PS Plus Premium Members Stunned at Dramatic Decline in Quality

Push Square writes: "The top-tier subscription service, which arrived with the grand promise of cloud streaming and retro classics, had been on a bit of an upwards trajectory – but a series of subpar updates has since seen it come crashing down to Earth."

[monkey602]

I had converted the last couple of months of my plus to premium just to try out the portal streaming library. But I didn't renew premium because it's unjustifiably expensive.

[isarai]

If it wasn't for the fact that I accidentally forgot to turn off auto renew. I wouldn't have PlayStation Plus right now

[Babadook7]

I canceled right after it auto renewed with a call to support. It’s not an easy transaction though.

[isarai]

Unfortunately it had been weeks after it auto renewed before i even felt i should check, turned that bs off tho 😅

[darthv72]

And this is why I support different services. When one has a down month, another might be having a boom.

[Lexreborn2]

“But the rollout of these retro classics has become nothing short of glacial. Here’s what we’ve got in 2025 so far:
Alone in the Dark 2
Armored Core
Armored Core: Master of Arena
Armored Core: Project Phantasma
Battle Engine Aquila
Dropship: United Peace Force
Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings
MediEvil 2
Patapon 3
War of the Monsters

When you compare to Nintendo Switch Online, there’s a night-and-day difference; this year alone has seen the addition of Fatal Fury 2, Donkey Kong, Ridge Racer 64, Streets of Rage, and Wario Land 4 to name just a few. Next month the Expansion Pak will start adding GameCube games, too.“

So this articles opinion is the quality of PSN essentials plus dropped because it had 1 classic this month SO FAR that dropped. But has been regularly adding more content over the years. Yet it’s diminished in comparison to Nintendos online release of some classic titles listed above AND a console exclusive library that isn’t out yet with no REAL knowledge of what it offers day 1?

Yet all of the 400+ included games on ps plus that continues to add more and more content is dropping quality?

Only people you convincing of this is fanboys and console war warriors that are foaming for half truths to attack strangers on the internet with.

[Alos88]

I've enjoyed Extra for a long time and think it's decent value for what you're getting. Premium just doesn't have a substantial enough difference to feel like an upgrade worth the extra price.

[StarcrossedBits]

I freaking love cloud streaming on my PS Portal, especially for retro titles. It's like having the PSP 2 I've always dreamed of!

But that said, my yearly renewal just kicked in for PS+ Premium and it was almost the same cost as the PS Portal for a year of Premium. That is... hard to swallow.

If they don't enable 'stream your own games from the cloud' for PS Portal by this time next year, I think I'll probably downgrade my service and just use the Portal to stream locally. Hard to justify nearly 200 dollars a year just to stream titles to my PS Portal...

[andy85]

Personally I think it's great. 1000+ games for the £7-8 a month I've been paying. Coupled with the fact there's a few hundred on my Portal.

[Profchaos]

That's not really the point of the article it's saying the premium tiers offering is on a huge decline with only 1 game this month and a price increase around the world

[Fishy Fingers]

Par for the course. Gaming in general this gen. PS especially the last few years.

[jznrpg]

Some months are great some aren’t. It’s also going to vary from each persons perspective.

I really don’t sub for the “free games” it’s just a bonus to cloud saves and the ability to play online if I want to. I buy 99% of the games I play.

My kids use the sub service from time to time and every great once in a while I use it so I don’t have to open my physical copy, if the game happens to be on the service when I play that game.
I have premium because they gave the upgrade fairly cheap for all my stacked years but I’ll most likely downgrade to essential when my sub ends in 3 years. I am glad I bought all of those years before the change at 30$ long ago.

[lawox]

Push Square and its network reviewed most of these games as 7 or above.

Sandland $70 at launch and Akira Toriyama's final work.

Soul Hackers 2 $70 at launch a fantastic game that sold really well and got great reviews a spin off to Shin Megami Tensei and Persona adjacent. I personally have a disk copy.

Five Nights at Freddy’s A popular series that a lot of people will have fun with.

Battlefield V More EA games coming to the service.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy All these games were highly rated and regarded.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising a full price release, one of the most popular fighting game series.

Humankind a great addition for people who wanted to play Civ VII but not pay $70, I own this game on PC it's great, got kinda low review scores because it was a bit buggy at launch but now it's all patched up, a great get for simulation fans.

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life a Harvest moon like game that was very popular and highly regarded.

Gloomhaven Mercenaries Edition I am looking forward to this, it's a tactical RPG that tried to emulate the table top experience, looks like a lot of fun and people who have played it seem to like it a lot.

These are all great games, I honestly would say that the problem isn't the games it's that people have such a narrow view of what good is. And when this list was first announced from what I saw people were pleased with the list, but I guess we need articles to convince them it's actually bad.

[Knushwood Butt]

This article is specifically about Premium.

[COS]

When you don't have competition, you don't have to try as hard..

[Dandizzle]

For me being able to stream large file PS5 games I own is awesome. If you have a powerful internet connection the tech is impressive, no idea how they stream so much data so fast. There are no streaming options that hit the same level of quality and latency.

[Johnh5223]

Ps gamers justifying being robbed

[Knushwood Butt]

Is there a way to 'authorize' the console for PS Plus without having to log into it with the subbed account at frequent intervals?
I downloaded Hogwarts for my son to play on my PS4, which is part of my registered kit, and within about 2 weeks he could no longer play it under his account as it said I need to log in with my account. I'm not there at present, and don't want anyone logging in with my account as my credit card is registered to it.
I fired up the PS app from my phone but didn't find anything that I could do remotely.

