New PlayStation Plus Combines PS Plus and PS Now, to Launch in June With 3 Tiers - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 29 March 2022 / 2,437 Views
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced it is launching an all-new version of PlayStation Plus in June that will be available in three tiers - Essential, Extra, and Premium.
The relaunch of PlayStation Plus will combine the current PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now into a singe service.
"Since launching PlayStation Plus in 2010, SIE has been at the forefront of innovation with game subscription services," said Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan. "We were thrilled to be the first console membership service that included a refreshed library of games through PlayStation Plus, and also launched the first console game streaming service with PlayStation Now.
"Today, we are pleased to share with you official news about changes coming to our subscription services. This June, we’re bringing together PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now in an all-new PlayStation Plus subscription service that provides more choice to customers across three membership tiers globally."
Ryan added, "Building upon more than 25 years of expertise in gaming innovation, this change to our subscription services highlights our continued efforts to evolve our network services business to match our customer’s preferences.
"With the all-new PlayStation Plus, we’re focused on delivering a compelling game subscription service with curated content from our exclusive PlayStation Studios team and our third-party partners. The newly enhanced PlayStation Plus will enable our fans to discover and engage with more content than ever before, and deepen their connection with the PlayStation community through shared experiences."
When the new PlayStation Plus service launches, PlayStation Now will no longer be available as a standalone service. PlayStation Now subscribers will migrate over to PlayStation Plus Premium with no increase in price.
This new version of PlayStation Plus will roll out over time in different regions. It will first launch in some markets in Asia, followed by North America, Europe, and the rest of the world. The goal is to have it available worldwide by the end of the first half of 2022.
Read the breakdown of three tiers below:
PlayStation 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
PlayStation 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
PlayStation 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
- PlayStation Plus Deluxe (Select Markets) For markets without cloud streaming, 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. Local pricing will vary by market.
**Current markets where PlayStation Now is available: US, Canada, Japan, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden.
***PC streaming is not available in Japan at launch and will be supported in a future update.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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The more options to play the better! At least that's how I see it.
That being said I don't think Microsoft will be losing any sleep over this announcement.
Out of all these tiers the one I think will be least sought out will be the middle package. I have a feeling most people are either going to stick with the traditional PS plus model currently in effect or if they so desire head over to the premium offering for the full PSplus experience.
While I like what Sony has done in offering various levels of entry to people the big question on everyone's mind is why they didn't offer new games day 1 like Microsoft has. I know the head of Sony (Jim Ryan.) has come out in defense as to why Sony will not be using a similar approach as Microsoft but I wouldn't be surprised if it fell on deaf ears. Without that I don't think this new subscription service will have the same kind of impact that Microsoft's model does.
The one really good thing is that they are offering PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games as part of the service. This is a big benefit of this subscription and one I know Sony fans have been asking for for a very long time. I can see a lot of hardcore gamers perhaps giving these subscriptions a second thought just for that alone but I'm not sure that feature will speak to more of the "casual" gaming market or those that want to play the latest and greatest titles.
The comments sections alone in most of the gaming sites out there I think is a better representation of how the community is adjusting to this news; which is not one of overwhelming excitement but rather one of apathy.
TL;DR: Personally I am glad Sony is offering another alternative to their PSplus subscription service and it does sound like there is a lot of good features being offered at the various tiers but I'm not sure these offerings will elicit the same kind of response that Microsoft's Game Pass has. It's hard to compete with Brand new AAA titles being released day 1 but that being said there is still a lot in these subscriptions to like.
And hey, adding more options for people all over the world to play is always a good thing, right?
-VIDEOGAME MORE OPTIONS NINJA APPROVED-
Jim believes a small subset really wants to play the classics so he wanted to offer some saving for those that just wanted the library of PS4 and PS5. We may know the truth if Sony gives us a break down of the tiers on their quarter release.
I know there are going to be comparisons to Gamepass with it's day 1 exclusives. However, I don't think that what this offers is bad. Sure, no day 1 exclusives, but it does offer PS1, PS2, PSP, PS3 PS4, and PS5 games to play while offering it's online service for about 66% of Gamepass Ultimate MSRP.
That said, I'm not interested in subscription services. Like Nintendo, I would love to have an opportunity to buy these classic games and/or carry over the purchases I've already made. Not a fan of the subscription service model being the primary way to get these games on modern hardware.
I agree this isn't a Game Pass competitor. Only way I would see that is if at least one of the tiers included first-party games at launch.
