Sony’s PlayStation Plus revamp features ‘Extra’ and ‘Premium’ tiers
After months of rumors, Sony has officially announced its “all-new” PlayStation Plus subscription service.
This updated service will merge PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now into a single subscription and come in three different tiers: Essential, Extra, and Premium. Let’s get the Essential tier out of the way first, because it is basically what PlayStation Plus is now with the free monthly games, exclusive discounts, online multiplayer access, and cloud storage for $9.99 a month.
Where things are changing is in the other two tiers. First is PlayStation Plus Extra. For $14.99 a month or $99.99 for the whole year, subscribers get everything in the Essential tier, as well as access to a catalog of up to 400 PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 games that can be downloaded.
While the most expensive Premium tier throws in up to 340 more games comprised of PlayStation 3 titles that can be streamed via the cloud and a selection of PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PSP titles available through streaming and download. Additionally, this tier contains cloud streaming for the titles in the Extra and Premium tiers and time-limited trials of select games. The Premium tier is priced at $17.99 a month or $119.99 for the year. Current PlayStation Now subscribers will be moved to this tier at launch.
A final cheaper Deluxe tier will be available in select markets that do not currently support cloud streaming, instead of the Premium option.
The all-new PlayStation Now is scheduled to start rolling out in June “with an initial launch in several markets in Asia, followed by North America, Europe and the rest of the world where PlayStation Plus is offered,” according to the president and CEO of SIE Jim Ryan. The aim is to have it live in most PlayStation Network territories by the end of the first half of 2022.
At launch, the service will include games such as Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal.
“We’re working closely with our imaginative developers from PlayStation Studios and third-party partners to include some of the best gaming experiences available with a library that will be regularly refreshed. More details to come on the games we’ll have on our new PlayStation Plus service,” Ryan added.
Matt is one of the longest-serving members of the EGMNOW team. An ability to go many hours without sleep and a quick wit make him ideal for his role as associate editor at EGMNOW.com. He often thinks back to the days when the very idea of this career seemed like nothing but an impossible dream.
