PS5 Won't Get An Xbox Game Pass Competitor, Says PlayStation Boss

Following on from Sony's PlayStation 5 Showcase, where the console's price was finally revealed, PlayStation chief Jim Ryan has made it clear once again that there are no plans to launch a competitor to Xbox Games Pass.

Microsoft offers the subscription service across both Xbox and PC, giving players over 100 games to download and play for as little as $10 a month. The kicker is that all of Microsoft's exclusives launch day and date on Games Pass, which is something Ryan doesn't see as sustainable.

"These games cost many millions of dollars, well over $100 million, to develop. We just don't see that as sustainable," Ryan said in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz.

Sony does eventually put its exclusives on PlayStation Now, its own subscription service that allows you to play games via the cloud or download them to your console. The company also announced the PlayStation Plus Collection at the showcase, bundling numerous acclaimed PS4 titles and making them free for PS Plus members on PS5 soon. Despite that, Ryan says that Sony won't pursue something like Games Pass.

"For us, having a catalogue of games is not something that defines a platform," Ryan added. "Our pitch, as you've heard, is 'new games, great games.' We have had this conversation before--we are not going to go down the road of putting new releases titles into a subscription model."

Sony announced prices for the PS5 during its showcase, with the digital-only PS5 going for $400 and the standard edition for a pricier $500. By comparison, Microsoft's Xbox Series X will also be $500, while the less powerful Series S comes in at $300. Preorders for the PS5 have already gone live (and are predictably scarce already), while Microsoft will launch its preorders on September 22.