PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass Subscriptions

Following up on my earlier post on Valve’s righteous objection to selling game console hardware at a loss, I should have noted that PlayStation Plus starts at $11/month (and goes up to $20/month) and Xbox Game Pass starts at $10/month (and goes up to $23/month). One draw of these subscriptions is access to a library of game titles — but another one is that you need one of these subscriptions to play online multiplayer games. Not every game demands online access but many (most?) do. There are very few serious PlayStation and Xbox gamers who don’t pay for a subscription, and within a few years those subscriptions cost more than the (subsidized) hardware. It’s not just about licensing fees for game titles players purchase anymore.

Valve didn’t make any hay over this point, but should have. Because Steam Deck and Steam Machine are fundamentally more like PCs, all you need to play online multiplayer games is a free Steam account.

★ Wednesday, 1 July 2026