PlayStation
Jim Ryan talks about Xbox Game Pass, disregards it as real competition
Jim Ryan remains calm in the face of Game Pass, claiming the PS5’s sales in two years are way better than Xbox’s service subscribers in its entire existence.
The video game cold war continues - and it’s getting warmer every second - between Sony and Microsoft after the Activision acquisition by the former, even though that process is currently halted. The relationship between both companies that once seemed to be going well has been strained after recent accusations, and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan has just said something that may heat things up even more.
For a long time now, Xbox Game PAss has become Microsoft’s main weapon in the company’s competitive strategy, but even so Ryan shows no signs of worry. Far from that, during a Q&A session with PlayStation employees, the executive assured his workers that said service isn’t even being considered a real competitor for them.
While there’s no recent data about Xbox Game Pass subscribers, it is estimated that it stands between 20 and 30 million users, with Microsoft itself revealing that it’s gone a little bit stagnant in recent times. It’s something to be expected, given that there is a fixed limit to subscribers in the form of Xbox consoles sold around the world. Ryan pointed at this when asked about the subscription service which, in all honesty, could be considered the most popular service available in the worldwide market.
PlayStation boss isn’t worried about Game Pass
“When we consider Game Pass, it seems to be getting lower [numbers],” said the Sony executive. “When we consider Game Pass, we’ve sold more PS5s in two years than they have gathered subscribers, and they’ve been doing that for 6-7 years." When referring to PlayStation Plus, they’re own subscription service, he said: “We’re just shy of 50 million subscribers and they are in the low 20s, but there’s more work to do to grow that number.”
In truth, PlayStation 5 has sold around 28 million units, while if you look at official Game Pass numbers, Microsoft only shares them at the beginning of each year. In January of 2022, they were speaking of 25 million subscribers, so if we take their “stagnation” comments to heart, it would suggest that the numbers haven’t changed that much.
Source | Windows Central