Sony’s take on a buffet of games is coming to the PlayStation, as the company adopts something more like what Microsoft has going on the Xbox.
We all know that games cost money, but that’s where game services can be truly helpful. Much like how movie services such as Netflix and Disney+ can help you save money by offering lots of movies for a monthly price, and how music services such as Apple Music and Spotify can do the same with music tracks for a monthly price, game services can get you gaming with a similar model.
Yes, the whole all-you-can-play service is truly here, whether you’re looking at what Apple offers in Apple Arcade, the equivalent from Google for Android, and one from Microsoft that not only works on Xbox and Windows PC, but on mobile devices using the power of the cloud, as well.
It’s a concept that Sony hasn’t quite bought into just yet, though, providing only a handful of games for its monthly PlayStation Plus (PS Plus) service, and maybe some extras and digital discounts. As it is, PlayStation Plus didn’t quite pan out as a true Xbox Game Pass competitor, missing out on the buffet of gaming titles and the cloud access to play games not only when you want but where you want, as well.
However, that looks to evolve later this year.
Sony has announced some changes to PS Plus worldwide, with three tiers of the service on the way: a basic “essential” plan, an “extra” mid-tier plan, and a more expensive “deluxe” plan.
They’ll differ based on what’s on offer, with the more you pay, the more you get, not different too much from Xbox’s Game Pass versus Ultimate, the latter of which bundles in Windows PC gaming access and Xbox Cloud access for remote gaming.
Sony’s will be fairly similar, with the current PS Plus plan evolving to PS Plus Essential, and pretty much being the same, with two monthly downloadable games plus online multiplayer access. The secondary mid-tier, PlayStation Plus Extra, will add up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games to play, while keeping the stuff from “Essential” the same.
Meanwhile, the PS Plus Deluxe adds even more games, with up to 340 more games, as well, covering older generations and running across PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable. Overseas, the PS Plus Deluxe tier is called “PS Plus Premium” and gets cloud streaming games, not unlike Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, though Sony hasn’t said necessarily said the same will be available in Australia.
Interestingly, PS Plus Premium could finally be a way for us to play EchoChrome and the Patapon games on a modern system, titles that have been missing in action for conversions, to name a few.
But while pricing has been announced in the US, UK, Europe, and Japan, Sony PlayStation in Australia hasn’t been quite as forthcoming with details regarding prices, except for the first tier, PlayStation Plus Essential, which will stay the same as the current PS Plus service, sitting at $11.95 per month. Basically, folks already subscribed to PS Plus will keep it on Essential, while the remaining plans are likely to run $15 to $20 minimum, charging a little more in the process.
We’ll find out what that means later on, but if you’re a PlayStation gamer, it means you could soon get similar benefits to Xbox Game Pass on your Sony-made console, too.