Written by It’s amazes me that in 2022, Sony hasn’t figured out how to build a PlayStation that is fully, 100% backwards compatible for PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 games.
What I should’ve titled this blog instead was The Battle of PS Plus vs. Xbox Gold. At this stage, that’s what is has become. Not to over complicate matters, I had and Xbox 360 before even considering buying a PS3. I never played any online games on the Xbox 360 because you had to pay a membership and I wasn’t going to do that. My first Xbox 360 quit working. I bought a second Xbox 360 and not long after, I caught the Ring of Death. Remember the Red Ring of Death? I went on and bought a third Xbox 360 and same deal. I deiced then to buy a PlayStation 3 since I skipped over PlayStation 2. I figured, ok, lets see if this PS3 can keep up with me.
Gran theft Auto 4 was the first PS3 title that I bought to play. After completing the story, I found it had online multiplayer. I jumped on and chose Races. I thought it was cool since I never played an online multiplayer game before, meeting new people from around the world, I thought, pretty cool. I spent a better part of two years of so just racing on GTA4 online and having a blast. Trust me, I can tell you stories that’ll have you rollin’. That’s all I would do, just race. From time to time, I’d jump on a different mode just to see what the deal was and if it was fun. Free Mode was, alright, not my thing.
The PS3 also had and online store to buy digital games. It also it offered a subscription called PS Plus. See, that that time, PS Plus was optional to buy, same deal as today, get two free games a month with your subscription. The PS Plus never interested me and I had no care for it. At that time, we would rank on Xbox players because they had to pay a sub to play online multiplayer games and, well ,we didn’t. All you need was an internet connection to jump online and play. That still hold true today.
PS4 Wasn’t Backwards Compatible
If I’m not mistaken, the new PlayStation 4 was announced back in 2013. We were all pump and excited for a new console. In the back of my mind, I wondered if the PS4 would be backwards compatible. Later on, I got my answer, nope. That part jut put me off and I lost interest. It bothered me because Microsoft always made it a point to make Xbox backwards compatible with a many titles as possible. Some some ironic reason, Sony couldn’t pull this marvelous wonder called backward combability. It was like if it was an alien concept. Many of the game were being made for PS3 and PS4 but the point was always made the PS3 was limited. PS4 had better everything over the PS3.
Holding Multiplayer Hostage
When I found out that Sony was holding the online multiplayer aspect hostage behind PS Plus, I was aggravated. Not only didn’t I want to pay a subscription to play online multiplayer game, but it made no sense why Sony would lock the online multiplayer behind a paywall. Then it dawned on me, that’s just to get everyone to pay up. By 2014, a friend convinced me that PS Plus was worth it and I should just get a PS4 anyways. Like an idiot, I was sold on the idea that PS Plus on the PS4 was this awesome thing and I was going to get my moneys worth anyways. So, I went ahead a bought a PS4.
After buying the PS4, a game and the PS Plus, set it up, connected and launched it. Sure, it looked nicer than the PS3, more slick, grate, don’t care. I went to the store to find out more about the benefits of PS Plus. Guess what I found? I’ll tell you. Nothing! It was the same deal as PS3. Get 2 free games a month and now have the ability to play online. That’s it. The only word that came to mind was “sucker”. So, sure, everyone now has PS Plus. Not because it has value, because the multiplayer is held hostage behind a paywall. I can’t even play my PS3 games on my PS4! I gave it until 2016 and nothing. I quit paying PS Plus and moved to PC. The best move I’ve ever made. Now, on PC, I can play my online games with no moronic sub.
PlayStation Now
Instead of Sony making an attempt to create a backwards compatible gaming system for gamers to be able to play there PS3 and even there PS2 games, nope, they chose to add a streaming service with a second subscription to play PS3 games. Are you kidding me or what? That just blew my mind. If I have my PS3 games, why would I waist my time in paying a second subscription to play games I already own? Again, it makes no sense. Sure, PS 4 came with Netflix and Hulu, Spotify, fantastic, I don’t care. I just want a gaming system to play my games and go online. Nothing more.
