Featured Image Credit: Sony, Microsoft
Topics: PlayStation, Playstation Plus, Xbox, Xbox Game Pass
To the surprise of exactly no one, Sony has officially unveiled its new and improved PlayStation Plus subscription service. Basically forever, people have been complaining that the service left a lot to be desired compared to Xbox Game Pass (which, let’s face it, is quite easily the best of the bunch when it comes to games subscription services). But PlayStation’s new additions are clearly meant to evolve PS Plus into a much stronger rival (albeit not officially).
Depending on how much you’re willing to pay will determine what perks you’ll have access to: the service is split into three different tiers, each offering different amounts of content. So, what do you get for each price, and how does it compare to Game Pass? Let’s break it down.
Before we get into it, check out the gameplay footage for Spider-Man: Miles Morales below - one of the titles that PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers will be getting access to for free when the service goes live.
For the cheapest tier, Essential, you’ll continue to get everything you already had from your regular PS Plus subscription, and that’s it. For £6.99/$9.99 a month (or £49.99/$59.99 a year), you’ll carry on getting online play, cloud storage, two monthly free games, and discounts.
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The Extra tier is where things get a bit more interesting - as well as all the perks from Essential, you’ll also get access to a catalogue of about 400 PS4 and PS5 games (basically mashing PS Plus and PS Now together). This will cost £10.99/$14.99 a month (or £83.99/$99.99 a year). This is finally a bit more comparable to Game Pass, which even at its regular Console and PC pricing, offers a catalogue of 100 games on demand, and for £7.99/$9.99 a month. Game Pass also updates with new games all the time, and offers titles on their release days to subscribers at no extra cost - something that not even the most expensive tier of PS Plus offers.
Speaking of which, let’s talk about Premium. For £13.49/$17.99 a month (or £99.99/$119.99 a year), subscribers can get access to a further 340 classic PlayStation games, cloud streaming, and time-limited game trials. Meanwhile, the most expensive version of the Xbox rival, Game Pass Ultimate, costs £10.99/$14.99 a month, and includes all the regular Game Pass perks, cloud gaming, free bonuses (such as DLC) and includes Xbox Live Gold (priced separately at £6.99/$9.99 a month).
As you’ll have noticed, all the PS Plus subscriptions come at a discount if you buy them for a full year, whereas Game Pass doesn’t have that option - a year of regular Game Pass will cost you £95.88/$119.88, and a year of Game Pass Ultimate costs £131.88/$179.88. So, a full year of PS Plus Premium works out at being just a bit more than a year of regular Game Pass (slightly cheaper in the US, even).
Overall then, PS Plus Premium offers around 700 games, compared to Game Pass’ catalogue of about "over 100", according to the Game Pass website (which is available for regular Game Pass as well as Ultimate). The most expensive subscriptions on both platforms offer cloud gaming, but PlayStation users don’t get the bonus perks like free DLC and day-one game releases that Xbox players have. A year of PS Plus Premium is also significantly cheaper than a year of Game Pass Ultimate, and costs around as much as a regular Game Pass subscription.
Obviously, whether or not you consider these perks worth it is totally up to you, but that’s how they weigh up to Xbox's golden child. The new, improved PS Plus service will be rolling out sometime in June.