More details on the long-rumoured PlayStation Plus overhaul - codename Spartacus - have emerged, and it sounds like exactly the evolution subscribers to the online service have been crying out for.
Speaking on the Giantbomb show Grubbsnax (via VGC), reporter Jeff Grubb revealed a wealth of new information on the changes to the service. It's worth noting Grubb's claims come with the caveat that much of what he's heard could change between now and the official announcement, so make of this what you will.
“It’s probably getting pretty close to this actually launching, something’s probably going to happen by the end of this month and I don’t think that necessarily means publicly, I think in terms of the internal milestone of where the service needs to be,” Grubb said.
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Apparently, Spartacus will be made up of three unique tiers, with the most expensive tier costing subscribers $16 (around £12) a month. These tiers are currently called Essential ($10/£7), Extra ($13/£10) and Premium ($16/£12). Both the pricing and names could be a placeholder, Grubb stresses.
Xbox Game Pass offers consumers similar options. The Ultimate tier is $10.99 / £10.99 per month and offers access to the entire Game Pass library plus EA Play and Game Pass streaming. The PC tier is $7.99/ £7.99, and nets you a smaller selection of the games you'd find in the console library. The Console tier is the same price as the PC tier, and gets you the whole Xbox Game Pass library without EA Play or the ability to stream games anywhere.
But what will PS Plus subscribers actually get in each of these new tiers? According to Grubb, Premium is a little bit like EA Play in that you get full game trials for first-party releases. Subscribers to the highest tier will also get "classic games and streaming".
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He explained: " “I don’t know what classic games means, but I do know that it’s a major part of this Premium tier. So you have game trials, classic games and streaming on this Premium tier”.
PlayStation fans have been dying to see older PS1 and PS2 games made available via PS4 and PS5, so here's hoping the overhauled PS Plus can deliver just that.
“For the Extra tier, you get a ‘downloadable game catalogue’ anything on PSNow that was downloadable, seems like it would be in here” Grubb continued. This library is said to include “250, 300 games, something like that. You don’t get cloud streaming, but you do get 300 games you can download”.
Finally, the Essential tier is basically PS Plus as we know it today. Monthly free games, exclusive discounts, access to online multiplayer - you know the drill.
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Much of what Grubb has said echoes a previous report from Bloomberg, which suggested Spartacus would see PlayStation Now quietly folded into PlayStation Plus as part of a unified, multi-tiered subscription service. Hopefully we can expect more news soon.
Topics: PlayStation, Playstation Plus