While it would have always been hard for Sony to create a subscription service similar to Xbox Game Pass with day one free games from indie and big game studios, on account of Microsoft spending 10’s of billions of dollars to buy out studios for exclusives… still Sony is putting up a good fight by offering hundreds of retro and PlayStation 1, 2, Portable, 3, 4 & 5 games available in two new sub packages called PlayStation Plus Extra & Premium.
Here’s the new PlayStation Plus subscription options announcement:
“Since launching PlayStation Plus in 2010, SIE has been at the forefront of innovation with game subscription services. We were thrilled to be the first console membership service that included a refreshed library of games through PlayStation Plus, and also launched the first console game streaming service with PlayStation Now.
Today, we are pleased to share with you official news about changes coming to our subscription services. This June, we’re bringing together PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now in an all-new PlayStation Plus subscription service that provides more choice to customers across three membership tiers globally.”
Sony’s focus is on providing high-quality, curated content with a diverse portfolio of games*. Below is an overview of the three membership tiers:
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.
- Provides the same benefits that PlayStation Plus members are getting today, such as:
- 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
- United States
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
- United States
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
- United States
- PlayStation Plus Deluxe (Select Markets) For markets without cloud streaming, PlayStation Plus Deluxe will be offered at a lower price compared to Premium, and includes a catalog of beloved classic games from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations to download and play, along with time-limited game trials. Benefits from Essential and Extra tiers are also included. Local pricing will vary by market.
The new Extra and Premium tiers represent a major evolution for PlayStation Plus. With these tiers, our key focus is to ensure that the hundreds of games we offer will include the best quality content that sets us apart. At launch, we plan to include titles such as Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal. We’re working closely with our imaginative developers from PlayStation Studios and third-party partners to include some of the best gaming experiences available with a library that will be regularly refreshed. More details to come on the games we’ll have on our new PlayStation Plus service.
When the new PlayStation Plus service launches, PlayStation Now will transition into the new PlayStation Plus offering and will no longer be available as a standalone service. PlayStation Now customers will migrate over to PlayStation Plus Premium with no increase to their current subscription fees at launch.
As this is a massive launch effort, we’re rolling out the new PlayStation Plus offering in a phased regional approach. In the June timeframe, we’ll begin with an initial launch in several markets in Asia, followed by North America, Europe and the rest of the world where PlayStation Plus is offered. We aim to have most PlayStation Network territories live with our new PlayStation Plus game subscription service by the end of the first half of 2022. We also plan to expand our cloud streaming benefit to additional markets, and will provide more details at a later date.
Building upon more than 25 years of expertise in gaming innovation, this change to our subscription services highlights our continued efforts to evolve our network services business to match our customer’s preferences. With the all-new PlayStation Plus, we’re focused on delivering a compelling game subscription service with curated content from our exclusive PlayStation Studios team and our third-party partners. The newly enhanced PlayStation Plus will enable our fans to discover and engage with more content than ever before, and deepen their connection with the PlayStation community through shared experiences.
We’re providing an early look at our new PlayStation Plus subscription service today, and we’ll plan to share more information with you as we get closer to launch. Stay tuned.
*Local pricing may vary by market. PlayStation Plus catalog titles may also vary by market and tier, and may change over time. PlayStation Plus is an ongoing subscription subject to a recurring subscription fee taken automatically until cancellation. Age restrictions apply. Terms apply: play.st/psplus-usageterms
**Current markets where PlayStation Now is available: US, Canada, Japan, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden.
***PC streaming is not available in Japan at launch and will be supported in a future update.
Take a look at some gamer opinions. Note: It isn’t pretty. Fans are basically calling it like it is, Sony added PlayStation Now streaming to PlayStation Plus’ monthly games.
Will you be signing up for a more expensive PlayStation Plus sub to get more games? If so, which one?
PS: I don’t think I’ll bite until Sony’s upcoming new first-party games will be free day one with any of the subscriptions. Which is how Microsoft does things, making it worth it even if you only end up playing 2 new games per year. So far Xbox Game Pass is still the best deal in gaming, whether you’re a PlayStation fanboy or not, there’s no denying it at $15 per month.