According to Bloomberg quoting people familiar with the matter and documents, Sony plans to launch a new subscription service next spring to counter Xbox Game Pass. It is known that this code name is “Spartacus (Gladiator Spartacus against the Roman Republic)”, and it is said that it will merge the current functions of PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now.
The new subscription service allows PlayStation console users to play a series of new and old PlayStation games as long as they pay a monthly fee. Reports indicate that Sony is likely to provide this service on both PS4 and PS5, not only because the PS4 has sold 116 million units, but also because the PS5 is still lacking in supply one year after its launch.
It is known that this subscription service will merge the two existing PlayStation subscription services, namely PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now, of which PlayStation Plus is necessary for multiplayer online play and will provide multiple free games every month; while PlayStation Now will allow Players can download or stream PlayStation games, but only PS2/3/4 old games. According to documents obtained by Bloomberg, Sony intends to use the PlayStation Plus brand name and fade out PlayStation Now.
Three-tier subscription plan
Although the details of Spartacus have not yet been officially finalized, it is known that the new subscription service is expected to be divided into three levels, the first level is the existing PlayStation Plus service, the second level will include PS4 and eventually PS5 games, and the third level will be added Game demo version, streaming games, and a series of PS1-PS3 and PSP classic games.
However, PlayStation Now currently provides services mainly in 19 countries including the United States, Canada and Europe, and only Japan provides services in Asia. It seems that when the new subscription plan is launched, Hong Kong may not have streaming cloud services.
There are currently more than 18 million subscribers to Xbox Game Pass. The monthly fee for Game Pass Ultimate is HK$79. In addition to playing more than 100 games on Xbox and PC platforms, subscribers can also purchase games at discounted prices and are required for multi-player online play. Xbox Live Gold membership and cloud gaming services in some countries.