As rumoured the other day, PlayStation has announced its gaming subscription service which will be an expanded version of its existing PlayStation Plus service and branding. The new three-tier service will launch in June.
Tier 1: PlayStation Plus Essential (USD $10/mth, $25/qtr, $60/yr) – the same as the current PlayStation Plus system with two monthly downloadable games, exclusive discounts, cloud storage for saved games and online multiplayer access. Those on PS5 will still have access to the PS Plus Collection.
Tier 2: PlayStation Plus Extra (USD $15/mth, $40/qtr, $100/yr) – Same as the essential tier but will also include a library of up to 400 PS4/PS5 games including hits from the PlayStation Studios catalog and third-party partners. Games will be downloadable for offline play with the library to be regularly refreshed.
Tier 3: PlayStation Plus Premium (USD $18/mth, $50/qtr, $120/yr) – same as Tier 2 but with an additional 340 games including PS3 games that can be streamed via cloud along with a catalogue of PS1, PS2 and PSP games that can be streamed or downloaded. That tier will also have limited game trials.
Only the countries which already had PlayStation Now will get the streaming via cloud capabilities of the ‘Premium’ tier so countries like Australia appear to be out of luck there, though Sony claims they also plan to expand their cloud streaming benefit to additional markets.
In the countries where there’s no streaming, the third tier option will be called PlayStation Plus Deluxe instead and will be priced cheaper.
When it launches, PlayStation Now will no longer be available as a standalone service. PlayStation Now customers will migrate over to PlayStation Plus Premium tier with no increase to their current subscription fees at launch.
Launch titles confirmed so far includes God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Death Stranding, Returnal, Mortal Kombat 11 and more. Customers can stream games using PS4 and PS5 consoles, and PC.
The service will NOT include day-and-date launches for games. The aim is to have most PlayStation Network territories live with the new service by the end of June.
