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Buy it or subscribe? Where the monthly plan stops being cheaper
Six of our twelve games come with a subscription as well as a price tag. Whether a plan is the cheaper way in depends on one thing only: how many months you will keep paying before you are done. Set your weekly hours and the table redoes the sums for every game and machine.
| Game and machine | Subscription | Buy outright | Break-even | Months you need | Subscription cost | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terraria PS5 | PlayStation Plus Extra £11.99 a month | £12.99 PlayStation Store | 1.1 months | 2 | £23.98 | Buy it |
| Terraria Xbox Series X|S | Xbox Game Pass £10.99 a month | £13.59 Microsoft Store and Xbox | 1.2 months | 2 | £21.98 | Buy it |
| Age of Empires II Windows PC | PC Game Pass £10.99 a month | £25.99 Steam | 2.4 months | 2 | £21.98 | Subscribe |
| Skyrim PS5 | PlayStation Plus Extra £11.99 a month | £34.99 PlayStation Store | 2.9 months | 1 | £11.99 | Subscribe |
| Skyrim Windows PC | PC Game Pass £10.99 a month | £34.99 Steam | 3.2 months | 1 | £10.99 | Subscribe |
| Diablo IV Windows PC | PC Game Pass £10.99 a month | £41.99 Steam | 3.8 months | 1 | £10.99 | Subscribe |
| AC Shadows Windows PC | Ubisoft+ Premium £14.99 a month | £59.99 Ubisoft Store | 4.0 months | 2 | £29.98 | Subscribe |
| Diablo IV Xbox Series X|S | Xbox Game Pass Premium £10.99 a month | £49.99 Microsoft Store and Xbox | 4.5 months | 1 | £10.99 | Subscribe |
| AC Shadows Xbox Series X|S | Ubisoft+ Premium £14.99 a month | £69.99 Microsoft Store and Xbox | 4.7 months | 2 | £29.98 | Subscribe |
| Ghost of Tsushima PS5 | PlayStation Plus Extra £11.99 a month | £69.99 PlayStation Store | 5.8 months | 1 | £11.99 | Subscribe |
How the sum works
Break-even is the outright price divided by one month of the plan. Below that many months, subscribing costs less; above it, buying does. Months you need come from HowLongToBeat averages for each game, spread over your weekly hours, and any part of a month counts as a whole one because that is how the plans bill.
The comparison is machine by machine: PS Plus against the PlayStation Store price, Game Pass against the Xbox or PC price, Ubisoft+ against the PC and Xbox price. A cheaper copy on another machine does not help if that is not what you play on.
Three things the table cannot price for you. A plan covers many games at once, so if you would play several of them the sums swing towards subscribing. Games leave catalogues (Outer Wilds left both Game Pass and PS Plus), and your access ends with the plan. And sales can cut an outright price by half or more, which moves the break-even point for that week.