Much speculation has surrounded the ‘PlayStation Game Pass competitor’. The original rumour started with Jim Ryan, CEO at Sony PlayStation, hinting at plans for PlayStation’s own subscription service when questioned back in January 2021. Since then, leaks have surfaced on the codename of the service ‘Project Spartacus’, as well as some details on what we can expect from it.

As I am sure you can imagine, a lot of rumours flew round the internet. Most of them incorrect. The first, ‘credible’ information seemed to come from Venture Beat’s Jeff Grubb. Jeff’s sources had told him that ‘Project Spartacus’ was to be an evolution of the PlayStation Plus Service, but improved by being broken down into tiers. Essentials, Extras and Premium. (see details on the rumour here).

Jeff it seemed was correct, or mostly at least. Today Sony PlayStation announced their plans for a new revamped PlayStation Plus/PlayStation Now service, launching in June 2022, via a blog post. See the blow quote from the blog post outlining what is included in each tier.

“PlayStation Plus Essential

  • Benefits: 
    • Provides the same benefits that PlayStation Plus members are getting today, such as:
      • Two monthly downloadable games
      • Exclusive discounts
      • Cloud storage for saved games
      • Online multiplayer access
    • There are no changes for existing PlayStation Plus members in this tier.
  • Price* for PlayStation Plus Essential remains the same as the current price for PlayStation Plus.
    • United States
      • $9.99 monthly / $24.99 quarterly / $59.99 yearly
    • Europe
      • €8.99 monthly / €24.99 quarterly / €59.99 yearly
    • United Kingdom
      • £6.99 monthly / £19.99 quarterly / £49.99 yearly 
    • Japan
      • ¥850 monthly / ¥2,150 quarterly / ¥5,143 yearly

PlayStation Plus Extra

  • Benefits: 
    • Provides all the benefits from the Essential tier
    • Adds a catalog of up to 400* of the most enjoyable PS4 and PS5 games – including blockbuster hits from our PlayStation Studios catalog and third-party partners. Games in the Extra tier are downloadable for play.
  • Price*:
    • United States
      • $14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $99.99 yearly
    • Europe
      • €13.99 monthly / €39.99 quarterly / €99.99 yearly
    • United Kingdom
      • £10.99 monthly / £31.99 quarterly / £83.99 yearly 
    • Japan
      • ¥1,300 monthly / ¥3,600 quarterly / ¥8,600 yearly

PlayStation Plus Premium** 

  • Benefits:
    • Provides all the benefits from Essential and Extra tiers
    • Adds up to 340* additional games, including:
      • PS3 games available via cloud streaming
      • A catalog of beloved classic games available in both streaming and download options from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations 
    • Offers cloud streaming access for original PlayStation, PS2, PSP and PS4 games offered in the Extra and Premium tiers in markets** where PlayStation Now is currently available. Customers can stream games using PS4 and PS5 consoles, and PC.*** 
    • Time-limited game trials will also be offered in this tier, so customers can try select games before they buy.
  • Price*:
    • United States
      • $17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $119.99 yearly
    • Europe
      • €16.99 monthly / €49.99 quarterly / €119.99 yearly
    • United Kingdom
      • £13.49 monthly / £39.99 quarterly / £99.99 yearly 
    • Japan
      • ¥1,550 – monthly / ¥4,300 – quarterly / ¥10,250 yearly
  • PlayStation Plus Deluxe (Select Markets) For markets without cloud streaming, PlayStation Plus Deluxe will be offered at a lower price compared to Premium, and includes a catalog of beloved classic games from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations to download and play, along with time-limited game trials. Benefits from Essential and Extra tiers are also included. Local pricing will vary by market.“

What Games are gonna make up the 700 strong PlayStation plus games?

Reading through this has many fans, Gamerhub included, wondering just what games are going to be in it… Sony already confirming the likes of “Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal.” And PlayStation are hard at work adding to this massive library to be available on relaunch. The main area of interest are those PlayStation 1, 2 and PSP games. PlayStation of course, boasting a huge amount of nostalgic franchises amongst gamers.

“When the new PlayStation Plus service launches, PlayStation Now will transition into the new PlayStation Plus offering and will no longer be available as a standalone service. PlayStation Now customers will migrate over to PlayStation Plus Premium with no increase to their current subscription fees at launch”.

Jim Ryan CEO PlayStation

So, PlayStation Now winds down into a tier within the PlayStation Plus service. The launch, starting in June 2022 is going to happen by region, in phases. By what Jim Ryan has said, there should not be much difference in time but we shall see. Such things are, as Jim rightly said, are huge efforts.

In the June timeframe, we’ll begin with an initial launch in several markets in Asia, followed by North America, Europe and the rest of the world where PlayStation Plus is offered. We aim to have most PlayStation Network territories live with our new PlayStation Plus game subscription service by the end of the first half of 2022.

Jim Ryan CEO PlayStation

Gamerhub very much look forward to finding out just what exciting games PlayStation have in store for us in this long awaited service. Stay tuned for more info! To read the full blog post, follow the link.