What you need to know
- Sony is combining its PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services.
- The new PlayStation Plus has three different tiers, with the second tier offering a downloadable games library and the third tier including streaming.
- The tiers are available for $10, $15 and $18 a month.
- The new PlayStation Plus is slated to begin rolling out in June 2022.
Sony is combining PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now into a new, revamped PlayStation Plus membership.
As previously rumored, Sony's "Spartacus" service has been revealed, with three different tiers that combine PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now. The three tiers as outlined via PlayStation Blog are: PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium.
These three tiers are available for $10, $15 and $18 a month, respectively. Sony is also introducing annual options, for $60, $100 and $120 a year, respectively.
Essential is the same as PlayStation Plus right now, while PlayStation Plus Extra adds in a library of downloadable PS4 and PS5 titles. Sony says some of the games available in the service will include Death Stranding, Mortal Kombat 11, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Returnal, with more titles from third-party gaming companies and PlayStation Studios added as time goes on.
PlayStation Plus Premium adds in trials for games, as well as cloud streaming for PS3 titles and a select library of downloadable PS1, PS2, and PSP games. No exact list of titles has been unveiled yet, though Sony says that this tier encompasses another 340 games altogether.
Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan indicates Sony has no plans to launch new games from PlayStation Studios directly into the service.
"We feel if we were to do that with the games that we make at PlayStation Studios, that virtuous cycle will be broken, Ryan says. "The level of investment that we need to make in our studios would not be possible, and we think the knock-on effect on the quality of the games that we make would not be something that gamers want."
Ryan does however go on to note that nothing is impossible and that plans change, pointing to how Sony is now bringing some of its games to PC.
The new PlayStation Plus service will be launching in June 2022 later this year.
