Sony’s premium service gets an interesting upgrade that is supposed to compete with Microsoft’s Game Pass, and will offer a huge amount of games for a pretty similar amount
Photo: Giktiim
So all of Bloomberg’s reports were true, and recently (Tuesday) Sony announced a very significant change to its premium service, PlayStation Plus, this time designed to compete with Microsoft’s Game Pass and the Xbox. There are quite a few details here that can be confusing, so let’s get you in order.
What has been until now?
Until now, Sony had a premium service called PlayStation Plus at a monthly cost of $ 10, which gave you access to online and multiplayer modes (i.e., if you bought FIFA for PlayStation and wanted to play with friends remotely, you had to purchase a subscription); In-store discounts; Cloud storage for game storage; And a bonus in the form of 2-4 downloadable games at no extra charge. Separately, Sony offered a gaming streaming service called PlayStation Now that did not gain momentum even though it was ahead of the rest of the competition.
If you’re subscribed to PlayStation Plus now, you have nothing to worry about. Today’s announcements are for two more expensive and luxurious packages, while your appointment simply changes its name to PlayStation Plus Essential with the exact same benefits and prices ($ 10 a month or $ 60 a year) – which is already good news.
What’s new?
And now for the really interesting part. Just as Netflix has HD and 4K packages at different prices, here too Sony has decided to create more packages with additional changes over those of the Essential packages. The first is PlayStation Plus Extra, Which will give you access to a catalog of up to 400 PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games that will be available for you to download and play as long as you subscribe to the service. For this package you will have to pay $ 15 a month, or $ 100 for an annual subscription. An increase of about $ 40 a year.
The biggest package is PlayStation Plus Premium, Which will give you everything you got in the previous two packages, but will add another 340 games, including classic games from the original PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PSP (Sony’s portable console) and PlayStation 3. Some of these games you can download, but some, such as games PlayStation 3, you can only play streaming. This is after Sony actually decided to merge the streaming service (PlayStation Now) with Plus. But note that this also means that you depend on your connection to the network, and its speed, for a smooth gaming experience – but we’ll still have to check if it works well at launch. In addition to this rather exaggerated game catalog, Sony will also allow you to have limited time access to certain games so you can try them out and only then decide if you want to pay for them. For this package you will have to pay $ 18 a month or $ 120 a year – double the price of the existing subscription to the PlayStation Plus.
In markets where the streaming service is not available (like Israel), Sony will also offer PlayStation Plus Deluxe, a slightly discounted package than that of Premium, which will offer a catalog of past games to download with the option of limited time access to games. Sony notes that the price of the package will change in every market, so it is difficult to estimate how much the package will cost in Israel.
If we have already touched on Israel, Sony explains that the launch of the new packages will begin in June in a gradual manner: first in some markets in Asia (the real home market of the Japanese Sony), then in North America, Europe and the rest of the world. According to Sony’s expectations, most countries will receive the new packages by the end of the first half of 2022 – which means it is set to do so within a month of the initial launch. In addition, Sony promises that streaming services that are not currently available outside of a very limited number of markets will also expand to additional markets in the future.
How is it compared to the Game Pass?
There is not too much doubt as to why Sony has made this rather dramatic move. Microsoft has managed to reach more than 25 million subscriptions to its Game Pass service, which at least in its Ultimate rank offers a relatively similar experience. Microsoft managed to obscure the accepted model of buying computer games, when it offered and still offers access to a huge amount of games at the price of coffee and pastries in Tel Aviv, and at a price of less than 3 games per year of appointment. Meanwhile, Sony had no replacement or answer, and users’ expectations changed, as they demanded that Sony give them a Type of Game Pass as well.
Sony promises in the new packages access to 400-700 games as part of its subscription, compared to a library of about 100 games in Microsoft’s Game Pass at a price of $ 10-15 per month. Sony, on the one hand, promises that the library will be regularly updated and will also contain huge games such as God Of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Returnal, but it will probably not offer new games on their first day (such as the new God Of War), unlike Microsoft which released Flight The new Simulator, Halo and Forza for Game Pass from the first moment they were available.
So it may not be exactly the same offer, but there is no doubt that Sony’s new service could be a great solution for gamers looking for access to a very impressive amount of past games, and especially for families who do not want to get involved with buying new games every time someone wants to play. In a way, this is a service quite similar to Netflix, where anyone can find something they like in the library. And again, these would mean that you have to spend for these processes and for the money you can afford.
A good old age
Born with a joystick in hand. He has far too many gadgets and far too little free time to play with them all. An unexplained hammer holder for calibrating device batteries. When he’s not busy writing about technology, he likes to talk about it, and a lot