[Profchaos]

You can have a primary PS4 and a primary PS5 meaning you can download and play ps plus games on any account on the system.

I do this with my family to I have a ps5 and I have a family member with a PS4 pro that is also my primary.

I think the payment options remain but you can turn on parental controls to block purchases

[Knushwood Butt]

Thanks. My situation is similar: I have a PS5 and my son is using a launch edition PS4 (it's holding up quite well!).
Pretty sure the PS4 is registered OK as Iwas able to download Hogwarts, and my son played it for a while.

[SimpleDad]

You have to log in from time to time. What I've done is to require a psn password for every purchase.
Change your password so kid doesn't know... it isn't required when switching profiles on the console.

[Knushwood Butt]

Thanks. This sounds like the solution.
So do you mean I set up my account to auto login, but require the PSN password to make a purchase, and then if he can't play stuff under his account, he just logs in under my account from time to time to resolve that?

[SimpleDad]

Yes, that's what I'm doing... parental controls are terrible... disabling voice chat, adding friends, not able to play games, creating epic acc through that is horrible...so I did that.

If he clicks something... ah ah ah you didn't say the magic word (of course if he is logged as me).

[Knushwood Butt]

Got it, thanks!

[repsahj]

After I get my hands on my Switch 2, I will revert back to extra. And just use my Portal on remote play only. Streaming games on portal is becoming incredibly expensive. Sony should include cloud streaming games on the Extra subscription too.

[Profchaos]

Yeah I posted the article recently about Sony's game announcement for premium tiers and my first thought was absolute garbage people took that as an attack on Sony and then as fans instead of a criticism of the offering which I still think sucks.

[goken]

I don’t know about premium quality… but I’m stunned by the dramatic increase in PS plus price over the last 2-3 years

[Knushwood Butt]

I just renew during Days of Play, but I'm slowly drifting away from gaming so may not renew this year.

[Dhika]

Not worth the price anymore, i'll downgrade to Essential.

[fxa5209]

Thats what you get when you have no competition...I usually renew with essentials for multiplayer except when they have a discount on premium where price is similar to essentials (i.e. Black Friday)

[CrimsonWing69]

Yea I always post how the month’s offerings are pretty much dribble.

Part of my frustration is I was hoping they’d really build the classics library and add trophies to them like they did with Wild Arms, Legend of Dragoon, and Blood Omen… but holy sh*t that’s not consistent and it takes forever for a classic title to drop, and even then it’s usually a terrible pick. Are they even still doing PS2 games?

This gen will forever go down as being the worst I’ve ever experienced and next-gen is probably going to be a continuation.

[gold_drake]

my resub coming up and i probably wont get the premium tier until next year when its cheaper to upgrade. the price is abit ridiculous

[Killer2020UK]

I stopped my PS Plus subscription when they raised prices last year. No regrets.

[Deathdeliverer]

Are we seriously saying armored core as a series, patapon, and MediEvil are bad games? Are we serious right now? As with all games, they aren’t for everyone, but these games have sequels and remakes for a reason.

[MrBaskerville]

We got a bunch of Armored Core games three months, can't be that bad.

Can't help but feel that this article lista a mixed bunch of retro games and then point to a shorter list of mixed retro games and claims it's an issue? I would love it if they did more and I think it's going too slow, but I don't see how Nintendos 2025 offering is any better so far this year even if I do enjoy their service.

Those three AC games alone trumps everything on that Nintendo list.

I will say that Staff of Kings is a baffling pick, that games only redeeming quality is that it comes bundled with Fate of Atlantis. Only issue is, that's only the wii version. The ps2 version is trash.

[LonDonE]

Sheesh i like that people complain as this can only help make things even better but my opinion is always... dont like dont buy simple as.. I am subbed to the highest tier of psn plus and the highest tier of game pass plus multiple times in fact so my kids all have their own accounts for their xboxs and gaming pcs and i am subbed to Nintendo online expansion pass.
Reality is this is all a choice.. it allows me to have access to hundreds of games on all the gaming platforms which i game on with my kids and wife regularly.
I am also subbed to ubisoft plus and ea access and so i hardly ever need to buy full priced games, I buy full price day 1 games for the companies i love and want to support and when i want to ensure i have a physical copy of a game.

Other than that.. the subs all allow me to have access to near enough all the games worth playing on all the platforms.
Its awesome and i love it.. i am a core gamer who owns all platforms every gen and so play everything pretty much.
I just cant get enough of games! its my passion.. i get i am very fortunate to be in the financial position i am to be able to buy all platforms every gen and to have decent gaming pcs in every room for every family member but its not that expensive in my opinion and its cheaper overall as a hobby vs other hobbies so many people waste money on.
Drugs, alcohol, gambling.. so many pointless things people waste money on but what is pointless to me is someone Elses treasure and vice versa.

I have no issues with the industry going the subscription route.. its a choice and just an option.. we are not forced to pay up and sign up.
Maybe i am just lucky to work in a very well paid job and so have a lot of disposable income.. maybe because i love gaming so much spending money on anything gaming related is to me always worth it.. but people need to unsub or sub simple.

[Jingsing]

I don't use any PS+ at all. I'm not going to fund this direction.

[46player]

Definitely my last year of Premium.