Microsoft’s subscription gaming service, Game Pass, has often been mired by controversy with many debating if it is worth it. The $10 dollar-a-month subscription service (on average) allows players to gain access to dozens of titles every month. The service is available on both the Xbox and PC. The debate has picked up recently since Xbox did not have a major exclusive AAA title released during 2022. Playstation and Nintendo players were treated with exclusives such as the God of Ragnarök and several Pokemon games. But Xbox did not have much to offer in that regard. This raises the question, was the service worth it during the past year?
The short answer is yes. Game Pass subscribers had access to many of the year’s highest-rated titles along with a few unique options. Xbox may have had a poor showing overall, but Game Pass had a pretty decent year bringing a rich selection of games to its subscribers.
During the previous year, gamers around the world gained access to some 220 games in total about $7,100 in value with Game Pass. This is a significantly greater value than that offered in 2021 which amounted to $6,317.55.
In the chart above, we have compiled how much value Game Pass provided to its subscribers on a monthly basis in 2022. September saw the most value, with 25 games offered worth $854.75 while December saw the least value. Only 11 games worth $314.99 were offered in December on Game Pass.
In January, subscribers enjoyed a total of 17 games being added worth $689.79 on Game Pass. While February saw $624.81 being offered in value on 19 games added in total. In March, subscribers enjoyed a total of 19 games being offered again, but against a value of $590.80. Subscribers enjoyed 18 games added on Game Pass against a value of $584.86 in April, while in May they enjoyed the same number of games added at 18 games but against a higher value at $665.79. In June, the number of games being added plummeted to 13 against a value of $561.35, while in July a total of 22 games were added to Game Pass against a value of $704.79.
Gamers enjoyed 21 new games that were added to Game Pass in August against a value of $538.77. A total of 25 games were added in September against a value of $854.75 making it the most valuable month on record for 2022. In October, 18 were added to the service against a value of $494.83 while 19 games were added for $548.31 to Game Pass in November. December only saw 11 games being added to Game Pass against a total of $314.99 in value, the lowest on record for 2022.
In comparison, the PlayStation subscription service named PlayStation Plus Essential only added 37 games to the service for a combined retail price of $1,304.63 according to a report by Polygon. This comes after a rebranding effort by PlayStation. The service was previously known as the Instant Game Collection before June 2022 and only took on the new name after it. Like Game Pass, the service now is available in 3 different tiers with the cheapest being at $10 and the most expensive Premium tier now costing $15 a month. However, all tiers offer 2-3 free games to play per month, but you get additional perks such as playing older PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP titles.
Comparing the two services after the rebranding in June, PlayStation offered a total of 21 games to its subscribers. Game Pass on the other hand granted its subscribers access to a total of 129 games. Now, we can’t really make a direct comparison between the offerings of both services after the rebranding, 2023 will indeed an important year for both the gaming services. Microsoft has a lot of big budget exclusives lined up for Game Pass and we will have to wait and see what Sony will bring to the table to counter that.
Overall, Microsoft’s Game Pass isn’t showing signs of slowing down and despite all the challenges are criticism, Team Green has a lot of confidence in the service and they want to push it further which is definitely a good news for the consumers.
