Previous rumors have turned out to be true, and Sony has officially announced changes to their Playstation Plus subscription service. The announcement seems to be right in line with what was previously rumored, although now we have the pricing information to go along with it.
The service will officially merge Playstation Plus and Playstation Now, and will no longer be offering Playstation Now as a standalone service. Playstation Plus will now have three tiers as previously rumored, with each successive tier costing more money but giving greater benefits. The base tier will be basically the same as the current program. Here is a list of all the tiers and their pricing:
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.
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
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
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
- 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.
At the new program’s launch, Sony plans to include some of their bigger titles, including Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal. However, as rumors have said, Sony has no plans to add major new game releases to the service on day one. In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Playstation CEO Jim Ryan said that he felt doing that could hurt the quality of the games they put out:
“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.”
– Jim Ryan Playstation CEO
The new Playstation Plus will officially launch in June in stages. It will first roll out in Asia, followed by North America, Europe and the rest of the world. No specific date was given, but Sony hopes to have most territories that Playstation Network is available in up and running by the end of the first half of 2022.
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