’t actually a paid subscription, but for the sake of clarity we’ll include it here. This is where you create online profiles and friend lists, send and receive messages, etc. Microsoft allows online multiplayer without a paid subscription. more than 50 free games. However, you cannot play premium games online with your friends unless you have a paid subscription to…

For $10 per month (or $25 quarterly), this subscription lets you play Xbox games online with friends. (A Gold subscription is not required to play Microsoft PC games online.) You get two free games per month as part of your subscription, as well as discounts on other games in Microsoft Store.

Sign up for Game Pass on your Xbox and you can access hundreds of games to download and install. The standard Game Pass for consoles costs $10 per month and includes “more than 100The game”, with some titles occasionally rotating in and out, Netflix style. Microsoft’s first-party Xbox Game Studios titles will be available on the service as soon as they launch, while others may take longer to show up.

This is the same as Xbox Game Pass for consoles, but — as the name implies — it lets you download and play those games on your PC. It costs the same $10 per month but includes games from EA Play, which means it has a slightly larger library.

As the name suggests, this subscription includes everything we’ve covered so far. It’s a combo service for $15 per month that gives you access to the entire Game Pass and EA Play library on PC and Xbox, plus online multiplayer and discounts in the Microsoft Store (no registration required). own Xbox Live Gold subscription). This also includes Microsoft’s new game streaming service, xCloud, which is in beta, and streams games from the internet to your Android phone. If you want everything Microsoft has to offer, you can get it all in Game Pass Ultimate. It’s one of the best deals in the game right now—though that moniker really depends on your habits. If you play a lot of different games, it’s worth it — but if you tend to stick with a few titles for months at a time, it might not be as engaging.

If you have Xbox Live Gold credit you can convert it to Game Pass Ultimate at the rate described above this page—Which is actually pretty cool if you can find the Xbox Live Gold code at a discount.