PlayStation Plus was launched in 2010 and, for the time, it was a revolutionary service: free games every month and exclusive discounts. When compared with the then offerings of the competition there was no comparison. Unfortunately, the years pass for everyone and many things change: from the habits of the players to the conditions to the ways we have to use services up to the ecosystem of the competition. For PlayStation Plus, needless to say, the time has come renew to update itself to the market. But fear not, because the change will not be drastic. Let’s see what changes with the new PlayStation Plus service.
The fasce
From tomorrow, the new PlayStation plus will no longer be a single service, but it will be divided into three bands: Essentials, Extra e Premium. Each of these bands will give us a different service. Choosing the right headband for you will be simple: it depends on how much and how you play.
Playstation plus Essentials
This is the range you will be in if you already have a Playstation Plus subscription.
Nothing new under the sun hence, because the features will be the same and the price will also be the same. If you have not yet decided what is right for you, stay on Essentials and your gaming life won’t change one iota.
So in summary, games to download every month, exclusive discounts, online multiplayer and cloud storage from Sony. In addition, if you are the lucky owner of a PlayStation 5, you will also keep the support for the games and access to the Playstation Plus collection.
All for the usual € 8.99 every month or € 24.99 every 3 months or € 59.99 every 12 months.
From this point of view, you really want to define the transition to the new PlayStation Plus as painless: we can simply decide if we want more or if we are happy with life as always.
Playstation plus Extra
This is the first step on which we can decide to climb. Practically, you keep all the Essentials services but you also have access to a catalog of nearly 400 games to download for PS4 and PS5. Among these games we also find very interesting titles, such as:
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Demon’s Souls
- NBA 2K22
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
If we want to access this catalog of games, the price to pay increases a little. In fact we start talking about € 13.99 every month or € 39.99 every 3 months or € 99.99 every 12 months.
So for whoever pays on an annual basis this is a 66% increase in spending. The evaluation, in our opinion, must be made looking at the entire catalog and seeing which games are not yet in your library. Once this is done, understand if the remaining titles are worth the expense for us.
Playstation plus Premium
The level premium is the spearhead of the new offer: we have everything that is given to us with Extra plus theaccess to an additional catalog of nearly 340 classic titles. Dover by classics means titles for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. And here too we have very interesting historical titles available such as Rain, Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time, Tekken 2 and Borderlands The Handsome Collection.
These games, however, they will not have to be downloaded but can be used in streaming without installing anything. Furthermore, while we have activated the streaming, a significant part of the PlayStation 4 games in the Extras catalog will be usable in the same way, without installation.
The cost of the premium subscription is € 16.99 every month or € 49.99 every 3 months or € 119.99 every 12 months.
Honestly, between Extra and Premium the leap is not particularly demanding: we talk about the 20% more on an annual basis for a service that is visibly superior. However, if we consider the Essentials level we are faced with a doubling: 100% more on an annual basis. Perhaps, for those who are still undecided, it may be worth thinking about it for a moment.
Upgrade or not upgrade? That is the question
The new PlayStation Plus service is certainly interesting and offers a great experience. The economic obstacle remains, which however must be assessed by everyone on the basis of how much and how they play.
If you are undecided, our advice is not to be in a hurry: Sony explicitly says that you can raise your level at any time. So you can stay at the window for a month and ask your friends how they are.
Likewise, should you change your mind, It is also possible to make a demotion. On this, however, we allow ourselves to tell you a small report. On the PlayStation (American) website it is explicitly stated that it is possible to reduce the level of the subscription at any time but this will become effective from the date of the next payment. So if you are a yearly subscriber and your next payment is in 10 months, do your bills well. We were not able to find the same wording on the Italian site, but it could be elsewhere for translation needs or you just need to wait for a site update.