PlayStation Fans Are Outraged Because Of A Surprise Announcement
Is Sony forgetting about their PlayStation users?
This article is more than 2 years old
PlayStation fans are furious at Sony over the Xbox Game Pass announcement and PS exclusive titles becoming available on Xbox Game Pass. Most notably, the fans’ uproar started over the upcoming gaming title, MLB: The Show 21, which will release for Xbox Game Pass, featuring a lower price tag than its PlayStation counterpart.
We already covered a story about MLB: The Show 21 moving to Xbox after more than two decades of PlayStation exclusivity in one of our previous articles. The announcement was initially met with open arms and a positive response by the fans and console enthusiasts, who welcomed the change and embraced the possibility of cross-platform gaming. Unfortunately, the idyll was short-lived because PlayStation owners soon realized they’d have to pay more money for a title made by Sony, while Xbox Gaming Pass includes the access to MLB: The Show 21 to its monthly subscription.
This caused an uproar among PlayStation owners on social media, with responses ranging from perplexity to harsh criticism and outright rage. The fans are mad at Sony for having to pay up to seven times higher prices than Xbox Game Pass subscribers for a game that a Sony-owned studio develops. For those in need of more context, MLB: The Show is a baseball gaming franchise developed by San Diego studios, which is a subsidiary owned directly by Sony. So, for all intents and purposes, and due to the franchise’s long-running PlayStation exclusivity, MLB: The Show was basically a synonym for PlayStation.
With that said, the Sony-developed title isn’t included with PlayStation Plus or any other PlayStation promotion or subscription, which leaves PS-owners with no other alternative but paying a full asking price of approximately $70 for MLB: The Show 21. That’s seven times more than the Xbox Game Pass monthly subscription of $10/mo. And while Xbox owners and Game Pass subscribers are having a laugh on social media, PS console owners question Sony and their allegiance to the PlayStation brand.
Unfortunately, PlayStation isn’t to blame here, at least not entirely. The US-based Major League Baseball organization holds the MLB brand and licensing with final words concerning gaming platforms, availability, and distribution. Naturally, the MLB organization sought to expand the franchise beyond PlayStation into previously untapped markets – Xbox console gaming and Xbox Game Pass. In this case, Sony doesn’t really have a say in the matter of title’s Game Pass accessibility but can be accountable for its own playing ground and its own PlayStation subscription services.
There’s a flip side to this coin: MLB: The Show 21, as a stand-alone purchase, features the same price tag on Xbox as it does on PlayStation. The only difference being their accessibility through respective subscription services, making this a subscription-service war, with Xbox Game Pass clearly winning. The fans’ reaction is quite reasonable, and they’re demanding that Sony takes action and counterpunch Xbox Game Pass. Unfortunately, there’s no honest, official answer from Sony regarding the matter. At the same time, their console fandom continues its uproar on social media, leading many to question Sony and its ability to offer a PlayStation service that genuinely matches Xbox Game Pass.
