The new PlayStation Plus was expected to be a direct competitor to Xbox Game Pass. However, unlike the latter, PlayStation Plus will not include day one releases for its first-party games, something that is unlikely to change in the near future.
Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz in a recent interview, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan stated that “the quality of the games” PlayStation Studios makes would suffer if they were to be suddenly released day one through the overhauled PlayStation Plus service.
“We feel like we are in a good virtuous cycle with the studios,” explained Ryan, “where the investment delivers success, which enables yet more investment, which delivers yet more success.”
He continued that if that cycle was to be broken by giving away first-party games on day one through PlayStation Plus, “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.”
Ryan however noted that much like everything else in the games industry, things could change down the road.
“All I’m talking to today is the approach we’re taking in the short term, ” said Ryan. “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.”
Project Spartacus has been finally revealed as an all-new PlayStation Plus that merges the existing PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services into a multi-tiered subscription platform.
PlayStation Plus Premium, the highest tier, will add two catalogs of games. The first will cover first- and third-party downloadable games with a launch lineup that includes Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal
The second catalog will cover PlayStation classics going back to the first PlayStation console and also PlayStation Portable that will be available to either download or stream in supported regions.
Premium will also feature time-limited trials to play games before making a purchase; costing $17.99 monthly, $49.99 quarterly, and $119.99 yearly.
The new PlayStation Plus launches in June 2022.
