Why PlayStation Plus needs to evolve

After months of disappointment, gamers are demanding more from the PlayStation Plus service. Here's a few ways that Sony could improve it.

[Magog]

Wrong. It's the best value in gaming. If you have a PS5 you're getting game great unique titles and 2 PS4 games as well every month for a couple dollars.

[darthv72]

It would be even better if they let you keep the older games. Esp ones from the old days of psp and vita.

[SullysCigar]

This article just seems like an odd take though, especially given it's already confirmed that in November we're getting the usual quota of games AND 3 additional PSVR games.

That's pretty good going if you ask me.

[Magog]

You do get to keep them as long as you keep your subscription which is the best value in gaming so why would you cancel it?

[jukins]

What do you mean let you keep? Likw if you sub runs out? Because you definetly do kwep all past games that were on the service main reason ive kept my vita cause have so many games to play from all those yeara

[S2Killinit]

I think xbox doesnt let you keep them as they leave the store. Plus doesnt do that. So far as I know.

[darthv72]

I guess none of y'all have ever let your sub lapse or decide to no longer be a + member. The games you have will no longer function. So the idea is to remain a member (like Magog said). I just wished Sony would let you keep the older ones with no strings attached. Like they do from time to time with other titles (R&C and Horizon for example).

[Taero]

They most likely don't allow you to keep the games when not subscribed to stop people just subscribing for a month, grabbing a game they want then quitting until there's another game they want months later. If everyone did that then I imagine revenue would drop like a rock and they'd have a harder time paying out for the games they put on the service.

Yes obviously it would be nice to be able to do that as a gamer, but as a company you can see why they don't.

[Docmortem]

What is this based on? I mean the "best value in gaming"(marketing slogan much?). I do have ps plus, but honestly I play more games on game pass lately as they are far more recent. Most games on ps plus I already own or do not care about. If it was not mandatory for online play, I would have canceled ps plus already.
When it comes to best value ... I would say Humble Bundle is far better. Sure many of the games are indie games. But you get to keep them forever even without sub and once in a while there are some real gems in the bundles.

[demonseye]

what comparing it to the humble bundle that's a new one. and game pas you cant compare to ps now. which I would agree on game pass is better. but PlayStation plus can only be compared to Xbox Live. they are the most similar. but Game Pass in my opinion is for the more casual player. and the question is how long will they invest into it. and in the long run is it going to harm game development because they probably be working on a lower budget when the investments stop.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

How is GamePass for more casual player? It caters to all players.

[IanTH]

@demonseye He can compare it because he didn't say "best value for console-subscriptions-that-are -required-for-online-and-also- include-montly-game-rentals ", but rather "best value in gaming". It's something I've argued for in discussions about best value in gaming, but I always concede it'll be different for everyone due to what their preferences/priorities are. It's why we have choices, beautiful, beautiful choices!

[DigitalDaniel]

Best value in gaming ?
No, not even by a long shot. Is it better than Xbox Live Gold ? Yes, easily.
But better than Game Pass ? Not a chance.

I've been on Playstation since PS1 (or PSX as we used to say), so this is not about console A vs console B.
I couldn't care less. I play on all platforms and always done that. So, being at neutral ground it's easy to gage which services provides me the better value.

PS Plus is not remotely close to XGP in terms of best value. If anything, the best one of them all I guess would be Epic games when you look at what they have given out for free, without any need for subscription and you keep the games forever. If you just look at the games and forget that their launcher/store is terrible.

[GoodGuy09]

Psplus mostly just gives out random indies and old titles everybodys played that you can get for $5-$10 in sales. Ive been subscribed just to play online for years. Sure I grab the "freebies" but rarely ever touch any. Last Ive played was probably fall guys. And if its the "best" deal in gaming then why are people always disappointed in almost every month's offers lol. I wish we had the option just to pay $20/year for being able to play online.

Im not a gamepass subber but its quite clear gamepass's game offers are much more superior. It includes just released AAA games, some that are still relatively new, ea play, and mcsfts first party will be there day 1 and forever. Not a subscription fan as Im a buy what i want and keep forever guy.

[Magog]

Totally false. PS5 has gotten a new release game every month since launch.

[Silly gameAr]

Now, here's somebody that obviously doesn't have ps plus, and doesn't know what he's talking about, but pretending he does to make one service look better than another.

