Spartacus is nigh! PlayStation has today finally revealed their long-rumoured revamp of the PlayStation Plus service. According to the PS blog, the new service offers three tiers. Each tier offers various benefits on top of the previous tier’s features. Reportedly codenamed “Spartacus,” this grand reimagining of Sony’s online gaming platform has officially been dubbed… PlayStation Plus.
Perhaps not quite the grand reimagining we thought. Regardless, the system will be changing this June, with Plus splitting into three tiers. We have detailed these for you below:
- PlayStation Plus Essential:
- This is PS Plus as you know it today. Two free monthly games, exclusive discounts, cloud save functionality, and, of course, online multiplayer.
- Price will remain the same as existing Plus, at USD $9.99/mo or $59.99/yr.
- PlayStation Plus Extra:
- All Essential tier perks.
- A catalogue of up to 400 hit games from across the PS4 and PS5 libraries, that are available for download.
- USD $14.99/mo, $99.99/yr.
- PlayStation Plus Premium:
- All Extra and Essential tier perks.
- An additional catalogue of 340 legacy games from across the PS3, PS2, PSP, and original PlayStation libraries.
- PS3 games are only available via cloud streaming. All else, including PS4 games from the Extra tier, is available in both streamable and downloadable form. Games can be streamed on PS4, PS5, and PC in markets where PS Now is available.
- USD $17.99/mo, $119.99/yr.
PlayStation will also offer a remixed third tier called PlayStation Plus Deluxe in territories where PS Now is unavailable. Deluxe will boast the same benefits as Premium, but will not include cloud streaming perks. Its price will be lowered to reflect this.
The offerings are comprehensive if a little technical. PlayStation’s blog post also notes that with the promised game libraries comes the end of PS Now as a standalone service. PS Now was the console giant’s original platform for back catalogue game streaming. Given the service’s middling numbers, wrapping it into Plus’s offerings has been a long time coming.
First party exclusives will not be launching day and date on any tier of Plus. Instead, more first party games will be added to the service over time. The PS4 and PS5 libraries on Plus will also launch with certain first party games, which Sony detail in their blog post. Rather than a direct competitor to Xbox Game Pass, then, Sony’s new approach to its back catalogue feels like an answer to the current gaming culture brought about by its competitor. Game Pass gives fast, easy access to a massive catalogue of games spanning Xbox’s entire history. With the new tiers of Plus, PlayStation appears to be trying to do the same. No word yet on whether or not the legacy libraries will continue to expand, but here’s hoping.
The new tiers launch in the summer of 2022.
