On June 13, Sony will be making big changes to its PlayStation Plus subscription service by introducing three new tiers, with the more expensive tiers featuring extra games, what is essentially PlayStation Now integration, and a library of classic titles to choose from. Sony has not yet revealed all the classic games that will be featured in the PlayStation Plus revamp, but it has confirmed that there will be around 300 added to the service, pulled from the PS1, PS2, PSP, and PS3 libraries.
Longtime PlayStation fans may already have a sizable collection of classic games that they purchased through the PS3's PlayStation Store. In fact, some fans may have rushed out to panic-buy classic PS1 games when Sony announced that it was going to shut down the PS3 PlayStation Store. Those gamers may feel as though their purchases were wasted now that PS Plus Premium is going to give subscribers access to a lot of classic games. However, that's not the case.
When Sony announced the first batch of PS1 and PSP games coming to PS Plus Premium, it also confirmed that subscribers that already own those games on their PlayStation accounts can download them on PS4 and PS5 free of charge. They will not need a PS Plus subscription of any kind to access them, and furthermore, some of these classic games will be available for individual purchase as opposed to requiring a subscription.
Assuming all goes well, PS1 and PSP games on PS Plus Premium should run much better than they did in the past. Sony is looking at improving frame rates and upping the resolution for the retro PlayStation games coming to PS4 and PS5, as well as implementing some new features for fans to take advantage of as well. While not all games will support these new features, some of them will allow players to utilize save states and rewind, which should go a long way in making these old-school titles more manageable and less frustrating.
Sony plans on having around 700 games available for PS Plus Premium subscribers when the service goes live on June 13, with around 300 of those being retro titles. Sony has yet to reveal the full list of classic games coming to PS Plus Premium when the service goes live next month, but fans can expect more information sooner rather than later.
It's true that there are some games that have already been free on PS Plus before that Sony is including in the lineup, but if it has impressive-enough retro titles, it could very well come out swinging with its new PS Plus subscription tiers come next month.