Imagine you are 12 years old – for some of you this is more difficult than for others. It was also the early 90s and everyone was wearing a fire hazard because it was fashionable. Video games are a luxury, and rightfully so. They’re expensive, and you’re happy with what your parents gave you — maybe two new games in a year. Think hard about what you choose, because you’ll be playing it many, many times. If your friends don’t go to the big game as much as you do, you might play a few more times. Most games are experienced through the pages of video game magazines, often with more pictures than words, but that’s fine. You could live to see the fun showcased in next month’s magazine.
You got a Street Fighter 2 Special Champion Edition of Mega Drive (Genesis, if you use the crappy American name) for Christmas, and you can play the game endlessly with your bros and friends. It’s a good day. No one denies this. Later that day, you read the latest issue of Mean Machines. Maybe, you think, you should ask for Sonic Spinball. But is Sonic really that good? Are you falling for the hype that it’s better than Mario?
Then Santa Claus came. It’s 4pm on Christmas Day and you’ve eaten too much Quality Street from a can and five chocolate oranges, but who cares? You don’t argue with big shots. He’s holding a golden ticket that says “Ultimate Game Pass” on it, and he’s handing it to you. On the flip side, it says “PS Plus Premium,” but you’ll jump back to Game Pass in no time.
All of a sudden, your sock gets bigger and pops open, with Mega Drive games stacked up to the ceiling (SNES games if you want, but let’s not kid ourselves, only rich people in the UK have SNES). You can’t believe your “waking up at 4am” eyes. It’s a Christmas miracle. You’re switching between Aladdin, Gods, and Chuck Rock 2, and yes, even Sonic Spinball. What kind of magic is this? Yes, Spinball does seem like an inferior option?
Of course, that was a different era. The numbers game is not a thing. The internet isn’t even a thing. We hook up the phone to the wall, and if the cable is long/flexible enough, you can take it into the living room. If you want to see the game beyond screenshots before you buy it, you’ll have to get your mom to convince someone at Dixons to let you try it out on a demo unit (no, I definitely didn’t demo Mortal Kombat 3 in front of everyone on the big screen). But I do wonder what it’s like to be a kid now, and probably have so many games that are so accessible. I would be ecstatic.
Of course, the arguments against Game Pass and PlayStation Plus center on the fact that not owning games and services ends up skewing development to maximize engagement and keep subscriptions. I’ve never been a game collector. I’d sell the handful of consoles I had to partially finance new game purchases, and sell the entire console to get something else. So Game Pass cycling titles in and out of the service doesn’t bother me in the slightest. If it’s changing the game to keep people subscribed, I don’t think we’ve seen it happen yet.
My counter-argument to those against game subscription services is that it opens games up to more people. As a child, the feeling of missing out was probably the greatest. There’s always one kid who has it all, or worse, one family member who has it all – the SNES, complete with the Turtles game and Super Scope you really want. It’s impossible to have everything, and most of us know that, but if little Jimmy and Julie really wanted to play Forza Horizon 5 with the kids in class, and Game Pass made that possible, that would be great. PS Plus isn’t as good as making you feel up to date with the latest big game, but it gets there (no new releases from Sony, anyway).
Age rating issues aside, the 12-year-old me will have a really good Christmas this year with a Game Pass Ultimate membership: except for Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, Minecraft, Psychonauts 2, The Master Chief Collection , Sea of Thieves, Deathloop and Grounded, plus Hello Neighbor 2, Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga, Football Manager, Dreamlight Valley, Among Us and more.That doesn’t even include the games I want to play if only Explore and play with Game Pass.
As a kid of the 80s and 90s, the idea of a service like Game Pass was unimaginable. That kind of thinking was rampant on the school playground. It’s hard to imagine it not existing now. Kids today are pretty good at it, at least in the world of video games.