PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan has proclaimed that there's "news to come" regarding a PlayStation 5 service similar to Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft was the company that finally struck gold with the Netflix for Games concept, offering over 100 titles to subscribers for a low monthly fee. This includes overlooked indie games, blockbuster titles with sequels on the horizon, and the overwhelming majority of Microsoft's first-party input. Subscribers to Game Pass Ultimate also receive EA's similar subscription service on Xbox as well as various perks for free to play games and occasional bonus drops of downloadable content. The service has even offered free months of Postmates and Disney+ in 2020.

As recently as September of this year, Ryan was speaking out against the Game Pass model, saying that it was unsustainable and telling Gamasutra that Sony would not be going "down the road of putting new releases titles into a subscription model." By that same token, Sony did launch the PlayStation 5 with the "PlayStation Plus Collection," which bolstered the library of PlayStation 5 owners with 18 of the biggest titles from the previous console if they were subscribed to PlayStation Plus. Ryan has also combated Xbox's strategy by stating that Sony "believes in generations," a statement that was used against him upon the reveal that several PlayStation 5 launch titles would also be coming to PlayStation 4.

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In a recent interview with TASS, Jim Ryan confirmed that despite his past statements, Sony won't let Xbox Game Pass run unopposed in the world of subscription services. While Ryan offers up PlayStation Now as the company's current subscription service, he says that there's "news to come" regarding a more substantial competitor to Microsoft's Game Pass. There's no word on if this service would be exclusive to the PlayStation 5 or stretch back to PlayStation 4 gamers, but previous statements indicate that it would not cover the latest and greatest from Sony studios in a way similar to Xbox Game Pass.

Elsewhere in the interview, Ryan states that the PlayStation 4 will continue to remain important to the PlayStation strategy throughout 2022. Many PlayStation 5 launch titles are going for a cross-gen approach, and the same was revealed to be the case for the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West in 2021. Sony studio Insomniac Games has confirmed that its upcoming game Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart would be PlayStation 5 only, but the question remains on when the company will go all-in on its new hardware and if that would affect whatever Game Pass competitor is on the horizon.

While Jim Ryan's messaging regarding the PlayStation 5 has been somewhat uneven, it's good for everyone that Sony is considering competing with Microsoft with some sort of Game Pass service. All indications point to Xbox Game Pass being nothing but a boon to independent developers and smaller publishers, who get notoriety for games that otherwise might have been lost in the shuffle. While it's likely that Sony's offering will end up being much different from Microsoft's, that will also mean that everyone gets an idea of what works and what doesn't in this relatively new space for the games industry.

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Source: TASS (via IGN)