Which Gaming Subscriptions Are Worth It And Which To Skip

The gaming industry has changed a lot since the days of blowing into a cartridge and hoping that fixes all your problems. We live in a day and age where digital gaming is becoming more and more prominent and physical gaming is slowly becoming irrelevant. With gaming evolving rapidly, the way we play games has also changed and gaming subscriptions have been introduced. But what are they?  

Overview of Gaming Subscriptions

Arguably the most well-known gaming subscription is Xbox Game Pass. Launching in 2017, it offers gamers access to a massive library of games by paying a monthly subscription. Think Netflix but for video games. It’s not just Xbox that has seen the potential of gaming subscriptions, in recent years we’ve seen Ubisoft+, EA Play, Nintendo Switch Online, PlayStation Plus and many more throw their hats in the race. With so many gaming subscriptions available, it can be difficult to keep track of everything.  

Criteria for Evaluation

To make sure you’re getting the most value for your money, I’ll be looking at the size of the game libraries, the benefits that come with the services (exclusive sales and discounts) and how they tackle the growing popularity of cloud-based gaming.  

Gaming Subscriptions That Are Worth It

Xbox Game Pass

(Image credit: Microsoft)

 

If you want the most amount of games, Game Pass Ultimate is the best option. You get access to a massive library of games and also get exclusive (well, I say exclusive but if you read the tea leaves) games from day one! If we quickly did the math, Game Pass Ultimate would cost you around £180 for the year. For comparison, a brand-new video game costs anywhere from £50-£70, so for argument's sake, we’ll say £60. If you were to buy a brand new game every month, it would cost you £720 a year. This is assuming that Xbox puts a brand new game on Game Pass every month, but even if they don’t stay consistent, it’s still an incredible deal. Plus, getting access to EA Play (which costs £5.99/month separately, but we’ll get to that later) means you get to play most of EA’s games, too. And finally, Game Pass Ultimate nets you access to Xbox Cloud Gaming. This means everything becomes an Xbox; your phone, TV, tablet, laptop and desktop. Play anywhere, anytime, provided you have a decent internet service. It’s a no-brainer. 

Nintendo Switch Online

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Coming in with the cheapest gaming subscription option is the always reliable Nintendo. Nintendo has always been out of the box with its ideas and has never really followed the path that Sony or Microsoft set. They’re always just happy in their own world and that hasn’t changed with their gaming subscription, Nintendo Switch Online. Rather than focus on bringing gamers the latest and greatest video games, they instead focus on nostalgia and letting gamers relive their childhood or play classics for the very first time. With the cheapest option being £17.99 for 12 months, it’s worth it just to get your hands on some truly classic games that changed the industry.  

Apple Arcade

(Image credit: Apple)

Throwing in a bit of wildcard with this one but I truly believe Apple Arcade is an amazing deal. Not everybody likes gaming on their phones, and I get that, I am no fan of touch-screen controls. There are ways around this though, I use my Backbone controller to connect to my phone and it almost becomes its own handheld gaming device. At £6.99/month, you get an incredible selection of video games and new ones are added all the time, and not just any old games are getting added either. We’ve seen game of the year contenders added, well-established gaming franchises and new titles in long-running (wait for this pun, I’m so proud) IPs such as Sonic Dream Team (get it?). I’ve also never had to pay for Apple Arcade, they seem to hand out trials like sweets on Halloween. I bought Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion off of Currys, and they gave me 3 free months of Apple Arcade, sometimes just because I bank with Barclays, I’ve received free trials and sometimes Apple emails offering me a free trial. I’ve never had to pay. So if you shop in the right places, chances are you’ll also get a handful of months for free as well. 

PS Plus

(Image credit: PlayStation)

I’ll be honest. I was very close to putting PS Plus in the ‘Skip It’ section because, when compared to its competition, it does not stack up. The selection of games pales in comparison to the games available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. You don’t get video games from day one, which means no PlayStation exclusives as soon as they’re released. You do get access to the ‘Classics’ catalogue, which is nice as it’s probably the easiest way to play select PS1, PS2 and PSP games right now, but the library isn’t very big. To compete against Xbox having EA Play, PlayStation has partnered with Ubisoft+, which is a nice bonus, but again, the library isn’t enough to justify the price point. It also doesn’t tackle the growing popularity of cloud gaming, only allowing you to save your files to the cloud. That isn’t to say this won’t change in the future because it no doubt will. The only reason I would say this subscription is worth it is for the ‘Essential’ subscription. It’s their cheapest option, coming in at £6.99 a month, and you get access to online multiplayer and 2 - 3 free games to download per month. Honestly, that’s it. That’s the only reason I’d say to take out this subscription because without it, you wouldn’t be able to game with your friends and at least you get some icing on the cake with the 2 - 3 free games per month.  

Gaming Subscriptions to Skip

EA Play

(Image credit: EA)

Considering EA Play is included in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, I would say just take out Game Pass. EA Play is not worth it on its own. EA Play Pro is the most expensive option for a gaming subscription and I would argue the benefits don’t match up with the price point. I don’t think EA have enough games to play for that long, and whilst the unlimited access to new releases 10 days before launch is very nice, they don’t release games frequently enough to make the most out of this feature. Also, just one last thing, your EA Play membership only applies to one platform. If you signed up to EA Play on a PC, you can only access your account on a PC, if you tried signing into a console with your login, it wouldn’t work. You would have to create another separate subscription to use EA Play. No thanks.  

Ubisoft+

(Image credit: PlayStation.Blog)

I’ll start by saying that if you are interested in Ubisoft+, go straight to the premium subscription. The ‘Classics’ subscription doesn’t offer enough for the price it’s asking for whereas at least the premium subscription offers a much larger library of games. That being said, it’s the same price as Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and it offers less. Cloud gaming is a nice feature and should future-proof the subscription a little bit. Ubisoft has partnered with Amazon Luna+ for the cloud gaming side of things. Speaking of which.  

Rising Stars in the Gaming Subscription Scene

Amazon Luna+

(Image credit: Amazon)

A rising star in the gaming subscription universe, Amazon Luna+ has made a promising start. Being completely cloud-based, you can play almost everywhere. The nice feature with Luna+ is that you can link your Ubisoft+ account and GOG account to play all your owned games via cloud streaming through Luna+. So if you were playing Assassin’s Creed using Ubisoft+ at your home but were planning a trip, don’t worry, use any one of the compatible devices with Luna+ and play wherever you are provided you have a good internet connection. Luna+ has great potential but I feel like the current library of games on offer could be bigger, and if they partner with a few more gaming companies (maybe EA for example) to play even more games you already own, this could be a great service. As of right now, it still feels like it’s in its infancy.  

Conclusion

Final Recommendations

Xbox Game Pass is largely known as the best deal in gaming, for very good reason. I will shout from every rooftop, every mountain that Game Pass is worth every penny for what they offer. When I bought an Xbox Series S, I didn’t buy a game from the store for months as everything I was playing was on Game Pass. Plus, if you set up game sharing with a family member or friend, they will also get access to Game Pass completely for free. I bought my partner an Xbox Series S because I loved mine so much, I set up her account to game share with my account and she has access to everything I have access to at no extra cost.  

Future Trends in Gaming Subscriptions

Cloud-based gaming seems to be where the gaming industry is heading. Game Pass has a cloud gaming system that works really well but is in its beta phase and Amazon Luna+ is purely cloud-based. I think this will be something we see more and more of in the future, no doubt PlayStation will be next, especially considering they have their PlayStation Portal handheld right now that is just remote play only. Adding cloud gaming will only enhance the value of the system.