PS Plus has had a strong year. While the total number of subscriptions from last year may be down, mostly due to various responses to the pandemic issued then, it is more than there was in 2019. Furthermore, not only has the quantity of games released on the service increased, but the quality has too. Of course, not every month will make every single person happy, but the responses were typically quite positive for PS Plus month over month.
However, the PS Plus free games for August 2021 did not follow in their footsteps. While fans had been treated to games like Bugsnax, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, GreedFall, Maneater, and more over the past few months, the free games for this month all have a very niche, lackluster appeal. As such, it's easy to compare PS Plus August 2021 to May 2020.
If PS Plus August 2021 is Like May 2020...
The appeal and audience a game generates will never define its quality, as many indie games may not have big audiences but have unique qualities, but for PS Plus, limited appeal is a death knell. That's exactly what happened with PS Plus this month. Hunter's Arena: Legends is an Ancient Asia battle royale game with PvE elements, but it is a battle royale game. Not only is that genre still off-putting to many, but it is dominated by the big three: Fortnite, Warzone, and Apex Legends. At the same time, Plants vs. Zombies is the type of game that is inherently disregarded by many on premise alone, whether they should or not, and Tennis World Tour 2 really only draws in Tennis fans.
As such, the limited appeal really hurt the PS Plus offerings this month. It's very similar to the situation back in May 2020 when, after incredibly high expectations set forth by a rumor (while PS Plus now always has high expectations), subscribers got two simulator games. One rumor got a lot of traction, that being the free games were Dying Light and Dark Souls: Remastered, but it was proven false when Sony revealed Cities: Skylines and Farming Simulator 19. Of course, again, appeal does not speak to quality, but unless someone was a major fan of simulators, there was no appeal here.
Then PS Plus September Could Follow Suit and Be Like June 2020
Of course, sometimes it's better to look at PS Plus as a whole instead of month to month. While May 2020 dropped the ball so hard that there was a petition to change the PS Plus games for that month, June 2020 served as a bit of a redemption arc. That month saw the release of Call of Duty: WW2 and Star Wars Battlefront 2 on the service, with WW2 actually releasing early which almost never happens. Of course, it's easy to point out how the appeal is theoretically limited—May 2020 offered two simulators, June 2020 offered two shooters—but shooters in general have one of the biggest appeals on the market.
Toss in the fact that Star Wars Battlefront 2 had a lot of hype around it, as the game itself had recently been through its own redemption arc, and it was a strong offering. Of course, Call of Duty games will always top sales charts and always perform well when given for free. Either way, PS Plus free games for September 2021 have the chance to be the same saving grace too. No one knows how PS Plus games are decided, and while this month may have dropped the ball in comparison to past months, there's only more PS Plus offerings ahead. Still, it remains to be seen what the September 2021 games are, but if it can capture a wider, stronger appeal, then it'll be just fine.
PS Plus subscribers get a handful of free games every month.