It could be multi-tiered and provide access to classic PlayStation games
Subscription services have been steadily rising in the industry, and it looks like Sony may be upping its offering to compete with the likes of Xbox Game Pass. A new report from Bloomberg indicates PlayStation is planning a tiered subscription service that can rival Microsoft’s offering, per their sources.
The service is reportedly code-named Spartacus and will offer access to a catalog of both modern and classic games for a monthly fee. According to Bloomberg’s sources, it will also be available on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
It’s expected sometime in the spring and will merge the two current PlayStation subscription plans, Plus and Now. Documents reviewed by Bloomberg lay out three tiers of benefits.
The first would, from the sound of it, be the current PlayStation Plus benefits. The second would offer a catalog of PS4 and eventually PS5 games. At the third tier, there would be extended demos, game streaming, and a library of classic games. These would include PlayStation 1, PS2, PS3, and PSP games. (Sorry, Vita.) Bloomberg also reports that Sony is putting resources into expanding its efforts in cloud gaming.
This is certainly an interesting proposal, as the PlayStation has a massive library to pull from across those console generations. It would need to establish a good precedent though, as more recent classic game subscriptions haven’t exactly been living up to the hype for some in terms of regular offerings.
The subscription future certainly seems like it’s here, though. Sony’s already had Plus offerings and this could bolster them even further, putting some competition to Game Pass. And then there’s the likes of Netflix moving into the space as well. If all of this means older classics can be made more playable, though, I’m all ears.
