As a random Monday news drop would have it, PlayStation has revealed the initial offerings for its three-tiered subscription service. They detail out the Playstation Plus Essential, Deluxe and Digital offerings as we approach the May 24 launch date for Asia.
PlayStation Plus Essential
This is the lowest tier available, and is essentially an upgrade for current PS+ members. As usual, a monthly refresh will occur as it has in the past. If you want the barebones ability to play online, this is the one for you.
Where things get really interesting are in the two remaining tiers.
PlayStation Plus Extra
This newly introduced plan adds an extensive PS4 and PS5 catalog to the mix. The third-party offerings are a tad slim for my liking, but the same cannot be said for the first-party studios. If you have been out of the PlayStation ecosystem, the PS+ Extra is definitely the way to go. As noted in the blog post, you’ll receive the following games as an Extra member.
PlayStation Studios
Alienation | Housemarque, PS4
Bloodborne | FromSoftware, PS4
Concrete Genie | Pixelopus, PS4
Days Gone | Bend Studio, PS4
Dead Nation Apocalypse Edition | Housemarque, PS4
Death Stranding and Death Stranding Director’s Cut | Kojima Productions, PS4/PS5
Demon’s Souls | Bluepoint Games, PS5
Destruction AllStars | Lucid Games, PS5
Everybody’s Golf | Japan Studio, PS4
Ghost Of Tsushima Director’s Cut | Sucker Punch, PS4/ PS5
God of War | Santa Monica Studio, PS4
Gravity Rush 2 | Japan Studio, PS4
Gravity Rush Remastered | Japan Studio, PS4
Horizon Zero Dawn | Guerrilla, PS4
Infamous First Light | Sucker Punch, PS4
Infamous Second Son | Sucker Punch, PS4
Knack | Japan Studio, PS4
LittleBigPlanet 3 | Sumo Digital, PS4
LocoRoco Remastered | Japan Studio, PS4
LocoRoco 2 Remastered | Japan Studio, PS4
Marvel’s Spider-Man | Insomniac Games, PS4
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Insomniac Games, PS4/PS5
Matterfall |Housemarque, PS4
MediEvil | Other Ocean, PS4
Patapon Remastered | Japan Studio, PS4
Patapon 2 Remastered | Japan Studio, PS4
Resogun | Housemarque, PS4
Returnal | Housemarque, PS5
Shadow of the Colossus | Japan Studio, PS4
Tearaway Unfolded |Media Molecule, PS4
The Last Guardian | Japan Studio, PS4
The Last of Us Remastered | Naughty Dog, PS4
The Last of Us: Left Behind | Naughty Dog, PS4
Until Dawn | Supermassive Games, PS4
Uncharted The Nathan Drake Collection |Naughty Dog, PS4
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End | Naughty Dog, PS4
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy | Naughty Dog, PS4
WipEout Omega Collection | Clever Beans & Creative Vault Studios, PS4
Talk about hitting all the highlights from the previous gen! Nearly every one of Sony’s tentpole franchises are represented, with the inclusion of some of the better smaller titles like Alienation, Gravity Rush and Loco Roco. The only oddity I see is Marvel’s Spider-Man only being included for PS4 and not specifically noted as including the PS5 version as it does for Miles. That might be due to the fact that the PS5 upgrade was initially available in the deluxe version of Miles, thus being a deluxe version of a game and not part of this subscription. That, or it was just an omission.
Third Party Plus Extra
Ashen | Annapurna Interactive,PS4
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla* | Ubisoft, PS4/PS5 Batman: Arkham Knight | WB Games, PS4 Celeste | Maddy Makes Games, PS4 Cities: Skylines | Paradox Interactive, PS4 Control: Ultimate Edition | 505 Games, PS4/PS5 Dead Cells| Motion Twin, PS4 Far Cry 3 Remaster* | Ubisoft, PS4
Far Cry 4* | Ubisoft, PS4 Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition | Square Enix Co. LTD, PS4 For Honor* | Ubisoft, PS4
Hollow Knight | Team Cherry, PS4
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy | Square Enix Co. LTD., PS4/PS5
Mortal Kombat 11 | WB Games, PS4/PS5
Narutoshippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 | Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc., PS4
NBA 2K22 | 2K Games, PS4/PS5
Outer Wilds | Annapurna Interactive, PS4
Red Dead Redemption 2 | Rockstar Games, PS4
Resident Evil | Capcom Co., Ltd, PS4
Soulcalibur VI | Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc., PS4
South Park: The Fractured but Whole* | Ubisoft, PS4 The Artful Escape | Annapurna Interactive, PS4/PS5 The Crew 2* | Ubisoft, PS4
Tom Clancy’s The Division*** | Ubisoft, PS4
Again, it feels wholly lackluster to me. There is variety, but most of these games have already been given out free on one system or another. That and UbiSoft really takes hold of a large portion of the list. This does make sense considering Ubisoft+ is included in your sub above Essential. Having said that, Celeste and Control are easily in my top five favorite games of the last generation.
It is important to note that this is just the initial offering that they have revealed. There are likely more games included. We also don’t have an idea as to how long these titles will stay on the service. The first-party games are likely to be there indefinitely, but I’d imagine the third-party titles will shuffle on and off as they do on other subscription services.
