What do you think of the new PlayStation Plus? | Team Talk

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This week saw PlayStation unveil it's long-awaited response to Game Pass, in the form of new tiers to PS Plus, which brings in the current PS Now service.

In a nutshell, there are now three tiers – Essential, Extra and Premium. The first is just what we have now, even without a price rise. Extra includes a downloadable back catalogue of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games.

Premium, as you'd expect, takes it a step further, adding another 340 games through streaming, mostly from PS3, but also including some from original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP.

We've got a few thoughts on the service, but what do you think? Let us know in the comments.

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by James Michael Parry

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@James_Parry

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by Team PTC

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@pass_controller

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James

With PlayStation dismissive of backwards compatibility in the past, this feels like a real turnaround. There's no beating Game Pass at its own game, so it makes sense to do something a bit different, and at first glance it seems like Sony has a good plan here.

Streaming can work well, as Game Pass has shown, and while PlayStation Now has been a little shakier it already has its fans, and limiting the approach to older games means less strain on a wide array of network speed and reliability setups.

As for the tiers, the difference between each is only a few pounds, though the jump between Essential and Extra could be smaller to really push people into those higher level features.

For me, I expect I'll stick with Essential for now, as many of the 20 games available in the PS Plus Collection remain unplayed, and it's great that the option is there to explore far more in the future at a reasonable price.

In the wider context, hopefully this competition will help keep Microsoft pushing Game Pass forward and encourage both platform makers to give gamers the best deal possible.

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Chris

At first glance, it seems Game Pass offers more bang for your buck, with all of Microsoft's first-party titles being made available to subscribers on day one, but with over 700 games in the PlayStation Plus catalogue right from the off (at least with the highest tier) it's still a very attractive prospect. Of course, not all of those games will appeal to everyone but since the comparisons to Microsoft's service are unavoidable, it's worth mentioning that Game Pass has its fair share of filler titles too and was far less expansive in its infancy.

I suspect Sony's decision not to include those first-party games will draw the ire of many, though it's understandable from a business perspective. Whilst Xbox boasts a lot of multiplayer titles (such as the likes of Gears 5, Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5), PlayStation tends to focus on the single-player epics. This means Microsoft can pull in more money as time goes on, whether it's via battle passes, multiplayer expansions or even loot boxes, whereas Sony don't have that constant trickle of funding.

It's probably safe to assume that newer games will eventually release on PlayStation Plus, so those who are patient can wait a little while longer without having to fork out extra. Given the choice between PS Plus and Game Pass, Xbox may just have the edge but I don't think we can take anything away from PlayStation.

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Liam

I was walking down the street with a friend the other day when someone passed me carrying a PS5. I was so flabbergasted to see one in the wild that I genuinely did a double take and interrupted the conversation to point it out.

As you might have guessed, I’ve still yet to acquire a PlayStation 5, but I do plan on getting one eventually. When I do, I think I will sign up for the middle of the new PS Plus tiers. This one seems to be targeted towards players like me, who have missed out on some of the platform’s biggest exclusives over the last couple of generations.

There doesn’t seem to be much info about specific titles just yet, but I think it’s safe to assume PS4 exclusives such as Spider-Man and Horizon Zero Dawn will be included, which is great for me as I’ve yet to play them. Although I could probably find reasonably priced physical copies these days, £10.99 a month doesn’t seem too steep for access to a digital library of classics.

​However, the Premium package, at £13.49 a month, would be harder to justify, given that it doesn’t include day-one exclusive releases. But depending on the quality of the PS2 titles (one of my favourite generations), I could still be tempted.

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What do you think of the new-look PS Plus? Let us know.