Purchasing games or Paying for video game subscription services - Which option you would prefer?

Sorry guys I have to restart my thread because I made some mistakes as I cannot edit any sort of poll threads that I've created.

I am very fond of Game Pass for exposing me to new stuff and letting me play games I’m interested in but not interested in enough to buy outright. However, for games I’m seriously excited about, I’m always going to buy them to directly support the devs and permanently have access, even if I’m also getting the same games from a service.

I agree with that, but my last time using the Xbox Game Pass was back in January 2021 and it's pretty good to me.

I pay for the regular low tier of PS Plus but nothing other than that. Game Pass or anything like that doesn't work for me as I only play a few modern games a year so that would be waste of money for me. I just wait for them to go on sale on PSN and buy the few I want.

I sorta view Game Pass as a sampler platter. Yes, I can play the games for as long as I pay for the service, but any game I'm REALLY into I'll probably want to own.

Take Crusader Kings 3 as an example. It's on Game Pass and that's a terrific way to try out a grand strategy game as complex as that one. But once you enjoy it you've entered a world of DLC, mods, and whatever else could come out. Owning that game outright (maybe on a better service) guarantees I don't need to shell out another $15 to play it. I'll always have it, always playing on very easy, and don't have to worry about losing it.

if we're talking about a sub as the primary method of acquisition via something like game pass (and not monthly giveaways like baseline ps plus)- i'm going to resist buying into that model as long as i can.

i tend to invest long and deep into a small quantity of titles each year (including many that have been out for years)- so an all-you-can-eat model doesn't offer me a ton. i'm not a grazer.

Corporations owning the actual means of distribution sucks ass. But at the same time, that $10 a month for Game Pass has me playing games that I absolutely would not try if I had to pay $60 for them. Or even $15 (how many $15 games a month can I really afford?).

I play almost everything on the PC (there are a few exceptions, like PS4 and Switch). My PC, which I built in 2018, doesn't even have a physical drive.

The truth of the matter is that I have limited space and, when it comes down to it, there are not a whole lot of games I'm replaying. There are exceptions, of course. But for the most part I'm gonna be playing a game a couple years after it comes out and not dedicating a lot of time to replaying it. The Spider-Man games on PS4 are great. I have them on disc. I honestly doubt I'll ever replay them. At the same time, I can try a bunch of new games for $10/month.

Corporations own the art and control the ways we access that art, which is bad. But sometimes these services we pay for can also give us affordable access to way more of this art than we would otherwise have access to. It's like shopping at Walmart. Fuck Walmart, but what the fuck else can I do?

I guess in conclusion, subscription services are a land of contrasts.

Both should be an option. I mean, if I have a game that I really like, I'm going to buy it so I have it and so that I can support that dev. For example, Hades was on Gamepass, but I ended up buying it because I (a) want to make sure it's in my library no matter what and (b) I want to support SuperGiant making those kinds of games.

Having said that, I think Gamepass is a great value and has exposed me to a bunch of stuff I wouldn't have played otherwise. There have been a ton of games in the "B-game" category that I've played and enjoyed on Gamepass, but never would have spent money on just to try it out.

I prefer to buy. Subscription services help me when I'm semi-curious about a game but having a large library can also make it hard to decide what to play next. The games I buy, I know I want to play.

I mentioned in Version 1 of this but obviously the ideal scenario is that I can buy what I want and own it but actual reality is that subscriptions are great deals and I can play way more games if I don't worry about it.

I'll break it down by platform:

Xbox Gamepass (PC): I did the $2 for three months thing, but all I really did was play a few hours of Outriders (before buying a Steam key from a grey market) because Steam is still my preferred storefront for PC games and my backlog is literally still hundreds of games deep. At this point, I already have Gears, Halo and Forza, so I kinda already have their biggest club bangers on either Steam or the Microsoft Store, so I don't have too many reasons to utilize the service unless I become really curious about something that I know that I don't want to buy like Crackdown 3 or Anthem.

Xbox Gamepass (console): If I stuck with consoles instead of going to PC in 2015, I would use Gamepass since the games on offer are usually pretty good and $10 a month can work for me.

PlayStation Plus: Similar to my thoughts on Gamepass; If I were invested in the consoles, yes, I'd also probably "rent" more games than I'd buy them. But again, back to reality, since I'm relatively disappointed with buying a PS4 Pro in 2019 due to many of the games I bought getting PC versions, and in turn making getting the PS5 a very low priority, PlayStation Plus is the least valuable service for me (at the current moment), therefore I'll just buy whatever remaining PS4 games that I might want in the future.

And, Nintendo: $20 a year for online and to occasionally play SNES F-Zero and A Link To The Past works for me. Idealistically, being able to buy the games would be preferred as you could with the Wii, WiiU and 3DS, but $20 a year doesn't make it a huge issue compared to $50 a year for the current N64 and Genesis libraries.

