Sony’s Revamped PlayStation Plus Launches in The US
Sony announced a redesigned PlayStation Plus program several months ago, and today is the big day in the US. You can now sign up for Sony’s new three-tier Plus program, unlocking access to hundreds of games. This includes the latest titles on PlayStation 5 back to classic PS One games. Sony only offered a sample of the included games before launch, but now they’re all available for your perusal.
The cheapest plan is PlayStation Plus Essential, which runs $9.99 per month (or $60 for a year). This is what you need in the event you only care about online multiplayer and not a massive back catalog of games. You also get store discounts and a handful of free games to play on your PlayStation 5 as long as you’re a member.
The next step up is where things begin to get interesting, and it will probably be the most popular plan. PlayStation Plus Extra adds hundreds of PS4 and PS5 games, which you can play on the company’s consoles. The PS5 can play either PS4 or PS5 games, but the PS4 can (obviously) only play the PS4 content. Sony promised at least 400 games before release, and Ars Technica reports Sony has successfully surpassed that with 460 games. There are a good number of popular titles, too. This plan boosts the monthly fee to $14.99 or $100 per year.
If you can front just a little more cash, Sony has the PlayStation Plus Premium tier. This plan gets all the games from the Essential and Extra levels, plus it gains game trials, cloud streaming, and the classics catalog. These games (a few hundred of them) are from the PS3 and earlier, and they stream to your console direct from the cloud — you can’t install them on your console. This adds up to more than 800 games total on the Premium tier.
Importantly, Premium also supports PC streaming. So, you can play supported games without a PlayStation console. However, the high-end modern games from the main catalog are not stream-ready, in contrast to Microsoft Game Pass where some newer titles are supported for cloud gaming on other devices. The Premium tier costs $17.99 per month or $120 for a year paid upfront.
To get the most out of Sony’s new Plus offerings, you will need a PS5, but that’s still easier said than done. The machine is sold out at all major retailers, and new stock doesn’t last long. Resellers are offering them for several hundred dollars over retail if you get desperate, but Sony has promised it’s going to step up its manufacturing in the coming quarters.
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