Sony has finally revealed its Xbox Game Pass competitor, an “all-new PlayStation Plus” that brings together the existing PS Plus and PS Now into a three-tier subscription service that includes up to 700 games and access to retro games at the top tier. It will open for some markets in June and roll out worldwide regionally after that.After months of reports, and even longer being speculated about, Sony finally revealed the new service today. It consists of three tiers, PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra, and PlayStation Plus Premium. As part of the move, PS Now will be closed down, with members migrated to the Premium tier, with no change to prices at launch.At its top tier, the new PS Plus will offer more than 700 games for streaming or download (including streaming on PC), and the library will be “regularly refreshed”. PS3 games will be available as streaming-only titles, while PS1, PS2 and PSP games will come with download or streaming options. Sony has made clear that (at least for now) first-party exclusives will not be launched into the service for any tier, unlike Xbox Game Pass.The service will launch with the likes of Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal.The new service will roll out regionally, beginning in “several markets in Asia” in June, followed by North America, Europe and the rest of the world. No specific dates have been offered as yet.New PlayStation Plus: Confirmed Games So FarYou can see full details and pricing for each tier below:PlayStation Plus EssentialEssential is the same PlayStation Plus service that currently exists, with no changes to the current pricing. It includes two monthly downloadable games, discounts, saved game cloud storage, and access to online multiplayer for most games.PlayStation Plus ExtraThe Extra tier includes all Essential benefits, and adds a catalog of around 400 PS4 and PS5 games that can be downloaded at any time while you’re a member. It includes first-party and third-party games, but no new exclusives will launch into the service.In the US, it will cost $14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $99.99 yearly, and in the UK it will cost £10.99 monthly / £31.99 quarterly / £83.99 yearly. No Australian prices have been announced at time of writing.PlayStation Plus PremiumPremium includes all the Essential and Extra benefits, and adds 340 extra games to the catalog, including PS1, PS2 and PSP games for streaming and download. PS3 games will also be available, but only to stream. Streaming can be carried out on PS4, PS5, and PC. Premium members will also receive time-limited trials of some games. In the US, it will cost $17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $119.99 yearly, and in the UK it will cost £13.49 monthly / £39.99 quarterly / £99.99 yearly.While Sony says it’s looking to increase coverage for cloud streaming across the world, regions without access to it will instead get a different tier, Deluxe, which removes streaming (and thus all PS3 games) from the Premium tier, but comes in at a lower price. Deluxe will seemingly not be available outside of those regions.While the new PS Plus bears similarities in approach to Game Pass, there are multiple differences – not least in how exclusives are handled. Xbox Game Pass has arguably been one of the most important decisions Microsoft has made about its gaming business in recent years, offering a rotating selection of games (including first-party titles on launch day) as part of a subscription, and tying in Cloud Gaming and other perks at the more expensive Ultimate tier. It’s been an enormously popular move, and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer previously called a PlayStation response to Game Pass an “inevitability”.Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
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