Long-rumored multi-tier subscription plan might be official āas soon as next weekā
Several months ago, there were rumblings of a new (but seemingly familiar) PlayStation subscription service with different tiers ā you might remember hearing the codename, Spartacus, which has since lived on in forum posts, threads, and comments. According to a Bloomberg report, Sony could announce this expanded service as soon as next week.
As the story goes, this new subscription will combine PlayStation Plus ā our gateway to āfreeā PS4/PS5 games and online multiplayer ā as well as PlayStation Now ā an on-demand game service with cloud streaming and downloads, depending on the platform.
But more than just consolidating these current plans, this new service will have āmultiple tiers offering catalogs of modern games and classics from older PlayStation eras,ā as Bloomberg puts it. And according to sources, we can expect a āsplashy lineup of hit games from recent years,ā which sure sounds like something Sony would want to lead with.
Iām not expecting anything as comprehensive as Game Pass ā and on that front, it sounds like day-one releases for Sonyās big-hitters like God of War Ragnarƶk arenāt on the table here, per Bloombergās sources ā so weāll see. āExtended demosā are potentially interesting as a perk, but I canāt say thatāll move the needle for me, personally.
Of course, for some of us, itās going to come down to those potential legacy PlayStation games, and how much itāll cost to play them on a modern platform. Wider access to Sonyās amazing back-catalog is the major piece thatās missing from PlayStation for me right now. As a paying PlayStation Plus member (for I donāt even want to know how many years now), dipping back into the PS1, PS2, and even PS3 library could get me to pay more. Could. Itās really going to come down to the specifics here, as we recently saw with Nintendoās Expansion Pack tier. The pricing and game selection have to match up.
According to an earlier report from GamesBeat, the most expensive tier could be as much as $16 per month. (Reminder: PS Plus and PS Now are each currently $60 a year.)
Subscriptions can be valuable, but thereās a time and place for them, and when theyāre the only option ā when itās less and less possible to just buy a thing on its own ā then it feels like the walls are closing in. I think Iām decently choosy, but it honestly freaks me out to consider how many services Iām attached to, even just with TV/movie streaming.
Xbox Game Pass, Nintendo Switch Online, and now this meatier PlayStation sub ā itās a lot. But thereās room for so much more if the floodgates burst open on game-specific memberships. I can see myself sticking with the ābig three,ā but that has to be it.
Published: Mar 25, 2022 9:00 PM UTC