What you need to know
- Though yet unannounced, PlayStation has reportedly been working on a new game subscription service codenamed Spartacus.
- This service will allegedly combine PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now, making it a better competitor to Xbox Game Pass.
- Bloomberg reports that Sony will be officially announcing Spartacus next week.
A new report from Bloomberg indicates that Sony will be announcing its Spartacus game subscription service as early as next week. This comes after a GamesBeat report last month that revealed Spartacus would include three different tiers for subscribers.
According to the report, Spartacus is expected to combine PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus, debuting with "a splashy lineup of hit games from recent years." That said, don't expect PlayStation exclusives to launch into Spartacus day one like Microsoft games do on Game Pass. People familiar with Sony's plans have stated that this won't be the case.
Spartacus' first tier, expected to be $10/month, will essentially replace PlayStation Plus. It's second tier at $13/month would include PlayStation Plus along with a catalogue of games. Finally, the $16/month tier would likely include all of the above in addition to new game trials, game streaming, and a library of classic games.
At the moment, PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now each cost $60/year, separately. PlayStation Now offers up a calatogue of hundreds of games that can be downloaded or streamed to PS5, PS4, and PC.
It's unknown when Spartacus will be available to the general public, but considering that Sony is reportedly announcing it next week, we'll likely be able to test it out sooner rather than later.
Microsoft's Game Pass has already been an incredible success for the company, surpassing 25 million subscribers in January 2022. Though first-party titles won't be hitting Spartacus on day one, this should bolster Sony's services nonetheless. And this makes room for third-party new releases to come to Spartacus on day one as well.
