Given how accurate speculation has been about the planned merger of PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now, it is no longer today’s announcement Sony no big surprise. But since all the clues and information so far were unofficial, I didn’t want to draw conclusions about what Sony apparently is going and what good can it bring to the players. But in the face of today’s report, I was disappointed, because no matter how much I look at the three – or rather the four – subscriptions, I don’t see any added value or anything new in connection with the offer so far. On the contrary, it almost seems that Sony only wanted to take a step that would at least move her to the center of the companies running their full gaming subscriptions, but she was not willing to do anything extra. This is underlined not only by the merger under the well-known name PlayStation Plus, although I perceive marketing intentions along with tradition, but also by the reluctance after such many years to expand the availability of PlayStation Now to other countries.
New PlayStation Plus subscriptions at a glance
| PlayStation Plus Essential | PlayStation Plus Extra | PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe |
|---|---|---|
| EUR 8.99 per month / EUR 24.99 quarterly / EUR 59.99 per year | EUR 13.99 per month / EUR 39.99 per quarter / EUR 99.99 per year | EUR 16.99 per month / EUR 49.99 per quarter / EUR 119.99 per year |
| Two games a month for free | All previous rewards | All previous rewards |
| Exclusive discounts | Catalog of up to 400 titles from the era of PS4 and PS5 | Up to 340 older titles. PS3 games only streamed, PS1, PS2 and PSP games can be downloaded and streamed |
| Stored positions in the cloud | Includes games from PlayStation Studios and 3rd party titles | Access the PS Now library with other streaming games from PS1, PS2, PSP and PS4. However, only in countries where PS Now is now supported (the Czechia and Slovakia are not supported, in our country the service is called PS Plus Deluxe and will be cheaper) |
| Access to online multiplayer | Games are downloaded and played locally | Time-limited game trials |
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Just for the record, that word merger is completely in place, because the new PlayStation Plus subscription doesn’t make too many changes. In Essential mode, you get what PS Plus has to offer. In the second, by far the most attractive stage of Extra, you will get access to up to “400 titles from PS4 and PS5”, which will also include great first party games. However, the key according to which Sony will rank the latest ones is not yet known, as well as the ratio of games for the current and previous generation. In addition, if you look at the current PlayStation Now offer, which the Extra subscription naturally comes from, some of the games that Sony is attracting to the upcoming June changes are already available, and Returnal from April last year remains the latest. The fact that these games can be downloaded and played locally, without the need to stream them via PlayStation Now, is also nothing new, as everything has worked this way so far. That’s why I’m coming back just to merge, as I have mentioned several times, which, at least for the time being, does not seem to me to be a sufficient form.
So who is the new PlayStation Plus for? If for those who in the deeper integration of PS Now saw the possibility of full backward compatibility, and therefore the opportunity to play retro classics, then this is the most disadvantaged group. Players will only get to the older titles after paying the most expensive level – Premium – which is 17 euros per month. But even that does not guarantee access to a rich library, specifically to less than 350 games, again selected from the current offer of PS Now. It’s nice that the PSP games were also considered, and it’s nice to be able to play via the stream on the computer in the appropriate application, but this offer doesn’t apply to everyone. As was the case with the basic PS Now – although the service has been in operation since 2014, it is only active in 19 countries so far, and Sony will certainly not rush to discover which countries will come next.
Communication about the price is also strangely confusing, because on the one hand Sony promises that Deluxe will be cheaper, but unfortunately no longer states how much.
Therefore, I must describe this reluctance to add to the planned change what players in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, for example, are waiting for as the weakest point in today’s announcement. If Sony plans to change the situation by June and add more to a number of European countries, then only well, but here for a change we encounter insufficient communication and some confusion regarding the most expensive level of subscription. I see as a certain symbol of the half-life of the whole announcement that for those interested in countries where PS Now does not yet work, Premium will be available as a Deluxe without any streaming options. Also, communication about the price is strangely confusing, because on the one hand Sony promises that Deluxe will be cheaper, but no longer says how much. If there are any more presentations dedicated to the new PlayStation Now concept, I’m definitely not angry with anyone, but why we couldn’t find out this information right today is still a mystery to me after a few hours.
On the contrary, what needs to be clear to everyone – and leaks or speculations have confirmed this from the first moment – the new PlayStation Plus concept doesn’t really compete with the Game Pass. New games will not be published in the subscription, as is the case with Microsoft, which is probably the most important and so defining change that there can be no question of any similarity. Even at this point, however, the philosophy with which Sony approaches the service is not entirely clear to me, because I perceive it as the opposite of what says Jim Ryan. The president of the SIE said that placing one’s own games on the day of issue and subscribing would be detrimental to them, which I see as an effort to maximize sales. But when a large number of players buy the game, how much motivation will arise for the same people to be interested in a subscription that includes the title a year later? Sure, not everyone plays all genres, not everyone buys all games, but if the biggest attraction of sales and subscriptions is to be the same title, but in one case delivered with a considerable delay, what form of distribution will win and pull? It is understood by Microsoft, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft and there is a huge added value, interest in PS Plus subscriptions, resp. its higher degree, that’s why I guess that’s why it won’t grow dizzying.
That the situation can change is understandable – just expand the functionality of PS Now, inflate the package of available retro games, enable local PS3 titles, because the current PlayStation 5 will undoubtedly manage to emulate these games when Steam Deck can do it, and everything will be happier right away. But so far the working name Spartacus seemed to me to be the strongest in the whole thing, and that is unfortunately not enough from the point of view of a Czech player and given the constellations.
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/data/photo/2022/03/30/6243d0aa7aae3.png "I’d rather lose money than friends")