More details on Sony’s Game Pass competitor have surfaced. As reported by Bloomberg back in December, Sony is planning to rival Microsoft’s Game Pass ecosystem with a new service of its own that combines PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now, which is internally known as Spartacus. The folks over at GamesBeat have now uncovered some particulars about the supposedly upcoming service including pricing and what each of the three subscription tiers will include.
Sony’s Game Pass competitor
Sony’s Game Pass competitor will, according to GamesBeat, span three tiers: Essential, Extra, and Premium. Although these names could change at any point, it sounds like pricing will sit at $10, $13, and $16 per month, respectively. Let’s take a closer look at what each will offer:
The entry level Essential tier is being described as something very much akin to what we already get with PlayStation Plus subscriptions – $10 a month will net you monthly games, but there’s no word on how this works with online play and the other PS plus perks.
The Extra includes everything the Essentials plan comes with alongside a game catalog that seems to have been pulled directly from the existing PS Now lineup. It includes “hundreds” of older titles that subscribers can download to what sounds like both PS4 and PS5 systems.
Early new release access too…
As you imagine, the top-tier Premium plan includes everything the previous two pack, alongside what reports are referring to as game streaming of the aforementioned library as well as classic titles and game trials. How these classic games differ from the older titles in the Extra plan is seemingly unclear at this time. The game trials feature sounds like Sony’s way to allow gamers to play new titles before they release and likely has some kind of time limitation, not unlike the way game trials work on the Electronics Arts EA Play store.
Reports suggest the pricing could change, and frankly, any of these details could, but this does give us what appears to be a good outline of what Sony’s Game Pass competitor is aiming for. Sony is apparently moving into a testing phase in the coming weeks with an official announcement coming as early as next month.
9to5Toys’ Take
With Microsoft’s recent acquisitions of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard bolstering Game Pass already and even more so in the coming years, it’s hard to say how Sony’s take on the member subscription service will stack up. But it would appear that the game trial function would at least allow it to stand out despite it seeming as though it will not be including its blockbuster titles on day one. Stay locked to 9toToys for more details as they roll in.
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