How does new Playstation Plus Premium compare to Xbox Game Pass and Switch Online?

New PS Plus tiers are here: Playstation Plus Premium, Playstation Plus Essential and Playstation Plus Extra offer different advantages for every kind of budget. PlayStation Plus has been updated, bringing it more into line with its rivals Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online. But not all subscription services are created equal. If you’re a console owner looking for the best deal, here’s a comparison of what each service provides as well as their costs.

New Playstation Plus tiers

PlayStation’s entrance into the subscription game is built on the marriage of two previously distinct services. There was PlayStation Now, which delivered streaming for a variety of previous-gen and more recent PlayStation games, as well as PlayStation Plus, which provided online multiplayer access and a rotating selection of free downloads each month.

While the Final Fantasy VIII Remake and other games were provided with the service, gamers have claimed that the titles available were not as exciting as those from the Xbox Game Studios, which come out on day one on Xbox Game Pass. Sony is disbanding the two brands, merging them under the name PlayStation Plus, and swelling its highest tier with a record-breaking number of games.

How much is a PlayStation Plus membership?

There are several packages you can choose which are detailed below.

PlayStation Plus Essential

It’ll set you back $9.99/month, or you may save a considerable amount of money by paying $59.99 yearly. Online multiplayer access, cloud storage for saved games, and two games to download and keep every month will be available to players with this tier of the service.

PlayStation Plus Extra

It’s comparable to the Xbox Game Pass level. It’s $14.99 per month, or you may save money by paying for the year in advance for $99.99. It includes everything in the Essential level, plus access to a library of Sony dubbed “most entertaining” PS4 and PS5 games to download. If you want PC streaming or previous-gen PlayStation games, however, you’ll have to upgrade to the Premium tier instead of this one.

PlayStation Plus Premium

This tier combines the two lower tiers and allows for PS3 game streaming, as well as streaming or downloading of original PlayStation, PS2, and PSP games. This level is dedicated to retro games at $17.99 per month or $119 yearly.

These services will not, at launch, provide first-party PlayStation games. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan stated that they are in “a virtuous cycle” with their developers and that releasing new games on these new subscription services would break the cycle. “It’s not a road that we’re going to go down with this new service,” Ryan said. This does not imply that you will never see God of War Ragnarök on PlayStation Plus, only that it will be a bit longer than Xbox owners will have to wait for the new Fable or Elder Scrolls game.

Nintendo Switch Online

Instead of creating a straight-up Game Pass clone, Nintendo chose to make its subscription service distinct. While Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus appear to be more permissive in terms of introducing new games on their platforms, Nintendo Switch Online caters primarily to the availability of its huge back catalog of retro titles.

Subscriptions to the company’s services are, across the board, the cheapest. A minimal yearly charge of $19.99 provides you with online multiplayer capability for compatible Nintendo games as well as access to a number of NES and SNES titles. Every month, new games become available; you may play them indefinitely as long as you are subscribed.

The most recent update to the service was announced just recently when Nintendo introduced a new premium tier of the service called the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. For $49.99 per year, the Expansion pack adds all of the features of a basic subscription to an ever-expanding collection of Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64 games, as well as new Mario Kart 8 Deluxe courses and an Animal Crossing: New Horizons DLC Happy Home Paradise.

Nintendo is a company that loves families more than anything. The company offers a somewhat more costly family plan so that every Switch in the home can access online services. The basic Nintendo Switch online subscription costs $34.99 per year for a family, while the Expansion Pack family plan costs $79.99 per year.

Xbox Game Pass

The large library and the most generous day one new release offers belong to Xbox Game Pass. It includes a number of benefits, such as cloud gaming, which allows you to stream compatible games to your mobile devices, a powerful PC component, and a not-too-bad back catalog of previous-generation games. However, all of these features come with a price tag.

The tiers of Xbox Game Pass are similar to those of the others. You may get access to Game Pass on PC or console for $9.99 per month or $119 a year, which is the same as the other platforms. Neither offers online multiplayer capabilities, although PC Game Pass subscribers have access to EA Play as well. For $14.99 a month or $179 a year, you may subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate, which includes access to Xbox One, PC games, and EA Play options as well as online multiplayer. The profile of Xbox’s Game Pass offerings has been increasing thanks to studio acquisitions.

Starfield, the next space RPG from Bethesda, will be available on day one on Xbox Game Pass along with other first-party games like Halo, Forza, and more. If Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is completed as expected, we may anticipate the same.

Playstation Plus vs Xbox Game Pass vs Nintendo Switch Online