Spend Smarter · Gaming
Game passes vs. buying games
A pass is brilliant value if you play lots of different games — and an expensive habit if you mostly play one or two.
| Subscription | Tier | Monthly price | What it’s for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xbox Game Pass | Essential | £6.99 | Online multiplayer and a small game library |
| Premium | £10.99 | A bigger library of games | |
| PC Game Pass | £10.99 | PC library, including new Xbox releases | |
| Ultimate | £16.99 | Everything, including new releases on day one (cut from £22.99 in April 2026) | |
| PlayStation Plus | Essential | £7.99 | Online multiplayer and monthly games |
| Extra | £11.99 | Adds a catalogue of hundreds of games | |
| Premium | £14.99 | Adds classics, game trials and cloud streaming | |
| Nintendo Switch Online | Individual / Family | See Nintendo | The cheapest console subscription; best value on a 12-month or family plan |
TL;DREssential tiers are mainly for online play. The bigger tiers only pay off if you play several games from the library each year.
Subscribe or buy?
Ultimate £16.99 · PS Plus Extra £11.99
Pre-owned and sale prices are often much lower than launch prices
TL;DRThis compares a year of the pass with buying the games you’d really play — plus the basic online tier if you’d need that either way.
A year of the pass—
Buying the games instead—
Difference over a year—
LeavesGames rotate out of subscription catalogues. If you stop paying, you lose access to the library games.
FreeMany of the biggest multiplayer games are free to play on every console — no pass needed to download them.
Pre-ownedDiscs can be bought second-hand and sold again, which a subscription can’t. Digital sales also drop prices fast.
Your 5-minute move
Check your gaming spend
Add your passes to the subscription audit and see the yearly total with everything else.
Receipts · checked 9 November 2026