Sean Marshall After months of consistent rumors circulating about Sony releasing an Xbox Game Pass competitor, Sony has finally pulled back the curtain on their new subscription plans! This new move from Sony will fuse the PlayStation Plus and PS Now into a three-tier subscription with 700 games/retro games tied to the top tier.
The three tiers are as follows:
PlayStation Plus Essential
- 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.
- 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
PlayStation Plus Extra
- 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.
- 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
PlayStation Plus Premium
- 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.
- 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
PlayStation Boss Jack Ryan had this to say about Sony not releasing their games day one on PlayStation Plus like Xbox’s Game Pass:
“[In terms of] putting our own games into this service, or any of our services, upon their release… as you well know, this is not a road that we’ve gone down in the past. And it’s not a road that we’re going to go down with this new service. We feel if we were to do that with the games that we make at PlayStation Studios, that virtuous cycle will be broken. The level of investment that we need to make in our studios would not be possible, and we think the knock-on effect on the quality of the games that we make would not be something that gamers want.“
Ryan also stated that this might change later on:
“The way the world is changing so very quickly at the moment, nothing is forever,” he said. “So I don’t want to cast anything in stone at this stage. All I’m talking to today is the approach we’re taking in the short term. The way our publishing model works right now, it doesn’t make any sense. But things can change very quickly in this industry, as we all know.“
Which one of the three are you going to get? What do you think of this change to Sony’s PlayStation Plus?