2022 PS Plus Bundle vs. Xbox Gold Bundle
Xbox Gold Bundle: The wonderful thing about PC is, that you have and Xbox “app” at your figure tips. You can launch the Xbox app and buy and play games just like if it were a console. Currently, I have Forza Horizon 4, full game, on my Xbox App, play it right from the PC. You can also add friends and invite them to play the same game if the game is cross platform. It’s just a wonderful integration between console and PC. Xbox has an Xbox Pass Unlimited is bundled with Xbox Gold Live for 14.99 a month, which included the ability to play on both console and PC plus you have get access to over 100 high-quality games, like Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, and MLB The Show 22, with new titles added all the time to the library that you can download and play at no additional cost (at this time of writing). That sound like value. However, if you play just on PC, you can opt for just Game Pass on PC for $9.99 a month. This includes a library of 100 plus games, Discounts and Deals, Day one release for Exclusive Games and EA games. Again, it sounds like it has value.
PS Plus Bundle: Sony is now going to bundle it’s PS Plus with it’s PS now. The new bundle is going to have three separate tiers. Essential, Extra and Premium. Essential is what you’re paying for now. You get two free games, the ability to play online multiplayer games, cloud storage, nothing changes. Below, you will see the corresponding prices for Essential. You, however, won’t be able to download the games. Now, What bothers me about these tiers, all of the PS3 games are going to be locked behind the premium. Below, you will see the price for PS Plus Essential.
However, instead of adding value to the current PS Plus, you will have to upgrade To PS Plus Extra if you want additional goodies. The PS Plus Extra will include a catalog of 400 PS4 and PS5 games only. It will also include block buster hits from the PlayStation Studio catalog and third party partners. Furthermore, it will cost more. Below, you will see the price for PS Plus Extra.
If you’re wondering about PS3 games, worry no more. Instead of adding PS3 games to Essential, Sonny opted to add PS3 games to the PS Plus Premium. With the premium, you will have the all the benefits of Essential and Extra. It will add a catalog of beloved classic games available in both streaming and download options from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations. It’s also going to offer cloud streaming access for PS2, PSP and PS4. There hasn’t been any mention of PS1 games being added. You will be able to stream games on the PS4, PS5 and PC. Lastly, game trails will only be offered in the PS Plus Premium. Below, I’ve listed the prices for PS Plus Premium
In A Nutshell
Now you have both Xbox and PS Plus subscription to compare, which will give you better value at the end of the day. The way I see it, many have either PS Plus or Xbox Gold live simply because the online multiplayer is locked behind the a subscription paywall. If you say that’s not true. lets put it to the test. If Sony and Microsoft were to remove the online multiplayer from their subscription model, how many people will not renew there subs? I guarantee you it’ll be over 50%. Locking the multiplayer behind a paywall, ensures that people will purchase the subscription or, bow out and move to PC where we don’t have to deal with moronic subs to play online. Not because it has value, simply because the multiplayer is locked behind a paywall. It’s that simple to understand. Lastly, Sony, instead of creating the PS4 and PS5 backwards compatible, Sony decided to lock the PS3, PS2 games behind the most expensive version of the subscription.
If you don’t care for PC for whatever reason, you need to look at both PS Plus and Xbox Gold and see which of the two gives you more value for your money. Which gives you more for less. Personally, If I had to choose, I would go for Xbox. Simply because it’s backwards compatible. I can play my Xbox 360 games, and and there’s more value for the Xbox Pass Bundle. Plus, I would get a library of over 100 games to download and play with out extra cost. Sadly, neither the Play Station 4 nor the Play Station 5 are backwards compatible and all my PS3 games are just sitting there collection dust. Will Sony ever make a PlayStation that is fully backwards compatible? Who knows. But it’s about time that Sony makes PlayStation backwards compatible.
