PlayStation Plus: price, availability, formulas, new features… we take stock of Sony’s ex-Spartacus

Game news PlayStation Plus: price, availability, formulas, new features… we take stock of Sony’s ex-Spartacus

What is PlayStation Plus?

PlayStation Plus was officially launched on June 29, 2010. It is a subscription-based service that enables online play on PlayStation consoles and gives access to various benefits, such as price reductions on certain titles or special downloadable content. More recently, subscribers have been able to access saved files directly in the cloud, making it easier to move through games when switching consoles. The shocking argument of PlayStation Plus is to offer between two and four games.”free” (these become unreachable when unsubscribed), different every month. At the time PlayStation Plus was launched, Sony was the only one of the three major manufacturers to offer such benefits to subscribers.

What’s new in the future PlayStation Plus compared to the old one?

On March 29, 2022, Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, announced that PlayStation Plus would be evolving. Soon players will not be able to access a single and unique formula as is currently the case with PS Plus, but they will have the option to subscribe to one of the three offers offered between the Essential, the Extra and the Premium. Each formula has its own advantages and has its own price. For example, it will be possible to take advantage of a large catalog of PS4 and PS5 games, or even take advantage of a library of retro games that belong to the Japanese brand’s past.

Depending on the offers chosen, the new PlayStation Plus offers:

• A library of approximately 400 PS4 and PS5 games to download
• A catalog of games from old PlayStations (PS One, PS2, PSP) for download
• Game streaming (PS One, PS2, PSP but also PS3 and PS4)
• Demos (or limited time access) to the latest PlayStation releases

What are the different formulas?

Users will soon be able to choose between the Essential option (the PS Plus as we know it with two games every month and the ability to play online), the Extra option (the benefits of the Essential with access to a catalog of 400 PS4 and PS5 software), and finally the Premium option (the benefits of the Essential and the Extra, with the added ability to play PS One, PS2, PS3, PSP titles and access for a limited time to the latest PlayStation 5 releases). In addition, Premium members can stream PSOne, PS2, PS3, PSP and PS4 software on PC, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. PS5 titles cannot be streamed.

Does this mean PlayStation Now is dead?

The new PlayStation Plus is actually an improved fusion between PS Plus and PS Now rather than an actual new product. In the Premium formula we find the games “free” from PS Plus and the extensive catalog of recent and retro software to download or stream from PS Now. PlayStation Now as we know it will disappear to make way for PlayStation Plus Premium.

Will it be possible to play the catalog of PlayStation Plus games on PC?

Indeed, much like what PlayStation Now offered, it will be possible to play PlayStation games directly on PC thanks to the joys of streaming. On the sole condition that the player subscribes to the Premium offer, the only one that allows this functionality. The Premium Member will therefore be able to enjoy playing PS One, PS2, PS3, PSP and PS4 games on PC. Please note that PlayStation 5 games are not part of the cloud playable titles. They are therefore not available for streaming on PC.

What are the prices of the different formulas?

By offering a price of 10 euros per month to players who decide to subscribe to the best formula (Premium) for the year, Sony gets an admission ticket that is lower than the monthly price of Game Pass Ultimate (set at 12.99 euros). However, the two services have different philosophies. What is certain is that the losers of this Sony-orchestrated update are those who have been using PS Now purely on PC. If they want to continue to enjoy streaming PlayStation games on their computer, they will have to take out a subscription twice as expensive (120 euros instead of 60 euros).

Are games from PlayStation studios accessible from the day they are released?

Jim Ryan explained that the new PlayStation exclusives will not be available on day one, regardless of the PlayStation Plus plan you have subscribed to. This is a big difference from what Microsoft’s Game Pass offers. Nevertheless, it will be possible to play on the latest novelties for a limited time. This precise point requires some explanation which will be given later.

Are the games playable in the cloud, like PS Now?

Only the PlayStation Plus Premium subscription allows streaming of PS One, PS2, PS3, PSP and PS4 games on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC. PS5 games are not playable in the cloud. The PS3 software will be streaming only and not downloadable, unlike the titles from the other mentioned machines.

What will happen to customers who already have a PS Plus or PS Now subscription?

Current PlayStation Plus subscribers automatically become Essential members at no additional cost. PlayStation Now subscribers upgrade to Premium with no special steps and no additional costs. It’s a great operation as the PS Now only costs 60 Euros a year compared to 120 Euros for the Premium offer of PlayStation Plus.

What is the launch date of the new PlayStation Plus?

The new PlayStation Plus, which offers Essential, Extra and Premium subscriptions, will be available to the public on June 22, 2022.

How many PlayStation Plus subscribers are there currently?

More than a decade after the launch of PlayStation Plus, Sony has nearly 50 million subscribers to its service.

Why is Sony making these changes?

In the race forvideo game netflixMicrosoft took the lead. According to Ampere analysis, Game Pass would have 60% market share in video game subscription services in North America and Europe, compared to just 7% for PlayStation Now. Sony’s goal is to regain some market share by building on the success of PlayStation Plus and simplifying the proposition by bundling key services together. Analysts believe many subscribers will be tempted to upgrade to the Extra offer, which costs slightly more than the current PlayStation Plus. This should therefore enable Sony to improve its sales. Finally, in the communication war, this “mergerBetween PS Plus and PS Now could help Sony claim that its new PS Plus service has a total of 50 million subscribers, compared to Game Pass’s 25 million subscribers.

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