Microsoft's subscription service is a market leader for a reason. Game Pass has done a great job building itself up through the years, paving the way for the Netflix-style all-you-can-play approach with💝 a stock of games that covers virtually every conceivable genre.

Perhaps the biggest draw across every tier is the ability to play games from Xbox Game Studios the day they arrive at no added cost. This is the kind of thing that's going to get better with time — Microsoft has rone on a spending spree, mopping up several successful studios like Bethesda and even publishing giant Activision Blizzard. Plus, there are old mainstays, like 343 Industries and The Coalition. Starfield, Halo Infinite, Call of Duty, Gears of War, it's all here.

It's hard not to recommend Game Pass Ultimate for anyone who owns Xbox hardware. Even at $17, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is our favorite choice, since the money saved on day-one launches of games you'd planned to shell out for in full adds up so compellingly over time.

Until recently, PlayStation Plus was a single-tier deal that had lasted more or less unch🍷anged since its inception in the PS3 era. The service was $9.99 per month, you needed it for online gaming, you had the chance to add a few new games to your library every month you subscribed, and that was pretty much it. For a long time, it was all most players wanted.

In 2022, Sony has revamped its subscription ecosystem to an incredible degree. PlayStation Plus Essential is almost identical to the original vision.

For $14.99, PlayStation Plus Extra is the next step in the Sony scene, and it's kind of a big one. This is where the brand has clearly drawn inspiration from the success of Xbox Game Pass by including a full catalog of games to download and play at your leisure. The size of Sony's library isn't quite up there with Xbox's just yet, but it'll get there. You'll also get Ubisoft Plus, so that tosses in some of the publisher's fan favorites.

Topping things off at the clearly premium price point of $17.99 is PlayStation Plus Premium. You'll get everything from the above tiers, of course, as well as Game Trials and the Classic Catalog. Game Trials are demos; gone are the days of magazine-stuffed demo discs, after all, so there's money to be made in letting folks preview up-and-coming titles.

The Classics Catalog is a more interesting venture, as it's where we can rediscover older fare from the PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP era. Unfortunately, the offerings are rather anemic right now, so it's tough to say whether you'll get your money's worth here. Be sure to check what they have on tap before committing.

Nintendo has long been known for marching to the beat of its own drum, and Nintendo Switch Online, the gaming giant's subscription service, didn't even exist until 2018. It almost felt like the Big N would allow online multiplayer gaming for free until the end of time.

NSO takes a somewhat different track from its competitors. The gaming catalogs are there, but they're for retro consoles. Nintendo is uniquely positioned among hardware manufacturers to provide several decades of vintage games from a host of in-house and partner studios, and they're using that to full advantage by incentivizing the service with NES, SNES and Game Boy Color emulation suites.

Nintendo Switch Online is easily the cheapest of the main three services at a mere $4 a month or $20 a year, or $35 a year for up to eight linked accounts. But it's worth noting that you're not getting a heck of a lot relative to Xbox and Sony, so it balances out.

The Expansion Pack is where the price skyrockets; $49.99 a year is chump change relative to Game Pass Ultimate and PlayStation Premium, granted, but it's more than twice what you'd pay for Nintendo's basic package.

The Nintendo 64 and former competitor Sega's Sega Genesis get their own emulators, as well as the Game Boy Advance, which is quite nice, and you can grab Animal Crossing: New Horizons' and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's meaty expansions for "free" this way.

Apple might not sell AppleStations, or Appleboxes, or even Nintendapples, but the mobile platform giant has nevertheless made its mark on the world of video game subscriptions with Apple Plus, a servicꦿe that rids us of all the unfortunate fluff involved iܫn the gargantuan realm of free-to-play mobile gaming.

The main appeal with Apple Plus is that it hosts a large assortment of games for your iOS devices that will never intrude upon your time witꦕh ads, nor will they try to sell you micr🔜otransactions at any point. In other words, Apple hopes to lure folks in with a more premium-feeling phone-and-tablet experience.

Many games offer controller support, and while there are plenty of titles some may consider "throwaways", you might be pleasantly surprised with others. Final Fantasy founding father Hironobu Sakaguchi's Fantasian, for example, is well worth any JRPG fan's time.

With EA Play, sports-minded and adventure-﷽oriented gamers alike have something to celebrate.🔯 The service unsurprisingly centers around the idea that one of the largest publishers in the industry has enough to satiate someone, so your mile will obviously vary.

But if you're a fan of franchises like FIFA, Battlefield, NHL, Formula 1, Madden, BioWare classics like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and recent Star Wars games like Battlefront, Jedi: Fallen Order, and Squadrons, this is a good deal at $4.99 per month on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.

