The long-rumoured new PlayStation Plus tiers have now been officially revealed. Beginning this June, Sony will expand the current PS Plus by offering two more tiers of service, merging the previous PS Now service into this three-tier system.
The current PS Plus subscription model, where you get access to online multiplayer plus monthly games that you can claim and play (so long as the subscription remains active) remains intact and is now called PS Plus Essential.
The exact benefits of PS Plus Essential are as follows:
- Two monthly downloadable games
- Exclusive discounts
- Cloud storage for saved games
- Online multiplayer access
Pricing for PS Plus Essential remains unchanged at RM29 per month, RM69 quarterly and RM159 yearly.
The next tier is PS Plus Extra. And these are the benefits of this tier:
- All the benefits from PS Plus Essential
- Access to a catalogue of up to 400 games, playable on PS4 and PS5. The library will include first-party offerings from PlayStation Studios, as well as other third-party games
Note that the 400+ games catalogue will vary by region, and will change over time.
Pricing for PS Plus Extra will be RM44 per month, RM114 quarterly and RM269 yearly.
Lastly, there is PS Plus Premium. This tier replaces the PS Now service.
The benefits of PS Plus Premium are as follows:
- All the benefits of PS Plus Essential and PS Plus Extra
- Adds up to 240 additional games, including:
- PS3 games available via cloud streaming
- A catalogue 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.
However, PS Plus Premium is only available in regions where PS Now operated, as most of the benefits are related to game streaming via the cloud.
For most of Southeast Asia, this will be instead replaced by PS Plus Deluxe. This tier is slightly cheaper than the PS Premium as it excludes all the game streaming via cloud benefits. Here are the benefits of PS Plus Deluxe:
- All the benefits of PS Plus Essential and PS Plus Extra
- a catalogue of beloved classic games from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations to download and play
- time-limited game trials
PS Plus Deluxe is priced at RM50 per month, RM130 quarterly or RM309 yearly.
Sony has yet to reveal the full catalogue of games available for PS Plus Extra and above subscribers, but these games have been confirmed to be available at launch:
- Death Stranding
- God of War
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Returnal
Roll out for the new tiers of PS Plus subscriptions will be starting this June. Asia will be getting it first followed by North America, Europe and the rest of the world where PS Plus is offered.
The library of 400 games promised in PS Plus Extra is already a big selling point, compared to Xbox Game Pass only offers 100+ games at a time. And also, it’s finally time that Sony is selling its back catalogue of games from past consoles (and even handhelds in the case of the PSP) and have them playable on the PS4 and PS5.
Microsoft just announced today that they are planning to expand PC Game Pass to more countries in Southeast Asia (including here in Malaysia). Sony picked a good time to respond with a Game Pass-style offering of its own.
Source: PlayStation Blog