PS Plus subscribers have access to three new games this month, namely Hood: Outlaws and Legends, Slay the Spire, and SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated. On their own, these games certainly have their fans, but they aren't landing too well collectively among PS Plus users for a variety of reasons. Slay the Spire is perhaps the best out of the bunch, but many will still turn away from it for its card-based nature.
Overall, it seems PS Plus subscribers are not happy with this month’s selection, and 2022 itself has been an odd year for the service so far. January and March's games were warmly welcomed, but February and April's have been criticized pretty heavily. No one can really guess what the games will be month after month, but perhaps more so than in February, the PS Plus free games of April 2022 seem to be caught in a sticky situation. If they are indicative of the general quality of the service going down, then the reason may be somewhat clear. But what is unclear is how this will influence future games on the service, too.
PS Plus’ Focus Might Shift Away From Free Games
All of this is speculative, but the reason these games may be on the lackluster end could be the upcoming changes to the service. Sony recently announced that it was creating new tiers for the PS Plus subscription, with the final tier granting fans access to a library of 700+ games across the PS1, PS2, PSP, and PS3 platforms, and these changes will be live relatively soon: June 2022. This is incredibly awesome for fans who have been wanting to play these older titles, but it could come at a cost beyond the subscription price.
If Sony is more concerned with the library of free games and the higher tiers of the service, then it is possible that the basic PS Plus tier suffers. PS Plus free games for April 2022 could be an outline, then, of what fans could expect every month. It does seem beneficial that this library is mostly games from older platforms, but there are going to be major titles like Returnal and Spider-Man: Miles Morales available at higher tiers as well. With that in mind, it’s possible that the quality of the basic PS Plus games goes down to offset the new tiers. Doing so would encourage consumers, after all, to pick up the higher tier, instead of just having the basic one.
PS Plus Monthly Free Games vs. A Big Library
This isn’t without precedent either. Looking at the service's main competition, the monthly free Games with Gold haven’t been “well-received” for quite some time. There are a ton of variables here, but Xbox Game Pass’ huge library has made many forget all about Games with Gold. Game Pass quickly defined the late Xbox One-era and the early Xbox Series X-era, while the selection of Games with Gold offered every month has suffered.
The basic tier of PS Plus could fall to the wayside just like Games with Gold has. From a business perspective, it makes more sense to push PS Plus Premium subscriptions over the basic tier as it equates to more profit. There are plenty of differences between PS Plus Premium and Game Pass, but at the surface level, it's a big library of games vs. a monthly offering of just a few. The Xbox ecosystem has proven how popular and successful the game library can be over the monthly selection, and it wouldn't be surprising if the same thing happened on PlayStation consoles.
Again, there are a ton of variables. This makes it hard to say if these additional tiers will have a negative impact on the monthly PS Plus free games or not. If based on the PS Plus free games for April 2022 (heading into PS Plus Premium's June 2022 launch), then any concern is understandable. Now, there could be other factors that have impacted the quality of these games, something fans are unaware of. Or, April could be a taste of what Sony pushing PS Plus Premium over the bottom tier is like. Once these tiers become official, that’s when any shifts in the quality of the monthly offerings would be most noticeable and, at that point, most likely to be related.
PS Plus subscribers typically get a handful of free games every month.