Sony Designs Spartacus, a Subscription Service Similar to Xbox Game Pass

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Sony designed a subscription service similar to Xbox Game Pass. Sony actually already has two types of game subscription services, namely PlayStation Plus which is needed for most online games with many players (multiplayer) and PlayStation Now which offers a catalog of games for download or streaming.

The two kinds of services will reportedly be combined in the form of a new offering that will be released in the spring of next year. Sony is said to be retaining the service name PlayStation Plus and will be removing PlayStation Now for its newest form of service.

Codenamed Spartacus, the form of customer service being designed will consist of three levels. First, it offers benefits like those already present in the current PlayStation Plus. Second, adding to that tier a catalog of PS4 games and new PS5 games. Third, will also get additional demos, streaming PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP classic games and games collection.

Sony has not confirmed this news. It is suspected that a number of service details, including the subscription service membership model, are still not finalized.

It is also reported that Sony is doing its best to develop cloud gaming. This is likely to keep up with the RTX 3080 on Nvidia’s GeForce Now and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X for xCloud. Even so, it is not clear whether Spartacus will operate on Microsoft Azure after the agreement that Sony and Microsoft signed in 2019.

“If so, this would mean Sony’s subscription service runs on the same platform as its competitors,” the report reads.

The new Spartacus service looks set to line Sony up with its Game Pass Ultimate subscription system that was created Microsoft. The system allows its customers to play multiplayer online games, access a large library of game titles from Microsoft and other companies, and streaming games from cloud.

THE VERGE, BLOOMBERG

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