[Teflon02]

PS users disappointed every month? This year's been fantastic for plus. Also ps5 owners get 20 of some of the best ps4 games additionally at no extra charge. It's fantastic. Gamepass is alot more expensive ultimately outside the promo periods. 10 years of plus vs 10 years of XGP also shows the value in a different way. Example. I can play 10 years worth of plus titles, from ps3, to vita, ps4 and ps5. The amount of games I have available don't expire in the sense that xgp games get removed if they're not MS titles. Because if that, the value of xgp for someone like me makes no sense. I don't mind keeping the sub if I can keep playing the games. But that's not exactly how it works. I got plenty that I've had for years on all my consoles without having to worry about it past paying for my sub

[ocelot07]

I wouldn't say PS+ is best value in gaming. It's good value don't get me wrong but not best. Best goes to PS Now in my honest opinion. But it depends on how much you pay for it.

Past 2 years during the days of play sale I have gotten 12 months PS Now for £25 for a year. Selection of 700+ games PS2 and PS4 not a bad rental service. If I was on a budget and couldn't afford new games. Then PS Now would be my go to service.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Best value is a stretch.

[Petebloodyonion]

LOL!
Don't get me wrong, I do think that PS+ is a great value for the asking price but I would love to remind you that Epic Games is giving you around 4to 8 games (yours to keep) per month at the insane price of 0$.
Now that's what I would call the best value for your buck.

[Sayai jin]

It's a great service, but not the best value in gaming for sure IMO. Even if it were the best, they shouldn't rest on their laurels. Anything can evolve and get better.

[HansyJ]

I wouldn’t call it the best value in gaming. The best value in Game is very likely gamepass but nonetheless what I would say is that this article is stupid because the only people that need to evolve is stupid Nintendo and their abhorrent online features and pricing now with the expansion coming soon

[MightyHealthy]

How so?
Its a pay wall for online gaming.
Sometimes they'll give you good monthly titles to play, but certainly not every month.
How could you call that the best value in gaming?

[Silly gameAr]

Have you seen what Nintendo is trying to do? You need to do an article on that. This article feels like deflection.

[Seraphim]

that was my first thought. They come with this bs article right after Nintendo announced the pricing for the Online+ Expansion Pass..... seriously, gtfo

[Army_of_Darkness]

Nintendo can do no wrong! No wrong I tells Ya! The new switch oled is literally $50 cheaper than the ps5 digital because it got a bigger and better screen with games priced at current gen levels of $80 CND a pop! For last gen Hardware! Wtf?! And nobody has any issues with that but were fussing about ps5 games costing $10 more?!

[GhostofHorizon]

Why write an article about Switch's terrible online service if nobody will click on it? We know how popular Switch/Nintendo articles are on here. If we assume it's same for websites that these articles go on, it might just be a waste of their time.

That ad revenue isn't going to get itself.

[Lightning77]

Which is great for Nintendo so they can get away with it. Less ppl talking, less outcry. Plus Nintendo fans are casual gamers so they don't see nor care when Nintendo over prices their fans.

[Sayai jin]

@Silly, absolutely correct.

[isarai]

I stopped reading at "Gamepass" PS+ competes with XBL Gold not gamepass, different services. If you wanted to compare Gamepass, PS Now is sony's answer, not even gonna get into which is better or not, just saying stop comparing apples to oranges.

Also while i STILL dont agree with online multiplayer behind a paywall, i always feel like i more than get my money's worth by the end of the year, especially if you take Sony's constant sales which get pretty crazy at times.

[Snakeeater25]

Ps+ could pick better monthly games and twice a year AAA exclusive games.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

PS+ has great free games. He’ll Let Loose, Control, and Predator we’re all great giveaways. And we get 3-4 AAA exclusives a year, not that that has anything to do with ps+

[Kurt Russell]

The moment someone says "I am not renewing my subscription service for PSN this month because I am playing Gamespass instead" it is competing.

It's competing.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

One is for online gaming, another is a subscription service. They serve different needs, so they are not competing.

[Kurt Russell]

I know the differences MIDGET, but I stand by what I say... they're all lobbying for the same wallets.

[ChasterMies]

The article is really saying that PS+ should cost $15 like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. No thanks. I’m quite happy with my PS+ collection for $5 a month.

[dbcoops]

tryrolling.com huh? Take the "yr" out of the name and I think we've figured out what this site is all about.

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

A site called trolling.com actually sounds like it would be more interesting. At the very least the authors of anything on such a site probably wouldn't take anything they write too seriously, and would probably just have fun with everything they post.

[GhostofHorizon]

"Journalism" 101, Playstation generates a lot more interest than Xbox according to people that disclosed this data before (one of those is the guy that did the heat exhaust test, the amount of clicks he gets for a Playstation video was way higher than Xbox.)

