Sony has just announced that it will be merging the PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now subscription services into one tier-based offering. This idea has excited many fans that wanted a service more comparable to Xbox Game Pass on PlayStation systems, and now it seems as though the new PlayStation Plus tiers will fill this gap.
The new PlayStation Plus tiers have been split into three categories, which are PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra, and PlayStation Plus Premium. The Essential tier will cost the same amount as PlayStation Plus normally does and have basically the same benefits besides the tier likely only receiving 2 monthly games instead of 4. The Extra tier will cost $14.99 monthly or $99.99 yearly and is said to include access to around 400 PS4 and PS5 games. The Premium tier will include all of these benefits as well as an additional 340 games, which will consist of PS1, PS2, and PS3 games. This tier will cost $17.99 monthly or $119.99 yearly.
Unfortunately, some fans may be unhappy to hear that according to PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan, Sony will not be adding day one Sony games to the service. Ryan mentioned in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz that the company is pleased with the way its profitable business model currently works and that any changes to this could affect the amount that it is able to invest in its games, which in turn, could impact quality.
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This may upset some fans who were hoping that the service would include day one games owing to Xbox Game Pass including multiple day one games for its subscribers. Thankfully, although the new PlayStation Plus tiers will not receive any day one games for the foreseeable future, Ryan has noted that this decision is not set in stone and could change at some point.
In other news, PlayStation announced last week that single-player games are still a priority for the company. While unsurprising, it is good news for fans of story-based games, as the industry becomes more and more focused on live-service games. PlayStation has received a massive amount of success both commercially and critically for its single player games over the past few years, and it would be surprising to see the company give up on the sector.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz