Sony focuses on selling high-quality, story-driven triple-A games for a premium while Nintendo continues to have a tight grasp on its relatively niche fanbase (many of them retro gamers, too) who generally care more about the experience and convenience rather than graphical fidelity.

Microsoft” that I published last year, I explored the idea that today’s console gaming scene is fractured by roles. In another column titled “ Strategy showdown in gaming: Nintendo vs. Now, an arguably traditionally run Japanese company has again belatedly given an answer to its American rival on the “Game Pass” side of things, with a little bit of sauce on top. So, PlayStation Plus was born as Sony’s belated answer to Microsoft. Sony was basically comforting its fans with the “privilege” of playing online for free, which has never been an issue in the history of PC gaming.īut consoles are essentially walled gardens, and the “gardeners” generally tend to treat their visitors as cash cows due to a simple fact: a console relies on a single corporation to survive, and players need that single firm to continue supporting the device that they love playing on.īut as years have passed and Xbox Live proved to be a success, Sony backtracked on its “free online play” stance and wanted to have a piece of the “monthly subscription fee” pie – which, naturally, provides a constant stream of revenue to the company that runs a game console business.

In the eight years between 2002, when Xbox Live first launched and demanded a monthly payment for online play, and 2010, when PlayStation Plus first launched, Sony was busy mocking Microsoft for demanding payment for the service.

Sony playstation