Luke HendersonPlayStation Plus, PS4, PS5

PlayStation Plus is upgrading its offerings, adding in new tiers and platforms

Luke HendersonPlayStation Plus, PS4, PS5
PlayStation Plus is upgrading its offerings, adding in new tiers and platforms

As many had expected, PlayStation unveiled their plans to introduce a service similar to Xbox’s Game Pass, but of course, PlayStation have made it their own and while somethings are changing, a few are staying the same.

Let us talk about what is staying the same, those with a current PlayStation Plus Subscription will get to enjoy that going forward, with only two small change, the rest is remaining the same. The first change is the name, going forward instead of it being called PlayStation Plus, it will now sport the full name PlayStation Plus Essential.

The second change is that the number of included games is dropping, from the three that we are currently enjoying, to two. PlayStation claim that that is not a change, but as there have been three games since the launch of the PlayStation 5, going down to two means that there is a decrease in value. The rest of the Essential offering, keeps things the same though:

  • Exclusive discounts

  • Cloud storage for saved games

  • Online multiplayer access

The price for this level is staying the same, either for a monthly access or a yearly one, the big changes come in the next two plans, PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium.

First up, the current pricing for those plans in Australia has not been revealed and likely won’t be for a bit, as one of them offers up game streaming, a service that is not in Australia. PlayStation Plus Extra offers the same inclusions as Essential, but now includes a library of over 400 PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games, for you to download to your console. Here is the full breakdown as provided by PlayStation:

  • Provides all the benefits from the Essential tier

  • Adds a catalogue of up to 400 of the most enjoyable PS4 and PS5 games – including blockbuster hits from our PlayStation Studios catalogue and third-party partners. Games in the Extra tier are downloadable for play.

Again price for this tier is not yet known locally, but its 50% more than the base tier in the USA, so something around $17.95 per month or $119.95 for 12 months, makes sense.

The final tier however is where things are going to suck for us, because one entire benefit does not exist in Australia and while PlayStation have said they will bring it to all markets in time, there is no current timeframe for that rollout.

PlayStation Plus Premium offers up the following:

  • 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.

The issue lies in the PlayStation 3 games, with them only being available via Cloud streaming, that means local gamers cannot access those games. The PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable games can be downloaded to the machine, making those playable, but anything involving Cloud will not work here, at least for now.

Update

The official PR has come through from PlayStation Australia and there is not a single mention of the PlayStation 3 games, so it is likely to be quite sometime before that becomes an option here.

The price for that is almost much more expensive, here are the current USA prices per month and year, and our current prices, with the expected marked with a *

PlayStation Plus Essential

  • $9.99 and $59.99 for USA

  • $11.95 and $79.95 for AUS

PlayStation Plus Extra

  • $14.99 and $99.99 for USA

  • $17.95 and $119.95 for AUS*

PlayStation Plus Premium

  • $9.99 and $59.99 for USA

  • $26.95 and $179.95 for AUS*

So what do you think? Does this new multi-tiered service level inspire you to pay more, or are you happy with what you already have?