It is not Playstation’s answer to Netflix, not even a concession to subscriptions to the-you-can eat, or a plea bargain to the Xbox game pass of rival Microsoft. Sony has put its house in order by essentially merging what was already there (Playstation Plus and Playstation Now). The new formula will be called PlayStation Plus, will come to life in June and will offer at the same time three levels of access Essential, Extra and Premium.
How does it work.
The Essential level basically maintains the current PlayStation Plus offer: 9.99 euros per month (59.99 euros) and includes online multiplayer, cloud saves and a series of exclusive discounts, in addition to the usual two free games on a monthly basis . Those who are already registered with PlayStation Plus today become Essential users in June. With Extra Extra you will have 400 games for PS4 and PS5 and a selection with let’s say the best of titles from PlayStation Studios and third-party companies. The price rises to 13.99 euros per month (99.99 euros per year), and the package will also include Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11 and Returnal. With Premium the price rises to 16.99 euros per month and PlayStation Now, the streaming service and other 340 games from the PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PSP catalog are added.
What changes?
Compared to Xbox Games Pass, “first party” games will not be available at launch for subscribers to the service. Playstation’s business model remains traditional. The new games first come out online and in stores at full price, then subsequently enter a phase of promotion and discounts and eventually land in the subscription. According to Jim Ryan, boss of Sony Interactive Entertainment, the quality of the internal games could suffer if they were to be launched on day one on the new PS Plus. He wants to try to cash in more on day one and then feed the subscription formulas.