After a few months of being left wanting, many gamers are demanding more from the PlayStation Plus service. One PS5 title and a couple of PS4 games once a month doesn’t seem to justify the price (£49.99) for many, especially if the games in question aren’t popular, players already own the content, or they simply don’t want to, or can’t make use of the online features.
Time for PlayStation Plus to change?
Initially I thought that the service was going to be overhauled when PS VR came out, and again when the PS5 was announced, to maximise the exposure of those products. It seems however, that apart from a few VR titles sprinkled in here and there, the service has gone on almost untouched for ten years. It’s also super annoying to buy a game only for it to pop up in next month’s free line-up (a yearly road map could help here?).
Game Pass
There are a few ways in which Sony couple update PS Plus if they wanted to, starting with what Microsoft is currently doing with Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft may be shooting themselves in the foot financially long-term in order to shift consoles, but there’s no denying that the consumer-friendly Game Pass has made an impact, giving gamers access to a huge library for £10.99 a month. Sony could go in the same direction with access to their excellent first-party games, though I could see a potential price hike if they did. This option, while attractive to those who like to play a wide range of games (with a model similar to Netflix), would only hurt those not wanting to, especially if they use the service to just play their online games. For this reason, and for the fact that I like physical copies of games, I would prefer an alternative solution.
PS Now
PS Now on the other hand could make use of an expanded game collection (the more new PS5 titles the better) if Sony wants to keep the two services separate. This makes more sense as PS Now allows gamers to stream their games instead of downloading them. There is still some confusion regarding PS Plus and PS Now however, so merging the two could potentially solve this, giving players more choice in how they play their games. This would then be a continuous service instead of a monthly free game drop, and would also presumably help save on limited storage space for those not wanting to upgrade their PS5 just yet.
Films & anime
There are other ways that PS Plus could update their service though. The first would be to incorporate other forms of media, such as Sony films (much in the same way as Disney+), allowing subscribers access to stream new and classic flicks. Or they could make use of their new acquisition Crunchyroll, and offer exclusive access to anime series’ from PlayStation. This would broaden the options available to them, and most likely help players feel like they are getting better value when subscribing to PS Plus.
PlayStation Platinum
The final option, and my preferred idea, is to finally open up PlayStation’s back catalogue of fantastic games, spanning the PS1, PS2 and PS3, along with their current offerings. This would be in the form of a random game each month, playable on PS4 and PS5. Alongside this, Sony could also bring back PlayStation Platinum, and include classic titles at a reduced price for PS Plus subscribers (similar to how they used to be cheaper with their recognisable silver box).
Whatever they decide to do, it is clear by many PlayStation owner’s reactions each month on both the PlayStation Blog (note that they’ve removed the emotes from articles) and YouTube channel (note that they’ve stopped posting to their official channel), that the service needs to improve going forward, or those that don’t play online will simply not see the benefits in joining.
What do you think? Should PlayStation Plus evolve to give players more value? Post a comment below or drop us a line over on Facebook & Twitter.
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