Then the second part of the equation is that the negative news will always generate more clicks, comments and controversy.

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

I for one very much prefer Plus to Switch Online. Where are the articles about how Nintendo is charging an extra $30/month to play a handful of N64 games? I suppose there are Genesis games too, but virtually all of them seem to be games that can easily be acquired in other ways, making them all the more baffling as a supposed incentive to pay for that "add-on". Please tell me how Plus is worse than that.

[nRicosS]

Website trolling.com
Suspicious

[4U2NV]

After months of disappointment?

Ive not been disappointment ANY month with the free offerings. Even if the game isnt that great or even if I own the game its still a plus as it gives me a chance to own the game digitally too.
Psplus is fine. Could it be made better? sure, but its not disappointing as it is.

[JackBNimble]

If online was free psplus would probably lose more then 50% of their subs.
There have been very few psplus games that I ever play and that goes back to the ps3 days.

[4U2NV]

If online was free, I and plenty more people would still dl the free games. I hardly even play online games nowadays I much prefer single player and the ps plus games I have downloaded are mainly single player games that I either never got round to buying or just new games ive never played or even heard of that I like to try out amd I havr found some amazing games in there.

If your finding your not playing the games offered well that is ultimately and definitely your loss!

[BlackDoomAx]

They are not gamers. Gamers will game, no matter what. Ps plus allowed me to try games I won't have bought. Some were crap, some where gems. But I don't regret playing the crappy ones. Because I love gaming. Those who complain are complainers, they will always do, unless there will be the few games that they enjoy. But they will complain anyway, because they pre ordered it xd

[GhostofHorizon]

This is kinda where I fall. I've been subbed since the service started and there are something like 700 games if you put them all together.

PS Plus Collection is worth it on it's own those are like 20 AAA games. I personally don't play a lot of games as soon as they come out so the extra discounts we get are just the cherry on the top.

I've got a backlog of over 200 games right now, I see 0 reason to chase after the new games until they get patched up and all the DLC comes out.

[GamingSinceForever]

I think the selection of monthly games could be better, however the cost is so cheap that I just automatically renew without thinking about it.

Abe, A plague Tale, and Squadrons VR more tan made up the $60 cost for the year for me.

[Lexreborn2]

You guys want to compare gamepass to ps plus? Fine let’s do it:

Service expires: ps plus you lose access, gamepass you lose access.

Renew service: plus you have access to all previous titles you received, gamepass you have access to whatever is in the vault when you buy in.

Price: plus 60 bucks a year with sales as low as 30 for a year. Gamepass 60 bucks for 6 months 120 for a year.(has had an exploitable glitch for new comers if you buy a years worth of live you can convert to year of game pass. Price was a dollar not sure what is now.)

Collection: ps plus the longer you keep it the larger your collection grows. For ps5 you get an initial 20 games out the gate of PlayStations top games 1st and 3rd party. Gamepass a little over 100 rotating games with ea access added. All games rotate for this service meaning they can drop out from time to time(Xbox 1st party titles being an exception unless they discontinue like forza).

Streaming: ps plus games are all stream able to a phone, tablet and select TVs. If you have the game you can steam it. Gamepass a growing library of cloud based games but still limited to select experiences.

These are the comparisons of the service.

[ocelot07]

Am happy with PS+ to be honest. They are by the looks of it starting next month even giving is VR games as well as the PS4 games and ps5.

[S2Killinit]

Crazy article. Plus is the best way to provide a good service to compliment the new games.

[jznrpg]

Not every month is amazing but many months have been . It’s a great value to me and I signed up until 2028 or 2029 . I bought all of my years on sale of course which is easy to find

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Lmao, I think the free games has been great, and I’m glad they didn’t increase price of the base service in order to promote a sub service

[boing1]

Months of disappointment is a bit of a stretch IMO. Almost every month had a game I wanted to try. I do have a PS5, though.

[anast]

I thinks it's alright. There should be more deals for being a member, but it works.

[Realms]

Sony needs to do better with the PS Plus service? If that's the case them what should Nintendo do? They are charging $50 for N64 and Sega games and some DLC. Yeah I think the article should have been about Nintendo not Sony.

[EvertonFC]

Shouldn't the title be "xbox live" need to evolve?

[giveyerheadawobble]

Needs to evolve to what? I paid 25 for a year, and I'm getting 3 free flat games, and now 3 free PSVR games a month. When they are giving games like FF7 remake away included in that, it sort of pays for itself and then some.

