According to Bloomberg’s documents, Sony’s new PlayStation subscription service is currently code-named Spartacus and will merge Sony’s current PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services and gradually cancel the latter’s brand. The service is expected to be launched next spring and will be available on both PS4 and PS5, and its structure is said to span three consumer tiers.
The first tier will include the existing benefits of PlayStation Plus, such as online gaming services and monthly gaming games. The second layer is to provide a large lineup of playable games, similar to Microsoft’s existing Game Pass service. The third layer will add expanded trial play, game streaming and classic PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP game libraries. Bloomberg said that PlayStation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If this subscription service is launched as scheduled, PlayStation will compete with Microsoft’s popular Game Pass subscription service. Microsoft Game Pass was launched in June 2017 and has become the core of Microsoft’s gaming business, attracting more than 18 million users as of January 2021. It provides members with more than 100 games, including all first-party games that were just released.
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Sony has repeatedly stated that the Game Pass distribution model is not suitable for PlayStation, which makes people wonder whether it will adopt a first-day subscription distribution model similar to that of its competitors. Last September, SIE boss Jim Ryan said in an interview with GI.biz that the subscription model is unsustainable for PlayStation Studios because the growth of its own first-party game budget too far over 100 million US dollars is not the case. rare.
Although there is news that Xbox Game Pass has not accumulated enough users to make a profit, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said in October last year that the company has no plans to increase the price of the service.