First-party games day one is the main driver for Game Pass. It is why I have Game Pass and in the end I've also played many third-party titles I would never have bought.
I have read this over and over and still cat figure out what this new combined duo of + and Now have over the existing Now. With existing Now you had access to the full compliment of games from PS1-PS4 in both download as well as streaming. And from what I've read, Now doesnt require + for games that support online play.
So them combining the two gives you what more exactly? PSP support... PS5 games (I believe those are already in Now), timed trials for new releases seems like the only new feature. And that might make it closer to gamepass.
You have some misunderstanding with the service. PS Now doesn't have PS1 or PSP games. It has PS3 games and PS4/PS5 games. PS2 games that are available were taken from the "ported" PS2 games on PS4 (the classics line), but it doesn't go beyond that. Any PS1 games you see are complete ports (FF7, FF8, FF9). It's a different circumstance. It's effectively just PS3, PS4, and PS5 games. This opens the door to extend it beyond their PS2 classics line and into PS1/PSP games without relying on porting processes.
Has Sony actually confirmed that they will be expanding the PS2 library beyond the classics line? You'd think they would with all of the extra revenue coming in but sadly there's no guarantee.
They haven't given a list of classic titles that will be available or added, but I do think we will see constant inclusions, but I wouldn't hold my expectation for big splashes of the highest selling one.
Yeah it will be interesting to see how big the retro libraries get over time.
I actually thought all of those digital PS1 & 2 games they made available on the PS Network years ago (I bought several for my PS3 / PSP) were available day one on Now. My bad.
I know there have been great advancements in the way of emulators for PS1 and 2 and even 3 on PC so why is Sony not just using any of those? Maybe they are for 1 & 2 but 3 is seriously being ignored by Sony when RPCS3 is able to do so much from such a small team/ budget.
OMG, talk about the best value in gaming! Over 700 "FREE" games with PS Plus!
Not sure if serious? Nothing "FREE" about this service (monthly or annual costs), and I don't see how the value exceeds Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack (which is cheaper if you want retro titles) or Game Pass (which will offer far more contemporary titles, including first-party day-and-date).
This is trying to be something in-between NSO and GP. Which will probably suit some people just fine. But I don't see how it's the "best value in gaming". The fact that they're only console games is a limitation too, since Game Pass also has a PC games offering, and also offers streaming to mobile devices.
If you're just comparing the number of games, OK, yes, it's 700+ vs. Game Pass being... what... 550+ these days? But no one plays hundreds of games at one time, so that's not an especially relevant metric when you get up to those kinds of numbers.
The fact that you can get three years of Game Pass by buying three years of Xbox Live Gold and then converting to three years of Game Pass Ultimate, and then renew forever after using Microsoft Rewards at no financial cost, makes arguing this is the best value in gaming pretty hard IMO.
The tiered pricing model got me excited for a moment, but there's still nothing for someone like me who wants occasional access to online play and nothing more. 9€ for a maximum of 10 hours is fairly steep when a bit of online play is all you really want.
For the better or worse the first tier is just current PS+ and on that most people sign for a year so I don't think they saw value in decreasing the monthly option because the way it is make people more willing to sign for a year.
Definitely seems that way. They're losing out a bit, because I'm not paying that much for what little need I have, but I would be reluctantly willing to pay some if there was an option suitable for me. That said, Sony probably doesn't consider it to be worth the effort, if it's even a benefit at all.
True, sometimes there are customers that company decide are worth the bother. I don't care about Multiplayer and online, and the games given on PS+ along the year usually justify the sub for me, but I certainly can understand the 24-30 titles a year not really meating their taste enough to justify the purchase and the frustration of the MP locked behind paywall (I'm still against it).
For me, it's not even a taste issue. It's my relative lack of time and my huge backlog of owned games, which means I could probably play only a few PS+ games a year, at best. At that rate, it's just not worth the cost, even if it provides great value.
Gotcha. And possibly even the montlhy PS+ for online is not worth as well.
Basically you sum the cost of PS+ and PSNow and you have the tier 3 with added PS1 and PSP games. For a little less you get only the PS4 and PS5 library.
Not interested at the moment.
I thought it would be but just a bit chaper for it to be bundled. Since this is almost the same exept some systems added its a big miss that it dint cost a bit less.
It is a bit less if you don't want PS1,PS2,PSP games. And if you want them it becomes a little more value than current PS+PSNow, but yes nothing that really save us significant money.
So just to confirm: PS2, PS3 (streaming only), and PS4 games were already available on PS Now, correct?
