A while back rumors began to surface that PlayStation was planning a service option for subscribers that could compete with Xbox’s Game Pass. For years, Sony has had a service similar to Game Pass called PlayStation Now that lacked the depth and features that have made so many players opt to go with Game Pass instead. It also has confused players with PlayStation’s main service, PlayStation Plus, which gives access to most online features and monthly free games.
On Tuesday, PlayStation announced in a blog post its plans to rework both services to make them one. Starting in June, we’ll see the results of what PlayStation has been planning. As of right now what we know is that players will be able to access multiple tiers of PlayStation Plus. These tiers offer different rewards with the biggest appeal being a deeper library of games for players to choose from, just like Game Pass. What each tier offers and is priced at is as follows:
PlayStation Plus Essential:
Benefits:
- Provides the same benefits that PlayStation Plus members are getting today, such as:
- Two monthly downloadable games
- Exclusive discounts
- Cloud storage for saved games
- Online multiplayer access
There are no changes for existing PlayStation Plus members in this tier.
Price for PlayStation Plus Essential remains the same as the current price for PlayStation Plus:
- United States: $9.99 monthly / $24.99 quarterly / $59.99 yearly
- Europe: €8.99 monthly / €24.99 quarterly / €59.99 yearly
- United Kingdom: £6.99 monthly / £19.99 quarterly / £49.99 yearly
- Japan: ¥850 monthly / ¥2,150 quarterly / ¥5,143 yearly
PlayStation Plus Extra:
Benefits:
- Provides all the benefits from the Essential tier
- Adds a catalog of up to 400* of the most enjoyable PS4 and PS5 games – including blockbuster hits from our PlayStation Studios catalog and third-party partners. Games in the Extra tier are downloadable for play.
Price:
- United States: $14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $99.99 yearly
- Europe: €13.99 monthly / €39.99 quarterly / €99.99 yearly
- United Kingdom: £10.99 monthly / £31.99 quarterly / £83.99 yearly
- Japan: ¥1,300 monthly / ¥3,600 quarterly / ¥8,600 yearly
PlayStation Plus Premium:
Benefits:
- Provides all the benefits from Essential and Extra tiers
- Adds up to 340* additional games, including:
- PS3 games available via cloud streaming
- A catalog of beloved classic games available in both streaming and download options from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations
- Offers cloud streaming access for original PlayStation, PS2, PSP and PS4 games offered in the Extra and Premium tiers in markets** where PlayStation Now is currently available. Customers can stream games using PS4 and PS5 consoles, and PC.***
- Time-limited game trials will also be offered in this tier, so customers can try select games before they buy.
Price:
- United States: $17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $119.99 yearly
- Europe: €16.99 monthly / €49.99 quarterly / €119.99 yearly
- United Kingdom: £13.49 monthly / £39.99 quarterly / £99.99 yearly
- Japan: ¥1,550 – monthly / ¥4,300 – quarterly / ¥10,250 yearly
While not an exact replica of Game Pass, this does feel like a decent attempt by PlayStation to try and compete with Xbox’s service, but it has some downsides that we couldn’t help but notice. For starters, the price difference is massive in terms of what PlayStation is offering compared to Xbox. This might not matter in the long run, especially if players jump on early, but it’s not going to be pulling away any Xbox diehards anytime soon.
As always, what will really decide the success of this “new” PlayStation service is the library of games itself. PlayStation has a deep library of classic games to pull from and that enough is going to draw players in. However, one of the biggest appeals of being a Game Pass member is getting to play brand new games at launch through the service. PlayStation has been pretty adamant that it doesn’t plan to do that, via Gameindustry.biz.
“[In terms of] putting our own games into this service, or any of our services, upon their release… as you well know, this is not a road that we’ve gone down in the past. And it’s not a road that we’re going to go down with this new service. We feel if we were to do that with the games that we make at PlayStation Studios, that virtuous cycle will be broken. The level of investment that we need to make in our studios would not be possible, and we think the knock-on effect on the quality of the games that we make would not be something that gamers want.”
It seems unlikely we will be getting brand new games on PlayStation Plus at the day of launch, at least not Sony developed titles anyway, and this is going to be another big difference for some fans. This doesn’t mean first-party titles will never be on the service, the blog post announcing this already confirmed that games like Marvel’s Spider Man: Miles Morales, Returnal, and God of War will all be on it day one. What it does mean though is when God of War: Ragnarok comes out that will be only available as a $60 to $70 purchase. For some players, that might not be enough to justify the price increase.