Sony announces the next batch of free PS Plus games on the last Wednesday of every month. Sometimes these free PS Plus games are met with enthusiasm from the community, but other times they are met with some backlash. Unfortunately, it seems as though many fans are unimpressed by the free PS Plus games for December 2019, with the lineup receiving a lot of criticism from PS4 owners.
Right now, the trailer for the free PS Plus games for December 2019 has about 1,000 dislikes versus around 800 likes on YouTube. For the uninitiated, the free PS Plus games for December 2019 are Titanfall 2 and Monster Energy Supercross: The Official Videogame. It seems that people are mainly upset about the inclusion of Monster Energy Supercross, with some criticizing the game as being an "ad" instead of a video game.
While PS Plus subscribers seem to be mostly upset at the inclusion of Monster Energy Supercross, with one fan going as far as to call it a "joke," there are others who aren't happy about Titanfall 2 being part of the free PS Plus games for December 2019 lineup. This isn't because Titanfall 2 is considered a bad game; in fact, Titanfall 2 reviewed well and is from the award-winning studio Respawn Entertainment. However, Titanfall 2 has been discounted multiple times on the PlayStation Store, sometimes for very low prices, and so it seems many fans who are interested in the game already own it.
This is far from the first time that fans have been upset about the free PS Plus lineup. As some may recall, the free PS Plus games for May 2019 were met with an even bigger backlash, with the trailer revealing the games hit with a staggering 21,000 dislikes. The games in question were Overcooked and What Remains of Edith Finch, two titles that have both earned a great deal of critical acclaim, but their status as indie titles seemed to upset some fans.
Something that may play a role in the negative backlash to the May 2019 lineup as well as the free PS Plus games for December 2019 is that Sony has changed the way it offers free PS Plus games. For years, Sony offered fans multiple free games across the PS3, PS4, and even the PlayStation Vita, meaning that if fans were unhappy about one or two games in any given month, chances were good that they would at least get some value out of the other free games. However, the free PS Plus games now consist of just two PS4 titles every month.
With the PS5 release date coming in the holiday season of 2020, Sony will once again be able to offer free PS Plus games across multiple systems. This means that the free PS Plus games lineup will likely increase to three or four free games per month once the PS5 is introduced, so maybe that will help prevent fan backlash like we've seen here.
The free PS Plus games for December 2019 will be available from Tuesday, December 3 until Monday, January 6.