PlayStation Says it’s Still Not Adding First-Party Games to PS Plus on Day One

PlayStation maintains that it’s still not adding its first-party games to PlayStation Plus on day one, similar to Microsoft’s approach with Xbox Game Pass. Instead, the company says that adding 4-5 indie games day one on the subscription service per year and only adding first-party games after a lengthy 12-18 month wait is “working really well” for Sony.

Speaking to Game File in a recent interview, PlayStation’s vice president of global services Nick Maguire was asked whether the company had reconsidered adding first-party games to PlayStation Plus on day one to match the policy of Xbox. Microsoft currently puts all of its first-party releases on Xbox Game Pass on day one, which is a strategy that’s evidently working for getting players to subscribe to Game Pass. However, PlayStation doesn’t believe it needs the same policy to be successful with its own subscription service.

Maguire replied:

“We’ve sort of stayed true to our strategy across the board, where we’re not looking to put games in day and date. Our strategy of finding four or five independent day-and-date titles – and using that to complement our strategy of bringing games in when they’re 12, 18 months old or older – that balance for us is working really well across the platform.”

Since PlayStation revamped its subscription service, it has often been compared to Xbox Game Pass due to the library of titles available to players at a monthly cost. However, where Sony deviates greatly from Xbox is its first-party games, which continue to sell incredibly well on day one without the aid of the subscription service. Games like God of War Ragnarok, Astro Bot, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and other third-party exclusivity-locked releases have sold well enough that it wouldn’t really make sense for PlayStation to suddenly pivot on its strategy – at least not right now.

When Maguire was asked about the PlayStation Plus Classics catalogue, he confirmed that Sony was “trying to bringing in one a month minimum.” Maguire was also pressed about why certain classic titles like Infamous Second Son and the Resistance games were suddenly removed over the last few months, he stated that Sony is trying to find a balance of classic titles.

“We’ve got 80 collections of games across the catalogue,” he said. “So we want to keep it fresh and bring in new games. Sometimes that means taking a few games out at the same time to keep the proposition interesting and help people find new games as well.”

Source: Game File