The rumblings of Spartacus made several folks, both fans and press alike, jump to unfounded albeit understandable conclusions about the revamp of PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now. Almost immediately, headlines surfaced stating that Spartacus is the answer to Xbox’s Game Pass and that PlayStation can rival the competitor’s streaming service. It looked to me that Spartacus was more of a rebranding and not positioned to go head to head with Game Pass.
In fact, I’ve previously argued that Spartacus couldn’t beat Game Pass in the streaming race, at least at launch. The rumblings became a reality, and Spartacus threw no curveballs – the rumors were correct. PlayStation Plus will split into three tiers of increasing value, which I detailed below. (The price value goes from monthly to quarterly to yearly. For more information, visit the PlayStation Blog.)
PlayStation Plus Essential ($9.99 | $24.99 | $59.99)
The same offering as the current PlayStation Plus includes two monthly free games, store discounts, Cloud Storage, and online multiplayer access.
PlayStation Plus Extra ($14.99 | $39.99 | $99.99)
In addition to the previous benefits, there are up to 400 downloadable PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games.
PlayStation Plus Premium ($17.99 | $49.99 | $119.99)
Adds 340 PlayStation 3 games (Cloud streaming), PlayStation games, PlayStation 2 games, and PlayStation Portable games to the service. Lastly, the final tier also offers time-limited game trials.
To the shock of no one, people were disappointed by this announcement, which is ironic because it was the same exact structure we were parading before the official news. I saw the faults from the beginning, however, there are still a few promising aspects of this deal.
The Original PlayStation Plus Stays the Same (Like)
It’s no secret that Sony makes some unacceptable business decisions. You have to look no further than the unnecessary cost and frustration with upgrading some games to their PlayStation 5 version. With this in mind, it came as a surprise that original PlayStation Plus owners did not get cheated by this deal. I could easily see a price hike or a subtraction of benefits to entice a higher tier. Instead, the restructuring is friendly to those who like PlayStation Plus just as it is. Additionally, PlayStation Now owners seem to get the better end of the deal. According to the PlayStation Blog, they will migrate to the Premium tier for no extra charge at launch. The addition of at launch is worrisome, clueing me into a trial situation, however, for now, it looks like current PlayStation Now members will enjoy the benefits of PlayStation Plus (like two monthly free games) at no extra cost.
The Tier Structure (Don’t like)
The foundational structure of the new PS Plus is rather odd if you think about the best benefits and where they are placed within the three-tier system. The premium tier does not sound appealing to me because it reinforces the existing library with old games. When I log into Game Pass, I download the day one release (most recently Weird West and Tunic) and rarely peruse the library of older games. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the appeal of having hundreds of nostalgic games at your fingertips, however, if you look at practical usage, a library of PS5 games is what I’m spending most of my time with, especially if those older games don’t get any significant upgrades. It doesn’t make sense to have older games reserved for the last tier, in fact, a two-tier structure would be a lot less confusing. The pitch would be: if you like the current PlayStation Plus, then stick with the essential tier, however, if you want a library of games to download, go with premium.
That sounds simpler and more appealing than a three-tier system where the final tier has options that shouldn’t even be there. The cheapest subscription for Game Pass is $9.99 a month, and that comes with over 100 games, new and old, severely undercutting the value of PlayStation Plus. (Compare this to the $9.99 tier of PlayStation Plus, which has no library of games besides a meager PlayStation Plus collection.) On Xbox, players don’t have to spend extra money to get a library of games. It’s there right from the start. Ultimately, the premium tier stinks of the classic upcharge scheme. Buy a large drink for a couple more dollars? You don’t really need to, but why not, a couple more dollars doesn’t hurt.
The Quantity and Quality of Games (Like)
The 400 games in the Extra tier is already a substantial number that eclipses that of Game Pass, however, if you add the premium tier into the equation, it adds up to 740 games. I want to be careful here, if you look at the fine text, it says “up to 400,” a weird choice of words to be sure. The PlayStation Plus Extra tier could include anywhere from one game to 400 games, but I believe Sony would be shooting themselves in the foot if they said a number like 400 and didn’t get anywhere close to it. So, optimistically, the service will have 740 games, and most of those games will be quality experiences.
Let’s look at the games they promised: Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Moralis, Mortal Kombat 11 (sure), and Returnal. Death Stranding, though controversial, encourages positive online play that intensifies the themes of the game. It received the top review score from Gaming Instincts. One could easily argue that God of War is the best game of the PS4 era and is a great addition simply due to the proximity of the sequel. The Spider-Man games are the best superhero games, right behind the Arkhan series, but the best game on this list, in my opinion, is Returnal. I’ve praised Returnal endlessly on this site for its satisfying arcade action and gameplay loop. With the addition of co-op, there is no better time to jump into Returnal. It’s also the most recent game, showing us that, though Sony won’t do day one releases, they will support the service with recent games.
No Day One Releases (Don’t Like)
Everyone knows it. Everyone is disappointed. The best selling point for Xbox Game Pass is the day one release of top-tier, Xbox studio games. I’m not into the racing genre, so Forza Horizon 5 was the last game on my radar, but because of Game Pass, I decided to give it a try. It’s free and available to anyone at the lowest subscription level. Halo Infinite was the first Halo game I played all the way through, and that, again, is thanks to Game Pass. Sony releases some of the best games in the industry, and their addition to the service would easily give PlayStation Plus an edge on Game Pass. Jim Ryan, the head of PlayStation, said that day one releases would hurt the development process and quality of games.
We feel if we were to do that with the games that we make at PlayStation Studios, the 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 the gamers want.
To his credit, PlayStation studios do make some of the most detailed, technically impressive games. Sony believes that their games are premium and should receive top dollar, both for the work developers put in and to ensure these efforts can continue. With that said, Ryan also said the industry is constantly changing, inferring that the business model might change with it. However, for now, PlayStation gamers will have to envy up $70 in addition to their monthly $14.99 (Extra tier) if they want to fully support Sony’s vision.
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