Sony has announced today its revamp of the PlayStation Plus (PS Plus) subscription service which will launch this June, and there are some surprises.
Writing on the official PlayStation Blog, Sony’s Jim Ryan revealed that from June, PS Plus and PlayStation Now (PS Now) will merge into one service with three different tiers, the cheapest of which is your bog-standard PS Plus. However, the bog-standard becomes a little boggier – there will only be two games offered each month, rather than the current three. Ouch.
The next two tiers include the basic subscription benefits as well as extras via the soon-to-be-dead PS Now.
PS 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
PS 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
PS 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
The most expensive tier, PS Plus Premium, will offer PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP games via streaming, which is a better solution than none at all. However, a footnote on the PlayStation Blog states that in markets where streaming is not available, PS Plus Premium will instead be PS Plus Deluxe:
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.
– Jim Ryan, PlayStation Blog
The announcement today raises a lot of questions. What if you already have a decade of PS Plus stacked up? What if you’ve got five years of PS Plus and one year of PS Now? How will Sony combine the two? Which games from the PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP catalogues will be included? Will they run better than they did before? Will they have enhancements, such as resolution boosts, trophy support, multiplayer? Hopefully, we’ll get more answers as we get closer to the launch of the new PS Plus service.
Source: PlayStation Blog