Sony’s new and updated PlayStation Plus to launch in June

The new PlayStation Plus combines PS+ and PS Now to create an all-new service.

March 29, 2022

Sony announced their new PlayStation Plus service today via a post on PlayStation Blog. It’ll launch in June and will essentially be a combination of the existing PS+ and PlayStation Now, Sony’s cloud gaming service where gamers can stream games from past generations of PlayStation consoles. When the new PS+ launches, PS Now will no longer be offered as a standalone service and instead be completely folded into PlayStation Plus.

The new PlayStation Plus will come in three subscription tiers. The first, priced at $9.99 a month, is essentially what PS+ is currently — subscribers will get free games each month, online multiplayer, and cloud save storage. At $14.99 a month, PlayStation Plus Extra will provide the first tier’s benefits as well as “up to 400 of the most enjoyable PS4 and PS5 games – including blockbuster hits from our PlayStation Studios catalog and third-party partners” to be downloaded and played.

Lastly, the $17.99 a month PlayStation Plus Premium tier will give subscribers cloud streaming access to over 340 games from the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable generations. Download options will be available for PS1, PS2, and PSP games. All of this is on top of the perks from the first two PlayStation Plus tiers.

Titles available at launch include God of War, Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Death Stranding, and Returnal. However, don’t expect future first-party exclusive games to be added to PS+ on their release days. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan explained to GameIndustry.biz their perspective on those first-party exclusives. “[In terms of] putting our own games into this service, or any of our services, upon their release… as you well know, this is not a road that we’ve gone down in the past. And it’s not a road that we’re going to go down with this new service. We feel if we were to do that with the games that we make at PlayStation Studios, that virtuous cycle will be broken. The level of investment that we need to make in our studios would not be possible, and we think the knock-on effect on the quality of the games that we make would not be something that gamers want.”

However, this stance isn’t set in stone. “The way the world is changing so very quickly at the moment, nothing is forever,” Ryan said. “The way our publishing model works right now, it doesn’t make any sense. But things can change very quickly in this industry, as we all know.”

This announcement comes after December 2021’s rumors of project ‘Spartacus’ and last week’s reports that an announcement of the new PS+ would be coming this week. Come June 2022, Sony will finally have its competitor to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass and another reason to persuade gamers to choose their latest console, the PlayStation 5.