This November, the PS5 will celebrate its second birthday. Despite some first-party hits (Return, I’m looking at you), so far Sony’s machine has started less at a run and more of an agonizing crawl. It’s a problem that Microsoft’s new boxes aren’t immune to either, but cleverly, Xbox has pulled a rabbit out of its hat. The name of your new floppy-eared friend? Game Pass. While Microsoft has been quietly collecting studios and Sony is releasing a steady stream of exclusives, going into year two, there’s a clear winner this console generation: Game Pass.
A quick introduction to what this new PS Plus actually is.
With over 25 million subscribers and winning the hearts and minds of value-loving gamers, the slow-build service has been truly disruptive to the gaming industry. This generation of consoles has been seen to be defined less by the release of the “next gen” and more by a shiny new way to consume them. With fan twitter accounts happily touting Xbox’s “best deal in gaming” and fanboyism now gleefully extending to subscription services, it seemed the battle lines for this generation had already been drawn. It was then inevitable that Sony would jump into the subscription service fray. Have you chosen the champion ready for battle? A new three-tiered PS Plus offer.
Released worldwide last month, in these early days it’s hardly been the bold comeback Sony was hoping for. After months of leaked information, the “big” PS Plus 2.0 reveal went off with… well, less of a bang and more of an inaudible whimper. Light on PS1 and PS2 classics and looking from a distance like the Poundland Game Pass, Sony’s initial offering reeked of fast money. A poorly copied piece of “subscription service 101” homework. However, it turns out that reality is far from the disaster it seems.
Returnal might be one of the best games of the last few years, let alone the best PlayStation 5 exclusive.
Despite internet pay ads for the service and gamers happily stroking their Game Pass gift cards, after living with the PlayStation Plus Premium spin-off for over a month, it’s actually a solid value. Although it looks suspiciously like a scam from afar, after using it, I’m now a big believer. The first thing that struck me was how cheap the old PS Plus upgrade path is: if you’re a PS Plus V1 subscriber, now known as PlayStation Plus Essential, the fee to upgrade the rest of year is surprisingly reasonable.
Changing my existing membership to the top tier ‘Premium’ membership only cost me an extra £27.99 and gave me the keys to an embarrassment of riches. Granting players immediate access to Returnal, Stray, Ghost Of Tsushima Director’s Cut, Demon Souls, and Miles Morales to name a few entitles you to most of the jewels in the PS5 crown. Considering buying the £24.99 Stray or upgrading to Ghost of Tsushima’s Director’s Cut anyway? Just enter the same price in your upgrade and you’ll find your score and a bit offering much more.
For those equally insatiable nerds like me who also have Game Pass, make no mistake: this is not the same. Unlike Microsoft’s day one releases, Sony president Jim Ryan has made it abundantly clear that PS Plus won’t have launch day access to all of Sony’s biggest hits. However, with all the PS5 launch year titles already here and Sony’s enviable back catalog beckoning, it’s hard to really care.
Stray is just a gem on PS Plus’ jewel-lined flea collar.
In addition to the aforementioned PS5 gems, both shiny new PS Plus tiers offer enough beloved first-party PS4 content to rock a Kratos Plushie. From your God Of Wars, to the brilliant PS4 port of Shadow Of The Colossus, The Last of Us to The Last Guardian and, erm, Days Gone to Until Dawn, there are plenty of critically acclaimed experiences for subscribers And that’s before you even get into this virtual treasure trove of retro offerings. With a growing collection of downloadable PS1 and PS2 classics, streamable PS3 bangers and third-party releases across generations, the prized Premium tier of PS Plus is, whisper it, good value.
While a good deal of the breadth of Game Pass’ third-party lineup is missing, the initial lineup of PS Plus Extra and Premium shows promise. With PS4 games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (and the best in the series, Black Flag), Mafia 1 and 2 Definitive Editions, Bioshock games and Final Fantasy 7 to 12, just to name a few. Even in month two, there’s no shortage of genuinely brilliant releases. Add the recent announcement of eight Yakuza titles to the mix and increased support from Ubisoft, and it’s plausible that many of Game Pass’ most beloved third-party releases will eventually make their way to Sony’s service.
Still, it’s not all wins here. My main complaint so far is that there are a lot of retro basketballs missing from the growing catalog. While there are certainly some cool classics like Ape Escape to Tekken 2, Jak 2 to Dark Cloud, and Siphon Filter to Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey, there’s currently no Metal Gear Solid, SSX, Spyro, or Crash. Fortunately, the streaming service for PS3 games is doing much better – I’ve talked in a separate article about how nice it was to finally play Ico on PS Plus, and sitting alongside other lost PS3 classics like Tokyo Jungle, here I wait. this is the first step in getting Metal Gear Solid 4 playable outside of your PS3.
You don’t need to go to galleries when Yakuza 0 is on PS Plus.
PS3 processor streaming aside, what the new and improved PS Plus has to offer will look pretty familiar to anyone who’s used Game Pass. However, among all the old and borrowed, there is a unique offering on Sony’s service: game tests. Only available at the most expensive level (Premium), these extended demos give you five hours of new games. It’s a slim selection so far, but the two biggest titles are Horizon Forbidden West and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. While its own offerings on Xbox would simply be free, given Sony’s public reluctance to do the same, it offers a pretty reasonable compromise.
If the ability to play anything pre-PS4 doesn’t interest you, the PS Plus Extra tier simply gives you access to the library of PS4 and PS5 games for a tenner less per year, costing you £83.99 for 12 months. For this writer, the extra £15 a year for the Premium sub is a no-brainer, but if the older games (blasphemously) don’t do anything for you, you might want to save that £15 and buy yourself five additional coffees.
For those who haven’t yet played many, or even a handful, of Sony’s exclusives, the two new PS Plus tiers are the best introduction to PlayStation you could ever have. If you’ve just bought a PS5 and don’t fancy spending £60 per game, this is by far the cheapest way to put your new machine into practice. Of course, PS Plus’ most expensive podium currently lacks the impressive third-party extravagance of Game Pass, but as PS2, PSP, PS3 and PS1 titles are added, it’s hard not to get excited about the potential for the new PS Plus.
Tell me you don’t want to try some of the best adventure games on the PS2.
However, with times being difficult for people everywhere, and especially in the UK, I am well aware that expensive subscription services do not exist in a vacuum. For this writer, however, being able to dive into a slew of beloved PS Plus games has given me a reason to fire up my PS5 for the first time in months. Is it as good a value proposition as Game Pass? In its current state, definitely not, but given the constant stream of titles being added to its growing catalog, in a few months it could be.