You already have a PS4 or PS5 and are hesitant to sign up for the new PlayStation Plus subscriptions coming in June. Or you are already subscribed and you don’t know which one to choose. We help you understand everything.
Sony has announced the overhaul of its PlayStation Plus subscription system for PS4 and PS5 consoles in particular. Now, the subscription, which includes PS Plus and PS Now, comes in three offers with different benefits. We take stock so that you can choose the one that best meets your needs.
What is that ?
PlayStation Plus is the new name for all of Sony’s subscription offerings for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC. In particular, they bring together the old PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services within three subscription levels offering advantages, online gaming, a catalog of recent or older games, etc.
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What are the packages?
The packages are now three in number and meet different needs, from simple access to online multiplayer with some advantages to the possibility of accessing a library of more than 700 games from PS1 to PS5.
PlayStation Plus Essential
It’s the modern version of the current PlayStation Plus subscription. It will allow you to download two games for free each month (against 3 to 4 currently, including a PS5 game!), to obtain exclusive discounts on games or DLC, access to demos or betas, exclusive content, to store your saves in the cloud (currently 100 GB of space, storage unconfirmed) and online access to play in co-op or multiplayer with your friends or other players around the world, to take advantage of game aids PlayStation Studios on PS5.
PlayStation Plus Extra
The subscription takes all the advantages of PS Plus Essential and adds around 400 PS4 and PS5 games to download, from the PlayStation Studios catalog, but also from third-party publishers.
PlayStation Plus Premium
The Premium subscription lives up to its name. It combines the advantages of the first two levels and outbids with the arrival of 340 additional titles promised. These will include PS3 games that can be streamed in the cloud, PlayStation, PS2 and PSP games that can be streamed or downloaded. PS4 games from the PlayStation Plus Extra offer can also be streamed. This is more or less what we currently find with the PlayStation Now offer which gives pride of place to PlayStation retrogaming, with games that can be played in the cloud on PS4, PS5 and PC.
Added to this is access to limited-time trial versions for certain titles. It is not yet known whether these will be full games, demos or portions of games, or whether they will be games available shortly before their official release or games already available for purchase on the PlayStation Store.
What games will be available?
Few things have filtered about the list of some 700 games that Sony is about to offer. We simply know that the Extra and Premium levels will be able to take advantage of death stranding, god of war, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11 and Returnal. These are the first games announced by the Japanese firm and two of them currently belong to the PlayStation Plus Collection list (god of war and Mortal Kombat 11), only one is a real home game only PS5 (Returnal).
The rest is still unclear. Promised PS5 games surely won’t be games DayOne, which is not in the manners of the house which always favor unit purchases rather than in a package. If Xbox has chosen to launch its main blockbusters as Forza Horizon 5 Where Halo Infinite in the Game Pass as soon as they are released, there is little chance of seeing PlayStation doing the same with the next God of War: Ragnarok.
What happens to the PlayStation Plus Collection?
This is the great mystery. As it stands, the PlayStation Plus Collection, with its twenty PS4 games available for free if you own a PS5, does not appear anywhere in the offers. In any case, not under its current name. Sony remains very nebulous on this point.
Logically, since the firm insists that the PS Plus Essential offer is equivalent to the current PS Plus, PS5 players who subscribe to it for the first time should be able to add the games to their library at no additional cost. However, the Extra offer includes a catalog of PS4-PS5 games and it would be strange if the greatest hits from PlayStation Studios and third-party partners (God of War, The Last of Us, the saga Uncharted, Ratchet & Clank, Detroit Become Human, Call of Duty Black Ops 3, Days Gone, Fallout 4, etc.) are not part of it to bring real added value to the offer. There are all the same 400 games “ among the best PS4 and PS5 games ” advertisement…
For now, Sony has simply stated that ” the PlayStation Plus Collection does not disappear with this change. This will remain a benefit for all PS5 players with PS Plus. » For PS5 players who are already subscribed, okay. But the new ones? And this is where you should perhaps read between the lines. Because Sony clearly mentions the current subscribers who would continue to be subscribers and who will therefore not lose the benefit (the PS Plus Essential in particular). What will happen if they cut their subscription for a while? The fact that access to more than 20 PS4 games offered does not appear clearly in the details of the initial package nevertheless suggests that it will no longer exist for newcomers. Otherwise, in its remote battle with the Xbox Game Pass, Sony would not have hesitated to proclaim it from the rooftops. CQFD.
What about PC gamers?
They seem to be the big forgotten PlayStation Plus new look. Until now to enjoy PlayStation games, Windows PC gamers — if they didn’t want to invest in dedicated versions ofHorizon Zero Dawn Wheregod of war— could subscribe to PlayStation Now and play on a PS4, PS5 and PC using dedicated software. They will still be able to with the PlayStation Plus Premium, but at a double price. They will also not be able to benefit from many advantages for lack of a home console.
When will the new PlayStation Plus launch?
PlayStation Plus bundles will be available in June. No specific date has been indicated at this time.
What if you are already a subscriber?
If you were already a PlayStation Plus subscriber and you do nothing, in June, your subscription will automatically switch to PlayStation Plus Essential, at the same price until the end of your current plan (if the renewal is not automatic ). You can also choose another plan at any time, as soon as registrations are open.
If you were a PlayStation Now subscriber, this is where things get interesting. You will be automatically switched to a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription at no additional cost for the remaining subscription term. It must be said that thereafter, for current subscribers to PS Now, the package will double. Until recently, it was still possible to subscribe for a year and thus benefit from the high-end subscription at a low price. But Sony has probably realized it and it is no longer possible to take out an annual subscription, just monthly at 8.99 euros.
PlayStation Plus subscription prices
By separating its offers into three packages, Sony is expanding its price list from 60 to 120 euros per year, but with the possibility of also subscribing monthly, quarterly or for 12 months.
the Playstation Essential starts at 8.99 euros for one month. The three months are advertised at 24.99 euros for a yearly subscription at 59.99 euros. These are the same prices as the current PlayStation Plus subscription.
the PlayStation Plus Extra is 13.99 euros per month and 39.99 euros for a quarter. These are higher prices than those of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (12.99 euros) which offers many more options, including cloud gaming on smartphones, tablets, PCs and Macs. But in the year, the package turns out to be much more advantageous when Xbox does not make a discount (99.99 euros).
Finally, the PlayStation Plus Premium, combining the current PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services with additional benefits, is offered at 16.99 euros per month, 49.99 euros for three months and 119.99 euros for one year. It is ultimately the cumulative price of the two initial services.
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