KitGuru Games:­­ Did PlayStation Plus justify its price increase?

With each passing year, publishers and console manufacturers alike have increasingly emphasised the long-term importance of game subscription services. Like films and TV before it, video game subscription services are being positioned as the sole future of game consumption. In aid of this effort, we have seen Sony reaffirm its commitment to subscriptions through its revamped PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium tiers. 2023 marked the first full year since the reinvention, and with us now a good chunk of the way into January of 2024, the question remains: Has PlayStation Plus been able to justify itself?

Back in January of 2023 I looked at both Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus’ 2022 libraries, breaking down the inclusions in a month-by-month manner. While an interesting experiment, for this year’s retrospective I have decided to instead take the year in its entirety as the basis for my breakdown, looking at 2023’s line-up in a categorical manner and segregating them based on their relationship within the industry itself.

Before we jump into it, I must mention the fact that 2023 saw a rather substantive price increase for PlayStation Plus across the board. Previously, the service would cost you £49.99 a year for PS Plus Essential; £83.99 to jump up to the Extra tier and last but certainly not least, £99.99 for a year of Premium. Unfortunately, in September 2023 Sony increased these prices across the board, with a year of Essential now costing £59.99; Extra being £99.99 and Premium going all the way up to £119.99. With that, it is now time to look at Sony’s PS Plus output for 2023 and whether the PlayStation console manufacturer was able to justify the ever-more expensive service.

As mentioned, I will be looking at last year’s line-up in a different way. Unlike with my previous retrospective – which broke down the additions by month – this time I have decided to take the year in its entirety and instead break it down based on the service’s first-party additions; AAA inclusions and last but not least its influx of indies. Okay, let’s get into it.

First thing’s first, there’s PlayStation Plus Essential. For the uninitiated, the Essential tier offers between 3 and 4 games a month to subscribers, but unlike Game Pass or PS Plus Extra, these games are only able to be obtained for the duration of that month. Once the period has ended, if you did not add the titles to your library then you will have missed out entirely on these games. That being said, if you did add the games to your library, then they will remain available to you in perpetuity – as long as you are subscribed to PS Plus that is.

2023 saw a total of 37 games given away to PS Plus Essential subscribers. While I won’t include every single title here, a mere 3 of the games given away were first-party PlayStation titles – those being Destiny 2: Beyond Light; Sackboy: A Big Adventure and Media Molecule’s Dreams. Considering the fact that Destiny 2: Beyond Light initially released years before Sony acquired Bungie, 2023’s PS Plus Essential technically only included two first-party titles – a rather poor showing for those who subscribed to the service for PlayStation’s first-party efforts.

Fortunately, the list of AAA 3rd-party games given away via PS Plus Essential was much more substantive, with just some of the games including Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order; Mafia: Definitive Edition; Code Vein; Battlefield 2042; GRID: Legends; NBA 2K23; Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War; Alan Wake Remastered; The Callisto Protocol; Mafia II: Definitive Edition; and LEGO 2K Drive.

2023’s indies included Axiom Verge 2; the addictively replayable Olli Olli World; Tails of Iron; Trek to Yomi; the much loved Death’s Door and the contemplatively beautiful Sable. Though pretty much every AAA inclusion initially released in a year prior to 2023, there is no denying that for those who want a variety of high quality titles across all budget levels, PS Plus Essential managed to give exactly that – just don’t expect many first party titles to be given away.

For many, PlayStation Plus Extra serves as the healthy medium between the 3 tiers. Alongside all the benefits of PS Plus Essential, Extra entitles you to a library of hundreds of games – a library which is added to (and taken away from) on a monthly basis. Like with the previous tier, I have broken down the line-up of additions with first party titles being our starting point.

Unlike Essential, PS Plus Extra added an okay selection of first party titles, namely the FMV psychological horror Erica; the PS5 remastered Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection; Sackboy: A Big Adventure again; the ill-fated though perfectly positioned for PS Plus ‘Dreams’; the PS5 exclusive Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – and last but certainly not least Horizon Forbidden West.

Of course, these are just the first-party additions in 2023. Due to the Netflix-like structure of PS Plus Extra, many first-party games are already available on the service including Demon’s Souls; Bloodborne; Shadow of the Colossus; Final Fantasy VII: Remake Intergrade; Returnal; Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales; Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut; and more. So while you won’t have the full PlayStation Studios library at your fingertips, the list of available titles is plenty, especially if you’re wanting to play games from prior years.

3rd party titles is where Extra’s annual additions start to shine, with a strong selection of AA and AAA games, both old and (relatively) new. Many franchises saw a majority of their library added to the service, including every single Life is Strange title – from the original LiS to True Colors – Dead Island Definitive Edition and Riptide; the rebooted Tomb Raider Trilogy; Wolfenstein 2 The Old Blood, and Youngblood; and The Evil Within plus its sequel – to name some.

In fact, 2023 saw a surprising number of Bethesda games added to the service, despite Microsoft having purchased them. Alongside the aforementioned titles, other Bethesda games added last year included RAGE 2; DOOM: Eternal; Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and Dishonored 2 – and the previously PlayStation exclusive Ghostwire: Tokyo which was added one year after its initial launch (and one month before the game came to Xbox).

Other miscellaneous though notable 3rd party additions include Dragon Ball FighterZ; Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition; Tekken 7; Resident Evil 7: Biohazard; Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown; Scarlet Nexus; Street Fighter V: Champion Edition; Immortals Fenyx Rising; Rune Factory 4: Special; Far Cry 6; SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated; World War Z; The Ascent; Sniper Elite 5; Lost Judgment; NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…; 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim; Gotham Knights; Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen; Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin; and Grand Theft Auto V.

