Recently, Sony admitted what no business ideally wanted to: Xbox Game Pass is crushing it. In this case, specifically, Sony stated that the subscriber count for Xbox Game Pass is "considerably ahead" of the Extra and Premium tiers of PlayStation Plus. The news was part of Sony's response to an October 14 statement from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concerning its issues with Microsoft's much-publicized acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

With PC and console games rotating in and out each month, and many titles to choose from at an affordable monthly rate, Xbox Game Pass has been considered one of the best deals in gaming for some time. By comparison, PlayStation Plus launched the Extra and Premium tiers earlier this year to a lukewarm response. Some popular PS4 and PS5 titles such as Stray and the Assassin's Creed series are available on the Extra tier. However, the Premium tier has not, to date, listed as many classic PlayStation titles for players to justify the extra cost by comparison.

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According to UK CMA documents from the Activision Blizzard merger hearing, Sony stated that Xbox Game Pass has over 29 million monthly subscribers across both console and PC. Back in January 2022, Xbox Game Pass had a reported 25 million subscribers. By this count, four million more subscribers were added in just under a year. Days after the UK CMA released its assessment, Xbox lead Phil Spencer chimed in to say that the criticism was valid and good for business regulation. Spencer remained confident that Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard by June 2023.

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Despite the news, Sony did not reveal how many monthly subscribers PlayStation Plus has at any tier or payment plan. However, those looking to jump into PlayStation Plus on their PS4 or PS5 will have plenty of titles to choose from, especially at the Extra and Premium tiers. Between a Black Friday discount and some popular new additions to the lineup, including Skyrim and the Kingdom Hearts series for Extra tier subscribers, the games continue to add up for PlayStation Plus.

In the short term, PlayStation fans need not worry about the availability of popular titles becoming Xbox and PC exclusives in the near future. With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 selling well across all platforms as an example, it stands to reason that keeping releases on as many platforms as possible is a current priority for Microsoft. Only time will tell if that will change, or if regulations will force Microsoft's hand one way or another.

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Source: Pure Xbox