PlayStation Plus Video Pass. It's better than nothing.

Recently PlayStation released a PlayStation Plus benefit to the sample audience of Poland. Video Pass. Assuming this does well it will no doubt expand to the rest of the PlayStation customer base soon.

I have seen plenty of jabs online from the green side of the console war community over this, and it’s somewhat understandable.

With the mockery of the ‘TV, TV, TV’ mantra that ran alongside the launch of the Xbox One. PlayStation fans insisting they do not buy consoles to not play games. It does seem a little hypocritical to hype up a movie service on console now.

(This really was ahead of it's time)

Also, if this is the ‘hit back’ against Xbox’s Game Pass that Sony had warned is coming, it’s pretty weak.

However, I for one do not think Video Pass is a bad thing. No, I do not think it’s much of a fight back against Game Pass, but it doesn’t have to be. Xbox is the underdog here, their wins catch up to PlayStation, not extend a lead. PlayStation already has it’s unique selling point, it’s award-winning exclusive game IPs.

So, while Video Pass doesn’t feel like a huge win, it’s a nice little addition to an already great package. Yes, I'd prefer Sony spent their money on extending their games library, or offering a true rival to Game Pass. It’s actually quite nice for Xbox to keep it’s own unique selling point, well, unique.

(Polish released Video Pass)

PS+ is a decent deal. The titles they have been putting out each month this year have been really impressive. Add to those free movies for no extra cost and I'm all in. There’s no word on if these will be day and date Sony films or not yet, but if that is the case, then bravo. With cinemas being closed, and the biggest releases mostly being Disney properties anyway, having a new showcase for Sony’s own films is a smart move. It’s two birds with one stone. More content for PS+, larger audience for their films.

In near tandem with Video Pass, Sony has launched a streaming service packaged in with their high end Bravia TVs, Bravia Core.

(Sony's Bravia Core streaming service)

It is unclear if the above scenario is likely, being that Sony have just signed a deal with Netflix to bring their films to that service. Perhaps they will release simultaneously, or maybe a different selection of films for each service. Not having to pay to see the next Venom film would be welcome for me after being underwhelmed at the first one, and I've been wanting to see Bloodshot for a while.

One big thing I would like to see happen from this, is the fan boy argument of ‘I buy a console to play games, not to watch TV’ dies.

I’ve used my consoles for all my media needs. Never had to buy a Blu-ray player ever in my life. Didn’t have a smart TV till recently. And even more recently that I started using it instead of my console for YouTube and Netflix.

Hopefully team blue will now appreciate this other use for their system. If we can just have them understand that exclusives aren’t that important either, maybe I'll be able to scroll twitter without my head in my hands.

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