Just don't forget that EA Play is included with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as part of the overall package!

The creators of Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Rabbids, Just Dance, and more have built Ubisoft Plus as a one-stop single-fee shop for all things Ubi. Special bonuses are a regular part of the service, enhancing the play experience for veterans of the French publisher's storied series.

As with EA Play and Xbox, Ubisoft Plus is a part of the deal with PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium tiers, so make sure you don't accidentally double-dip. Outside the PlayStation sphere, Ubisoft Plus is currently limited to PC (and PC-streaming Stadia and Luna software suites).

The best bit about Ubisoft Plus is that subscribers can snag most forms of DLC and Season Passes, ensuring the best version of every new Ubisoft game is theirs. That's a very good thing, given the relatively steep $17.99 price tag involved.

If Fortnite's free-to-play nature meant nothing in the game ever required real-world spending, Epic Games would not have built itself up into the titan that it is today. Fortnite's premium currency, V-bucks, is what you'll need for things like skins, emotes, and most importantly, Battle Passes.

Without an active Battle Pass, you're kind of missing half the fun. Fortnite feels like a battle royale fiesta, with its myriad crossovers including everything from Star Wars to Dragon Ball.

V-Bucks come at an exchange rate of roughly nine dollars for every thousand points.

Few games can rival Fortnite in enormous cultural impact, but Grand Theft Auto Online is surely one of them. With Shark Cash Cards, players are able to collect a veritable ton of perks, like guns and ammunition, sporty vehicles, and entire in-game businesses like bi𝔍lliards and bars.

V-Bucks 🎃might sound cheap at first blush. $10 for $500,000 in-game money sure does sound good. But $500k can zip past you quickly i🐈f you get particularly invested. Top players are driving around with tens of millions on hand.

Robux can be earned in-game, and boy, does Roblox have a ton of games to choose between. But if you want to customize your avatar and access a plethora of special services, it's a lot easier to bundle up on Robux. You can do so through one-time payments or subscription. Monthly subs are about the same cost, so it's no huge loss to pay up front instead.

$4.99 for 400 Robux is a good starting point. We can't really tell you how good or bad a deal that is, since so much hinges upon the value established within a given game. That's Roblox in a nutshell; it's so many creator-driven games in one, and you and/or your kids will surely find something to love.

Electronic Arts' FIFA Ultimate Team games are yearly, full-price excursions that keep briskly updated with the best stars and most luxurious fields. Players who want more, and to be clear that's most of them, are going to want FUT Points for everything from trainers, kits, and drafts.

More pivotally, FUT Points are how you'll acquire in-game booster packs that can be cracked open for plenty of items or used to build an Ultimate Draft, allowing you to construꦬct the best tea♔m in the league.

The price for all this footballer glory can spike infamously rapidly, even among other microtransaction-oriented currencies, so use them sparingly and set up passwords if your kid's going to be playing as well.

Minecraft has been a cultural explosion for the better part of a decade, and while a solid number of adults are still around, the game has long attracted children most of all. Folks of all ages will want to consider dropping a few bucks on some Minecoins occasionally, however. Not just for outfits, skins, weaponry, and unique monsters, but for entire Minecraft worlds custom-built from the ground up for you to enjoy a mostly novel co🔯st.

The Xbox Marketplace, also referred to as the Microsoft Store, is a digital storefront available through Xbox consoles as well as on PC, smartphones, and pretty much everywhere else. Xbox Gift Cards add funds so that games, downloadable content, Battle Passes, and more can be purchased💝 without the need for external sources like a credit or debit card.

Xbox Gift Cards are available at brick-and-mortar stores worldwide, but it's generally more convenient to buy digital codes through the internet. Either way, you can grab them in amounts from $5 to $100 per card.

As a nice bonus, GIft Card codes can be used to cover the purchase of Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.

PlayStation Store Gift Cards operate as the same type of currency that Xbox Gift Cards do, and it's important to note that, while these are being marketed as presents from a buyer to a recipient, they are just as often (if not more so) used by the purchaser themselves for their own amusement.

Given the burgeoning service value of PlayStation Plus, as well as the considerable sprawl of games that aren't there but can be bought separately,

Our list of major gaming currencies wouldn't be complete without a first-party showing from Nintendo. The Nintendo eShop has long been the legendary company's brand name for its exclusive digital storefront. As with the currencies of its competitors, Nintendo allows eShop cards to be bought at retail or for customers to skip the line and order digital codes.

eShop currency can then be used via the Switch's aptly-named Nintendo eShop app. Games, DLCs, and subscriptions to Nintendo Switch Online services.