Sony CEO says Game Pass model "doesn't make sense" for blockbuster games

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has expressed his lack of faith with video game subscription services. 

Following on from the reveal of the PlayStation 5 price last night, which matches the price of the Xbox Series X, Ryan discussed the upcoming hardware battle between Sony and Microsoft in a BBC interview.

When asked whether or not he believes the services that Microsoft offers for Xbox Series customers will result in similar profitability on the occasion of selling less units, the Sony CEO revealed that those forms of services don’t make sense to Sony.

“[PlayStation is] about big blockbuster games that cost a lot to make, so a similar subscription service model would not make financial sense,” Ryan told the outlet.

Despite this, PlayStation is offering two different game subscriptions for next-gen: the long-running PlayStation Now service for streaming PS3 games or downloading PS4 games and the upcoming PlayStation Plus Collection, a service that gives online membership customers access to a library of PlayStation 4 blockbuster exclusives.

Neither of PlayStation’s services will be offering launch day access to upcoming exclusives like Spider-Man Miles Morales, Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok and more, but they could be added to either service after a lengthy period of sale. Perfect for patient gamers.

Sony’s Jim Ryan has previously slammed other Microsoft initiatives like the Xbox One’s backward compatibility program saying, “backward compatibility… is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much.” The Sony CEO questioned “would anyone play” older games. PlayStation 5 supports backward compatibility, Sony offers PS3 games to stream on PS Now and Sony sells PS2 games on PS4.

Maybe PlayStation will offer a true Game Pass competitor later in the generation.