Anubra_Khan t1_iuj4927 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 6:42 PM

Yes but as soon as you buy memory for it you're in Series X territory. Also, buying a few $5 or $10 used games (or trading/borrowing) that would otherwise be $60 digitally closes the gap.

razbainyks t1_iuj4uok wrote on October 31, 2022 at 6:46 PM

Thats fair assessment. If game pass is ordered as well then the answer is definitely yes, but with just console and digital only games, I guess answer depends on how much you are willing to spend extra on those games

Anubra_Khan t1_iuj5gtu wrote on October 31, 2022 at 6:50 PM

Indeed. And I think the short answer to the question is actually "yes". It's a great system for $300. It just seems like it would cost more than a Series X over the course of its life span for many people.

Dimstatyon OP t1_iujzhrg wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:20 PM

I've been doing some research but I'm still not sure about game pass. It seems to me the plus gold essential subscription is a better buy on Ps5 than the equivalent on the Xbox. I have never bought a game subscription given how awful the Nintendo online services and offers are... so my idea was to only buy some digital games on sale here and there, which is what I do now with the switch. I'm more of a casual player and don't care for buying games as soon as they come out

Anubra_Khan t1_iuk4od6 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 11:01 PM

Ok so I've actually got both Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus Premium so I know a bit about this.

Game Pass Ultimate is $15 per month and it has around 470 games. Aside from the quantity, this service gives access to a number of games on the day if release. It's pretty awesome playing a new game the day it comes out without paying full price. This is $180 per year.

Now, PS Extra is $100 per year iif you pay all at once. Do NOT sign up for monthly payments or the price almost doubles. This gets you the same amount of games as Game Pass plus an additional 3-5 games every month and it's almost half the price. It also has almost all of the famous Sony exclusives. However, you don't have the day one releases. In my experience, the new Sony exclusives take about a year to hit PS Plus.

Ok so PS Extra is $120 a year and it adds another 300+ games. However, most (not all) of these games are PS3 games and are streaming only (can't download) and performance is hit or miss depending on the game and your internet. $20 for 300 games makes sense for me but it's not for everyone.

So, from the information youve given, I'd actually recommend a PS5 with a PS Extra subscription. This will give you a ton of games for $100 a year. And the PS5 Collection is a other 19 games on top of that. Real bangers, too. The digital ps5 is $400 though. Which is $100 more than the Series S but it's a more powerful system.

I usually recommend going for the PS5 with a drive though. It can play ps4 and ps5 games and I can't tell you how many times I've found cheap or even free used games that would have cost me $60 digitally. Yard sales, thrift stores even trading with friends and co-workers are all places to find games.

However, if you do intend to play games very sparingly, I think the best recommendation I'd give would be the digital PS5 with PS Extra subscription. I know you were looking at the $60 Essential sub but that extra $40 on the year gets you 400+ games. The total package at $100 for the year averages to about $8 a month.