From what I know yes.
I looked it up and the PS1/PSP are the only new platforms but the PS2 library was very small.
Yep, someone mentioned that the only PS2 titles on PSNow was what they had ported to sell.
The option is surely appreciated.
That said, it's hard not to make the comparison to game pass ultimate at $14.99. If they aren't willing to go toe to toe with Day 1 releases you'd have thought they would be competing on price, at least.
On annual you are looking at 100 for the one with PS4 and PS5 titles, or 120 for the addition of streaming PS1,2,3,PSP titles. The number of titles even on the tier 2 is already comparable to GP and the tier 3 is comparably bigger. Also both are less expensive than the 180USD a year of GP. Dunno about GP, but on PS+ and likely PSNow most users were yearly subs since you could save considerably (up to 50% on normal days and even more on promotions).
Ah you're right - I forgot about the option to pay yearly. I can't believe Xbox don't have a straightforward yearly purchase.
I feel like they should get rid of the middle tier, just seems to add confusion.
It adds cheaper option for those that don't want legacy games.
It's not just legacy games though.
Premium over the mid tier offers the PS1,2,3 and PSP catalogue. The only thing else is the trials (probably to entice someone that don't care much about the classics to bit the bullet and pay 20 extra per year for it). Anyway if I was to sign for it, most of the time more likely I would chose the mid.
An extra $20 a year is nothing. They should get rid of the mid tier and maybe make the premium a little more enticing.
Maybe Sony should do more day one releases on indie and B-tier titles as well.
Well that is opinion, and sure you can think it is unnecessary, we will know if Sony gives the breaks of each tier. I think it is possible some Indies and B-tier will be day and date, PS+ already gives games at launch every once in a while (mainly Indies).
All these tiers are what we basically heard they would be so no surprise there. While we were never going to get day one 1st party games, I was hoping they would at least have gamepass pricing where it didn't matter if you signed up for 1 month or 1 year you still paid the same monthly cost. With 3 tiers, and 3 cost tiers based on each tier monthly, quarterly, and yearly that's 9 different price options., that's not simplifying playstation now/playstation plus.
I prefer the option to save a lot by signing for a year instead of a month though, and considering the stability of PS+ subs number on the quarterly I would say most use it.
That's fair, I like the idea of having PS+ throughout the year, and then upgrading it to another tier for a few months when a few good games are available, than dropping it back down to the regular ps+
That PS3 streaming...oof! I really don't like the streaming aspect, but I understand the PS3 architecture made it nonviable for downloading. A bit pricey too, but love the legacy console games.
I was hoping Sony wasn't going to take the Nintendo approach of legacy game preservation.
we have no idea if PS1, PS2, and PSP games are stuck on the service. Especially since they haven't mentioned it being exclusive to the service anywhere. No reason to jump to conclusions when the launch of this service is still 2 months out.
Fair enough, but at the same time, the past 2 years of bad PR due to bad management decisions by SIE doesn't inspire confidence that the classic games will be anything else other than stuck on the service.
Here's to hoping I'm wrong because I will happily accept being wrong for this!
They are not stuck on the service. You can still get them on their original platforms.
So if you REALLY want to play them, >>REALLY<<, and not just searching for excuses, you know where to get them.
Why would I spend hundreds of dollars for original systems and games that'll last who knows how much longer when Sony has proven in the past they're capable of selling their old games for $5 or $10 on systems you already have? That's just idiotic to spend that much money
This quote from Jim Ryan definitely makes me lean toward retro games being only on the service
"Obviously, it's not for everybody, which is why it is in the Premium tier," Ryan said. "But there are people like me who have been around forever, who have played those games and loved those games 20-odd years ago. Or maybe it's people whose parents rave on about these games and want to try them for themselves. Once we can share the line-up with the world, we think there's going to be a lot of interest in that."
This quote is to explain why it is on the Premium and not on the mid tier or basic (making them more expensive), not he saying you won't be allowed to buy those (which may happen, but there are rumors saying they will be purchasable, as I said somewhere else several ports of PS1 and PS2 titles have been sold on PS3 and PS4 store, haven't looked for them on PS5 though but know some collections show up on my main page).
The premium price is a bit much to be able to play ps1, ps2 and psp and ps3 via streaming. Most countries have crappy Internet speeds
Only PS3 titles is streaming only, all the others can be downloaded and played locally on PS4 and PS5. And well I think it is hard to believe the internet would be so crappy that someone wouldn't be able to stream PS1 titles anyway.
