According to VentureBeat reporter Jeff Grub, Sony has told UK retailers that they will no longer sell PlayStation Now cards from January 21. It was previously reported that Sony plans to launch an enhanced version of the PlayStation Plus service.
Grubb shared a letter sent to staff by top management at GAME, the UK’s largest games retailer, which read: Stores must remove all POS and ESD cards, and update their digital compartments based on the upcoming commercial update this week.
Currently, players must purchase the Plus service to play most of the online games on the PlayStation, and players who do buy also get some games for free each month. However, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier reported last December that Sony was planning to ditch PS Now in favor of the more popular PS Plus service, but would greatly expand it.
Jason broke the news that Sony will integrate PS Plus and PS Now into one service, code-named Spartacus, which is expected to be launched this spring. The move means Sony will drop the PlayStation Now brand altogether and launch a completely refurbished PlayStation Plus service, which consists of three subscription tiers.
The first will be functionally identical to the existing PlayStation Plus service, and the second will allow users to play a slew of PS4 games, with PS5 games to be added later. The third is PS Now’s streaming feature, which Jason says will also offer extended demos and a slew of classic PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games. The third subscription tier makes PS Plus sound similar to Microsoft’s XGP Ultimate Edition, which combines XGP with Xbox Live Gold.