In response to Microsoft’s new Game Pass, Sony has just made major changes to its PlayStation Plus, sp subscription game service, which now offers three price plans.
The war of the game consoles continues more beautiful in Sony and Microsoft! And it is now moving online, in the field of subscription platforms. Thus, a few days after the release of the new Xbox Game Pass from the American, the Japanese retorted with a completely remodeled PlayStation Plus, which now includes three formulas, at obviously distinct prices, in order to meet the varied needs of players. And to attract new ones. On June 23, a month after Asia and ten days after America, Sony has indeed deployed in Europe its new offer which allows access to hundreds of games almost unlimited. Because if the new platform has advantages, it also has disadvantages.
What is PlayStation Plus?
PlayStation Plus is an online service providing access to games for PlayStation by means of a subscription. Once registered, a player can thus download games at will on his PlayStation. Obviously with the limits linked to the very principle of this “rental” system: the games are no longer accessible if the subscription is canceled or if Sony withdraws them from its catalog – as for streaming content on Netflix, Disney + or Spotify. A practical and even economical formula for big players when you know the sometimes exorbitant prices of games purchased definitively – certain flagship titles on PS5, such as Final Fantasy VII Remake, are still at 80 euros…
Launched in 2010, the PlayStation Plus service has not experienced any real overhaul until today. Intended for players on PS3, then on PS4 and PS5, it allowed testing of full game demos limited to one hour, access under special conditions to certain betas, game demos, downloadable content and other articles on the PlayStation Store, to benefit from two free games each month, to play online games and to have discounts on the online store, with a one-year subscription for €59.99, from €19.99 per quarter or €7.99 for a month. A formula supplemented by PlayStation Now, a streaming subscription service that offered access to around 500 games from the PS4, PS3 and PS2 catalogs to players on PS4 and PC, all for €14.99 per month or €99 €.99 per year.
What are the formulas of the new PlayStation Plus?
But faced with an increasingly powerful and attractive Microsoft Game Pass, Sony had to react by completely revising its subscription service. Now, the “new” PlayStation Plus offers three distinct price plans – called Essential, Extra and Premium – which replace the old PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now since June 23, 2022.
► PlayStation Plus Essential: for €8.99 per month / €24.99 per quarter / €59.99 per year, it offers:
- Two downloadable games each month.
- Discounts for in-store purchases.
- Storing backups in the cloud.
- Access to online multiplayer games.
► PlayStation Plus Extra: for €13.99 per month / €39.99 per quarter / €99.99 per year, it offers:
- The benefits of PlayStation Plus Essential.
- Access to a catalog of 400 games available locally. They can come from Sony’s internal studios or from publishers with whom the Japanese firm has concluded commercial agreements.
► PlayStation Plus Premium: for €16.99 per month / €49.99 per quarter / €119.99 per year, it offers:
- The benefits of PlayStation Plus Extra.
- Access to a catalog of 340 additional retrogaming games, mostly from the PlayStation 3 but also from the PlayStation 1, the PlayStation 2 and the PSP, playable locally or in streaming thanks to the Cloud.
- Streaming access to all the games offered in the PlayStation Plus Extra formula, which can therefore be played remotely.
- The ability to preview future PS5 games for two hours.
The Essential formula therefore replaces the basic PlayStation Plus, but with a small price increase of 2 €. As for the PS Now, it finds its equivalence in the Premium formula with some improvements and, there too, a small increase. The real novelty is therefore the Extra subscription, which constitutes a compromise.
How does the new PlayStation Plus compare to Xbox Game Pass?
Of course, the new PlayStation Plus formulas are compared to those offered in the Xbox Game Pass, the subscriptions of the two competitors each seeking to retain their players and attract new ones with a well-stocked catalog. But where the PlayStation Plus suffers in comparison is in platforms and price. For example, PC players have their own subscription at Microsoft, with a formula at €9.99/month. However, at Sony, it is absolutely necessary to use streaming, and therefore the Premium formula at €16.99/month to have access to this service. In addition, Microsoft varies the media, offering Ultimate pass subscribers to play not only on console and PC, but also on tablet, connected TV and even with a smartphone.
The second point where Sony sins is at the level of the latest releases. Indeed, the Japanese firm has chosen not to include its latest big games from day one in its catalog, contrary to what Microsoft offers. If about fifteen games, such as Horizon Forbidden Forest and Cyberpunk, are playable for free for five hours with the Premium formula, you will however have to pay them full pot on the store, which still represents a hell of a budget. In short, the Xbox Game Pass for console, at €9.99/month, is the equivalent of the PlayStation Plus Extra, at €13.99/month, with a difference of around €4/month, while the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, at €12.99/month, is the equivalent of PlayStation Plus Premium, at €16.99/month. Microsoft therefore offers more attractive prices for roughly equivalent content. Only the Premium offer offers added value with the presence of more than 300 games from the catalogs of Sony’s first three consoles – even if classics such as a certain one are missing. Final Fantasy or the saga Kingdom Hearts, while there are less than 60 Xbox 360 games present in the catalog so far, more than half of which are actually from the EA Play catalog. Nevertheless, the PlayStation Plus Extra brings a real benefit to PS4 and PS5 players, but the premium version is a bit too expensive to be really interesting, unless you are really a fan of retrogaming.