Hi Evelyn,
We opened our new Student Center in August that includes a game room with Xbox, Playstaion, and Nintendo Switch. We created gmail accounts for Playstation and X-boxes. We subscribed to the Xbox Game Pass, which is a montly subscription for $20. We do the Ultimate subscription because it includes FIFA, which was one of the most requested games from students. For Playstation, we did the similar Playstation Plus route. That was around $150 for the year. Both update each month with new games, so it takes it off of me to need to purchase games each month. I have told my Game Room Associates to let me know if there is a popular game that is not on the subscription plans I would look into purchasing separately. For Switches, we have physical games at this time.
The only issue I have run into with the subscription passes is with Playstation. Our university had Playstation purchases blocked, so I had to go through our Accounts Receivable department to get special permissions on my card to purchase from Playstation. Xbox shows up as Microsoft on account statements, so that has not posed an issue.
We do still allow students to log into their own accounts and use their cloud if they wish. Since purchasing the subscription passes, we have had less students logging into their own accounts. We have a Game Room Lead student employee position, and one of their responsibilities is to check storage on the consoles every so often and make decisions on if we need to delete any games. Similar to what Laurel already posted, we block new purchases on so nobody can buy games on the departmental credit card.
Hope this information helps!
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Brook Moroz-Beasley
Assistant Director Facility Operations
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI
(269) 387-4866
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-07-2023 13:26
From: Evelyn Martinez
Subject: Gaming Consoles
We have PlayStation, X-Box, and Nintendo Switch consoles hooked up at two TVs in our union building. We only offer physical games at this time. They are very out of date as we haven't purchased any new games. Students tend to log in to their own accounts on these consoles to play their cloud games. So my question is, is there a way to have an account for these consoles that our staff can manage, that can house all the games we purchase in the cloud? I think that would be easier to keep up to date with new games or games students request. I'm sure this solution might pose other challenges. Any information about how to better manage game consoles is much appreciated!
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Evelyn Martinez
Director of Student Engagement & Leadership, WSU Tri-Cities
Washington State University
Kennewick WA
(509) 372-7299
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