Sony announces PlayStation Plus revamp, introduces ‘extra’ and ‘premium’ tiers

We've been hearing about Sony's plan to revamp its PlayStation Plus subscription for months now, with various leaks revealing details well ahead of time. Today, Sony officially confirmed Project Spartacus by introducing two new PS+ tiers. 

Earlier this week, a set of slides began doing the rounds on social media, claiming extremely high prices for the new PlayStation Plus tiers. Fortunately, this ‘leak' was indeed fake and Sony's confirmed pricing is much more palatable – although the service's highest tier is still more expensive than Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, so there is still plenty of debate to be had around the value proposition here.

Here is the full breakdown for PlayStation Plus Essential, Extra and Premium:

PlayStation Plus Essential

• Benefits:
  • Provides the same benefits that PlayStation Plus members are getting today, such as:
    • Two monthly downloadable games
    • Exclusive discounts
    • Cloud storage for saved games
    • Online multiplayer access
  • There are no changes for existing PlayStation Plus members in this tier.

• Price for PlayStation Plus Essential remains the same as the current price for PlayStation Plus.
  • United States
    • $9.99 monthly / $24.99 quarterly / $59.99 yearly
  • Europe
    • €8.99 monthly / €24.99 quarterly / €59.99 yearly
  • United Kingdom
    • £6.99 monthly / £19.99 quarterly / £49.99 yearly
  • Japan
    • ¥850 monthly / ¥2,150 quarterly / ¥5,143 yearly

PlayStation Plus Extra

• Benefits:
  • Provides all the benefits from the Essential tier
  • Adds a catalog of up to 400 of the most enjoyable PS4 and PS5 games – including blockbuster hits from our PlayStation Studios catalog and third-party partners. Games in the Extra tier are downloadable for play.

• Price:
  • United States
    • $14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $99.99 yearly
  • Europe
    • €13.99 monthly / €39.99 quarterly / €99.99 yearly
  • United Kingdom
    • £10.99 monthly / £31.99 quarterly / £83.99 yearly
  • Japan
    • ¥1,300 monthly / ¥3,600 quarterly / ¥8,600 yearly

PlayStation Plus Premium

• Benefits:
  • Provides all the benefits from Essential and Extra tiers
  • Adds up to 340 additional games, including:
    • PS3 games available via cloud streaming
    • A catalog of beloved classic games available in both streaming and download options from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations
  • Offers cloud streaming access for original PlayStation, PS2, PSP and PS4 games offered in the Extra and Premium tiers in markets where PlayStation Now is currently available. Customers can stream games using PS4 and PS5 consoles, and PC.
  • Time-limited game trials will also be offered in this tier, so customers can try select games before they buy.

• Price:
  • United States
    • $17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $119.99 yearly
  • Europe
    • €16.99 monthly / €49.99 quarterly / €119.99 yearly
  • United Kingdom
    • £13.49 monthly / £39.99 quarterly / £99.99 yearly
  • Japan
    • ¥1,550 – monthly / ¥4,300 – quarterly / ¥10,250 yearly

Interestingly, PlayStation Plus Premium will be offered at a cheaper price in select markets where cloud streaming is not present. In these areas, the subscription will be called  “PlayStation Plus Deluxe” and will offer a smaller library of downloadable games.

As Sony puts it, the new Extra and Premium tiers represent “a major evolution for PlayStation Plus”. Big games like Death Stranding, God of War (2018) and Marvel's Spider-Man will be part of the streaming library. This also means that PlayStation Now is no more, as the streaming service has been folded into the new PS+ tiers.

The revamped version of PS+ will be rolling out in phases across regions, beginning with a few markets in Asia, followed by North America and Europe later in the year. Sony aims to have most PSN territories covered before the second half of 2022.

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KitGuru Says: The leaks from December and January were mostly accurate, with few changes made in the official announcement. What do you all think of Sony's revamped version of PS+? 

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