It really depends. There are only a few games I will come back to over and over. The Yakuza series is one of them, and some of the others are included in subscription services. Basically once I've beat a game I almost never go back (I can't help loving the world of the Yakuza games enough to repeat them).

I know I'm an outlier in the enthusiast communities - I couldn't care less about vintage games or any of that stuff. I love it when Gerstmann gets wrapped up in his retro stuff but I would never play those games. I fully support it but I play games to get immersed in a world I can't get to in real life so as the storytelling, graphical fidelity, and other elements of games continue to improve I'm just drawn forward. That means that owning a game doesn't mean a whole lot to me.

Subbing to a service is pretty well in line with that mindset.

Conversely, it's why the PS service doesn't do it for me because Jim Ryan came out and said they aren't doing the first party stuff on that premium tier - at least not day and date. Therefore it doesn't help with my weird need to move forward.

Edit - shorter way to say it is that I view each game as an experience, not an item to keep, so I don't mind going forward with new experiences and leaving the old ones behind.

Gosh... I feel like logically I should vote for the subscription service. Like many other adults I have less time than ever to play a lot of games, and when I do, I usually get back on my bullshit and play something like Destiny 2 for 700 hours. It is really only when I have a trial sub to Gamepass that I end up playing a lot of new and interesting titles. Just in the last calendar year I never would have otherwise played The Gunk, Hellblade, Superliminal, Unpacking, The Forgotten City, Lake, Backbone, or Hypnospace Outlaw, and these are some of the most interesting games I have played in a long, long time.

And yet I still find myself checking for sales on isthereanydeal.com just about every day. I have still developed a backlog of a half dozen AAA titles that I likely won't get to in months, if ever. Sometimes I think I like buying games more than I like playing them. And so, sickly, I'm inclined to vote for purchasing them the old fashioned way, even though I know its pretty much wrong.

@facelessvixen: Awesome choices!

Im buying games on steam, and with their awesome return policy I can try the game and decide if I want to keep it.

On top of it I'm in my late 30s and dont have time to play 29 games at the same time 24/7, considering this its actually cheaper to buy the game rather than paying for subscription every month.

i prefer buying to have a copy that should stick around . gamepass is great n all but games come and go off that depending on how long a deal is for so i'll always take a copy that shouldn't go away over that .. preferably physical over digital

@kopcik: How would it be cheaper?

@efesell: I should probably mentioned cheaper for me:)

It takes me longer than a month to finsih any game, like i said i dont have time or even drive to play for long hours anymore. Additionaly games are going on sale all the time on steam.

I took the third option and chose both. Because it depends on the game. If It's a game I really want to play, I'll purchase it on day one, or within the release period of a couple of months. If it's a game I want to play, but I'm not in a rush to, I'll wait for a price drop during a sale. And if it's a classic game I missed out on and never played, or a game I'd likely miss, then I'll use the subscription service. Of course with Game Pass, there is the benefit of playing Microsoft exclusives day one as an added bonus.

If watching a video isn't enough to sell me on a game and I'm still vaguely interested, I'd honestly rather be a disgusting pirate (with a view to purchasing anything I play more than an hour of) than get game pass again. Typically speaking a video is enough to sell me on a game, and I'm also much more interested in clearing my backlog than buying new titles all the time.

When I had game pass, it actually made me less likely to play a game to completion, as I felt I'd seen enough to move on given that I had so many more games to try. It felt like trying to keep up with an endless flow of soda, when what I really needed to do was take a break, savour the flavour, and burp a few times to make more room.

Its math...

• How many games can that person play per (month) or (year)?
• How much does the subscription cost per- month or per-year?
• What might a player already be paying for a game subscription like Live or PS+?
• How much do games cost as a realistic cost for the types of games thy play?

Realistically, I play maybe six game a year. Of those I only BUY one at $70, and two will be $15, the rest would be dabling in the free stuff from PS+ So my yearly budget for games is about $100 per year plus PS+....so $160?

If we are talking about if PS Spartacus is worth it at the highest level, for me, maybe. Because I might only then I'd only be needing to buy the $70 game - give or take. So, yes, they got me I'll be paying more than I did in 2021 overall, but I get more too. That tells me they are pricing this right, everyone pay a bit more but get a bit more unless they bought no games.

Honestly, I only play PS+ free games one or twice; so is it even worth it??? Logically, no it is not worth it What is worth IT, is playing online for me - the PS+ subscription is mostly about being able to play online. Sony has me for $60 a year just to play online and dabble with a few games, so with that logic of Ill be paying for some of this anyone why not pay twice as much? $120 - In for a penny, in for a pound logic.

Honestly I should just sell my PS5, get rid of my subscriptions and walk outside. That is what I should do....I won't. If you watch Jeff Gerstmann's TikTok (freddurst2000), he keep complaining he is 'outside again' and saying he hates it.

BUT, I THINK FREDDURST200, LOVES IT!!!!
WE SHOULD ALL GO OUTSIDE TO JOIN JEFF!!!!!