I would be very surprised if Sony followed Microsoft because they simply don't need to do what Microsoft is doing because 1) both are going in a different direction, 2) Sony's exclusives sell millions upon millions and are successful as well as get rated high by critics and gamers where as outside of the big three, Microsoft's exclusives simply don't and 3) Sony's exclusives focus on being third person single player story driven narrative games where as Microsoft's exclusives focus around online multi-player and live services which when you're trying to sell a subscription makes sense because if you're going to play the same game for months, it simply fits.
The major negative I have seen since Spencer started this a year ago is that in terms of Microsoft's exclusives, he's 1 for 3 in regards to releasing quality games based on majority of critics and gamers. When he announced that Sea of Thieves was going on Game Pass day one, let's be honest, you knew the game was going to be lacking and at best subpar followed by State of Decay 2 which was also another subpar game at best. Granted, these games could become great and be the next Rainbow Six Siege months or years later but I personally want the quality day one, not months or years later.
The quality is main difference. Sony's exclusives are of high quality and are worth more when being sold at $60 each as opposed to giving them away as a $10 rental for a month. I would much rather pay $180 in a year for three games like in 2018 that are a 9.5/10, a 9.0/10 and a game that im expecting to be an 8+ for me when I play it (Detroit, backlog) as opposed to paying $120 a year for a game I have zero interest in with SOT, a game I quit after 15 hours in SOD 2 and another game and genre that I have zero interest in with Forza Horizon 4. At least FH4 is of high quality which is also why Playground Games is the only new studio in which I have 100% confidence in as they've proven themselves.
My biggest concern with Microsoft/Spencer/Game Pass is that they're too focused on quantity in order to keep adding to Game Pass as opposed to quality. The big three (or four if you want to count Forza M/H as two) will always be of high quality but all the rest are simply debatable. Giving me say 6 exclusives in a year on Game Pass but all of them are only above average games isn't impressing me at all and if anything, is turning me off because my time is valuable and I refuse to waste it on bad/average/above average games when there's far better games available that I could be playing instead.
Sony unlike Microsoft has earned my $60 for Days Gone, TLOUP2 and Ghost of Tsushima because when it comes to their exclusives, they have earned my confidence in them simply because they rarely if ever disappoint me. The last disappointment for me was Knack and that was a launch title. But last gen, Sony gave me 4 excellent exclusives from Naughty Dog and 1 great one from Housemarque. This gen, they have simply hit home run after home run.
Microsoft for me hasn't. The last great exclusive they gave me was Gears 4 and based on what they have releasing in 2019, it will be 3 years later when I get another great game which amazingly is in the same franchise, that being Gears 5. Quantity simply means nothing to me if the quality doesn't equal or surpass it and in this regard, they have simply failed which is why their exclusives are on Game Pass.
One thing that really interests me but will never know is, I wonder how SOT/SOD 2 would have done in sales if it wasn't for Game Pass. Yeah, I know SOD 2 was #1 for May NPD but it was a $30 game, less if you had GCU or that 20% off at Amazon. Not really saying much.
Bottom line is that for me, their directions are different and for Microsoft, it makes perfect sense where as for Sony, I believe that it would be fucking stupid and completely devalue all of their IP's. To each their own but I don't see Sony doing this and I for one hope they never do because I know that once they do, the quality will decline and I prefer to pay for quality rather than quantity.
The way Game Pass was designed,it will definitely be quantity over quality,yeah.
MS will need any content they can get to fill Game Pass,often with subpar quality.
Sony vs MS will be something like HBO vs Netflix i guess.
There is a reason i have HBO cable subscription for more then a decade now but i never got Netflix.Here in Europe at least they have nothing that interest me.