All in all, there was a strong selection of AAA games to choose from this year, with many publishers showing their faces – particularly the likes of Square Enix and Capcom – though all major companies made some level of appearance, including Ubisoft’s Classics collection.

PlayStation Plus Extra’s indie inclusions is where the service really begins to shine, with a massive variety of titles covering your every indie need. What’s more, many of the additions are of relatively new games, giving subscribers a good way to engage with recent and well-revered indie titles.

Just some of the additions throughout 2023 included Untitled Goose Game; Haven; the PlayStation exclusive Kena: Bridge of Spirits; Thymesia; The Talos Principle: Deluxe Edition; Tacoma; Forager; A Hat in time; Rogue Legacy 2; Inscryption; Moving Out 2; Cursed to Golf; Unpacking; Call of the Sea; Disco Elysium: The Final Cut; Outlast 2; Superliminal and Tinykin.

Indie games in general are a cavern of near infinite creativity and variety – and PlayStation Plus Extra’s additions showcase this incredibly well. More so than any other type of game, PS Plus is an indie fan’s paradise whose annual subscription can be quite easily justified thanks to the abundant influx of indies on a monthly basis.

Finally, we will be looking at PlayStation Plus’ least enticing tier – PS Plus Premium. The promise of this tier is that subscribers are able to stream any and all games from the PS Plus library while also including classics from the PS3, PS2 and PS1. The PS3 collection has been stagnant for a while now with no new additions in 2023. That’s okay though as PS3 titles can only be streamed anyways.

PS1 and PS2 classics meanwhile can be played through the console itself – though unfortunately the list of additions is rather paltry. Some of the best games added in 2023 included Syphon Filter 3 and Dark Mirror; The Legend of Dragoon; Ape Academy 2; R4: Ridge Racer Type 4; Pursuit Force; Worms; Killzone: Liberation; Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal 2; Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny; Ape Escape Academy; PaRappa the Rapper 2; and all the pre-2016 DOOM games.

Interestingly, the list of classics also features a number of remasters of older titles including Tekken 6; Mega Man Legacy Collection 1+2; Destroy All Humans Remake; Dishonored: Definitive Edition; Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Remastered and Star Ocean: The Last Hope – 4K & FHD Remaster.

As with all previous inclusions, we are only looking at the games added in 2023, and so while PS Plus Premium remains rather barren when it comes to playable classics, there is still an okay selection of additions from years prior including Resident Evil: Director's Cut; the Jak and Daxter series; Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee; old Disney classics and more. Again though, the list is quite mediocre.

Before we wrap things up, I wanted to give a special shout out to the day-one additions to PS Plus. Though Sony does not promise such inclusions (unlike Xbox and Game Pass), across PS Plus Essential and Extra there were a decent number of surprises, namely the PlayStation 5 / VR exclusive Humanity; 2023’s Best Indie Game award winner Sea of Stars; another Game Awards winner in the form of Tchia; the creative first-person puzzle-platformer Meet Your Maker; Moving Out 2 and the physics sandbox heaven ‘Teardown’.

As can be gleaned from all these titles, the day-one additions are exclusively indie titles – further adding to my statement from earlier regarding PS Plus Extra being an indie lover’s playground.

So, for the newly revamped price of £59.99 was PlayStation Plus Essential worth it in 2023? For me personally, yes. There was enough of a mix of high quality and well-revered indie games alongside a selection of solid AAA titles from prior years – and because I buy a lot of the bigger first-party PlayStation titles outright, offering Sony’s less popular games actually works in my favour.

Similarly, PS Plus Extra did offer enough in 2023 for my own personal liking. A lot of recognisable franchises and IPs were added over the course of the year – especially when it comes to indies. But even taking the service as a whole it would be hard to argue that you’re not getting your money’s worth for £99.99, as long as you actively play and complete games on a regular basis.

Last and certainly least , PlayStation Plus Premium is in no way worth your money for the new asking price of £119.99. Neither 2023’s additions nor the library as a whole is worth it. Even if you are already paying £100 for PS Plus Extra, coughing up the additional £20 is ill-advised. Perhaps if you are invested in playing PS3 titles, then the service might be worth consideration, but the fact that these titles are only available via streaming is a massive knock against it.

For my money, I’d rather spend that £20 on a high quality recent indie release, or a couple older AAA games. I might even set a £20 note on fire and just watch it burn – in many ways it would feel like more of a worthwhile investment. I'm of course being somewhat facetious, but all that is to say that paying for PS Plus Premium would very likely end up being a waste of time.

To end things on a more positive note, one of the benefits of PlayStation Plus is that Sony allows your to pay for the service in 12-month chunks for a rather significant discount, so instead of paying £6.99 a month for Essential, you can opt for a yearly plan which brings the cost down to £59.99 a year (or £4.99 a month). This, in combination with PlayStation Store sales and 3rd party PlayStation gift cards can bring the cost down quite a bit, making even PS Plus Premium a more manageable ask – and the Extra/Essential tiers a genuinely good investment. All that said, hopefully Sony does more in 2024 to justify the PlayStation Plus’ price hike. We will have to wait and see.

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KitGuru says: What did you think of PS Plus’ 2023? Was any of the tiers worth it in your opinion? How did it compare to Xbox Game Pass’ 2023? Let us know down below.

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