Now to the most premium offering:
PlayStation Plus Premium**/Deluxe Plan (of course, with everything on a lesser tier included)
This is the sub tier that gets you all of those titles we’d wished for backwards compatible. In addition, certain games will also have improved frame rates and higher resolutions. Here’s the list:
PlayStation Studios (PS1 + PSP)
Ape Escape | Japan Studio, Original PlayStation
Hot Shots Golf | Japan Studio, Original PlayStation
I.Q. Intelligent Qube | Japan Studio, Original PlayStation
Jumping Flash! | Japan Studio, Original PlayStation
Syphon Filter | Bend Studio, Original PlayStation
Super Stardust Portable | Housemarque, PSP
Third Party Premium
Mr. Driller | Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc., Original PlayStation
Tekken 2 | Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc., Original PlayStation
Worms World Party | Team 17, Original PlayStation
Worms Armageddon | Team17, Original PlayStation
A couple notes here, this list is tiny. PS1 and PSP were massive starts to some huge franchises, and that isn’t even remotely reflected in the initial offering. Hopefully the future month’s releases hit on heavy hitters, especially the numerous massive jrpgs that helped the platform skyrocket.
The blog also explains that, “players who have previously purchased the digital version of select games from the original PlayStation and PSP generation will not have to make a separate purchase or sign up to PlayStation Plus to play these titles on PS4 or PS5. When these titles are released for PS4 and PS5, players can head to PlayStation Store and download a version for the consoles at no extra cost if they already own the digital version of the title. Some of the titles will also be available for individual purchase.”
We are a bit divided on what this means at Dual Pixels. I think that means only once they are released to the platform and only certain games from PS1 and PSP. Jose believes that it is any PS1 and PSP game you have ever purchased digitally. I am hoping for the latter, but expecting the former. Time will tell once the service is released to the Asian market.
PlayStation Studios
Ape Escape 2 | Japan Studio, PS4
Arc The Lad: Twilight of the Spirits | Japan Studio, PS4
Dark Cloud | Japan Studio, PS4
Dark Cloud 2 | Japan Studio, PS4
FantaVision | SIE, PS4
Hot Shots Tennis | Japan Studio, PS4
Jak II | Naughty Dog, PS4
Jak 3| Naughty Dog, PS4
Jak X: Combat Racing | Naughty Dog, PS4
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy | Naughty Dog, PS4
Rogue Galaxy | Japan Studio, PS4
Siren | Japan Studio, PS4
Wild Arms 3 | SIE, PS4
Third Party Partners
Bioshock Remastered | 2K Games, PS4
Borderlands The Handsome Collection | 2K Games, PS4
Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition | Gearbox Publishing, PS4
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning | THQ Nordic, PS4
LEGO Harry Potter Collection | WB Games, PS4
Not too much to add here, but I will be interested in seeing what enhancements have been made to this list that they couldn’t be included in the tier above.
Finally, we have what everyone has been waiting for…PS3 games. Sadly, those are still relegated to streaming. Here’s the list:
PlayStation Studios PS3 Streaming
Crash Commando | Creative Vault Studios, PS3
Demon’s Souls | From Software, PS3
echochrome | Japan Studio, PS3
Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds | Japan Studio, PS3
Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational | Japan Studio, PS3
Ico | Japan Studio, PS3
Infamous | Sucker Punch, PS3
Infamous 2 | Sucker Punch, PS3
Infamous: Festival of Blood | Sucker Punch, PS3
LocoRoco Cocoreccho! | Japan Studio, PS3
MotorStorm Apocalypse | Evolution Studios, PS3
MotorStorm RC | Evolution Studios, PS3
Puppeteer | Japan Studio, PS3
rain | Japan Studio, PS3
Ratchet Clank: Quest For Booty | Insomniac Games, PS3
Ratchet Clank: A Crack in Time |Insomniac Games, PS3
Ratchet Clank: Into the Nexus | Insomniac Games, PS3
Resistance 3 | Insomniac Games, PS3
Super Stardust HD | Housemarque, PS3
Tokyo Jungle | Japan Studio, PS3
When Vikings Attack | Clever Beans, PS3
Third Party Partners PS3 Streaming
Asura’s Wrath | Capcom Co., Ltd., PS3
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 | Konami, PS3
Devil May Cry HD Collection | Capcom Co., Ltd., PS3
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West | Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc., PS3
F.E.A.R. | WB Games, PS3
Lost Planet 2 | Capcom Co., Ltd., PS3
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 | Koei Tecmo, PS3
Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare |Rockstar Games, PS3
Outside of streaming only, this appears to hit on nearly all of the big PS3 franchises with three massive omissions: Metal Gear Solid, Socom and Killzone. The only reason why I feel these three are omissions is because they are coming as physical remasters. We have no insight into if this is happening at all, but it feels weird those three huge franchises would be left off.
Another perk for the two top tiers is a mid-month refresh. The Essential tier will only have the usual monthly refresh. Time-limited game trials are relegated to the Premium tier only.
Will you be susbcribing to any of the new tiers for PlayStation’s newest service?
More detailed can information and release dates can be found on the PlayStation Blog.