[Orchard]

I don't think it's been 'months of disappointment' - PS+ is stronger than XBL Gold every month.

I think what they need to do is simply have a GamePass competitor - and that likely would be a separate thing from PS+

[dbcoops]

Isn't Playstation Now their "gamepass competitor"?

[Orchard]

Not really, gamepass has day 1 releases from 1st and 3rd party.

[dbcoops]

"PlayStation Now is a cloud gaming subscription service"

Sounds like a very similar service and therefore a competitor, day 1 releases are fodder for fanboys not a requirement for the two services to be considered competitive. Apparently what you're trying to say is, 'they should put all their first party games out on their service day one and reduce the relevance of their console like xbox did'.

[Orchard]

"PlayStation Now is a cloud gaming subscription service"

That is Project XCloud, not Game Pass.

"day 1 releases are fodder for fanboys"

Or day 1 releases are a value add for gamers/consumers... which is what we are.

'they should put all their first party games out on their service day one and reduce the relevance of their console like xbox did'

How would putting their games on a subscription which would require a PS4/5 reduce the relevance of a console which you would still require to play them?

[dbcoops]

"That is Project XCloud, not Game Pass."

Yes it is gamepass.

"Or day 1 releases are a value add for gamers/consumers... which is what we are."

Games dont need to come to a glorified rental service day one to be added value to gamers. Sony's stellar first party line up proves that.

"How would putting their games on a subscription which would require a PS4/5 reduce the relevance of a console which you would still require to play them?"

Does gamepass require an xbox one/series x? No because of gamepass you can play xbox games day one on PC, tablet, smart phone, an ATM machine, the touch screen in a Tesla, one of those smart refrigerators with the built in screen on the door, etc. making the xbox console nearly irrelevant. Sony doesn't need to do that with their console and hopefully they wont.

[Orchard]

PSNow is not Game Pass. Not even close.

Where did I mention Sony releasing games on other platforms? I didn’t. Just because they make a subscription service doesn’t mean said service has to be available on non-Sony devices.

Cloud gaming and content subscription services are two very different things. MS only cares about PC / GamePass for PC because of Windows really.

Sony wouldn’t have to release their GP competitor on PC - but they probably would anyway since they’re clearly supporting PC more and more.

Anyway, I think content subscriptions are good for consumers, a good game pass competitor is the main thing I am missing on my PS5 - and whether you agree or not, as a PS5 gamer and Sony customer, my opinion counts :)

[dbcoops]

"PSNow is not Game Pass. Not even close."

PSNow and gamepass are the direct competing services, its what you said they needed and they already have it, I'm done debating that with you at this point so you can argue about it with yourself but your opinion doesn't change the fact.

"Where did I mention Sony releasing games on other platforms?"

You didn't I did.

"Just because they make a subscription service doesn’t mean said service has to be available on non-Sony devices."

PS Now is already available through PC and just because you don't think said service doesn't have to be available on other devices doesn't mean they couldn't end up doing that just like MS has which would be a huge mistake.

"Cloud gaming and content subscription services are two very different things."

You're paying to rent games either way, they are very much the same. Again done debating that with you.

"MS only cares about PC / GamePass for PC because of Windows really."

MS care because they want as many subscribers to gamepass as possible and they dont care what you play on to get them.

"Sony wouldn’t have to release their GP competitor on PC"

They already did its called PS Now.

"but they probably would anyway since they’re clearly supporting PC more and more."

You just proved my point.

"Anyway, I think content subscriptions are good for consumers,"

I think subscription services are one of the worst things to happen to gaming, continuous fees to never own your games is an awful idea and its a shame MS has convinced people otherwise.

"a good game pass competitor is the main thing I am missing on my PS5 - and whether you agree or not, as a PS5 gamer and Sony customer, my opinion counts :)"

You're welcome to your opinion just remember that's what it is and a true PS5 gamer and Sony customer would be extremely happy they have a console that has remained relevant and continues to show its value in high quality AAA exclusives and not ask for a service that is deluded with filler and devalues your console purchase just so you can pay a forever fee.

Now I've heard your opinions and you've heard mine and its clear neither one of us is going to see it any different so I'm done with the back and forth with you because its a waste of my time. You can continue to waste time by replying if you want but I wont be reading what you post, I'm done with this and moving on and you should to.

[Charlieboy333]

Change your name to 'trytrolling.com'..... suits you better

[mastershredder]

Pft... really? Maybe they should just give you a new PS5 every month too. They have been doing just fine. You should just save your "suggestions" for Sony rather than a user audience that ain't going to do shi7 for your opinion.