playstation plus, Sony’s new subscription service, was made official today after a long wait. It aims to rival Xbox Game Pass, although there is one aspect in particular that raises doubts about its success. we talked about that top-tier games won’t hit the platform simultaneously with their physical and digital release.
Opinions on the subject are divided. While some analysts consider that PlayStation’s determination is a serious mistake, because it is missing the possibility of matching an option that is available in the Microsoft service, others believe that the Japanese bet has its own merits to bear fruit for all modes.
And Sony has its justification as to why it’s not a good thing that its AAA titles are available from day one on PlayStation Plus. In an interview with Games Industry, Jim Ryanpresident and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, explained his company’s position on this matter.
We feel like we’re in a nice virtuous circle with studios, where investment brings success, which enables even more investment, which brings even more success. We like that cycle and we think our players do too. Putting our own games on this service—or any of our services—after launch, as you know, is not a path we’ve traveled in the past. And it is not a path that we are going to follow with this new service [PlayStation Plus]. We felt that if we were to do that with PlayStation Studios games, that virtuous circle would be broken. The level of investment that we need for our studios would not be possible, and we believe that the effect it would have on the quality of the games we make would not be something that players wanted.
Jim Ryan, on the absence of AAA games since their launch on PlayStation Plus
New AAA games won’t be on PlayStation Plus from day one
Beyond Ryan’s statements about how releasing top-tier games on PlayStation Plus could negatively affect the quality of future titles, Sony does not rule out changing its mind in the future. The manager indicated that the publication model used by the company makes this possibility unfeasible in the short term; however, he assured that history could change overnight.
“Who would have thought four years ago that we would have AAA intellectual property from PlayStation being published on PC? […] We’ve gotten great reviews and achieved great commercial success, and everyone has made their peace with that and is completely at ease. […] So at this stage I don’t want to write anything in stone.”
Regardless, Sony will have to work hard to get the public interested in PlayStation Plus subscriptions; especially in Extra and Premium, which are the ones that offer a differential compared to Essential, which maintains what PS Plus currently offers. In addition, the sight will be set on increasing the user base starting from those who already have a subscription to Playstation Now.
Let’s not forget that this last service, which will stop working independently when the new PlayStation Plus comes out, today it agglomerates just 5% of all PlayStation users. This is because its scope is very limited; After all, it is only available in 19 markets: Japan, the United States, Canada and 16 European countries, including Spain. In return, it is estimated that Xbox Game Pass reaches 40% of users of the Microsoft console.
Of course, Sony hopes that its offerings will be enticing enough for current PlayStation Plus users (around 48 million worldwide) to upgrade to Extra or Premium after launch. However, if some of the most sought-after features of the most expensive subscription, such as the option to stream PS4 games, are limited to the territories where PlayStation Now works, it won’t be that easy. And we will also have to see how attractive the variant is Deluxe which will be presented in selected markets.
For now, the new PlayStation Plus will debut next June with a regionalized launch. It will first arrive in Asia and later in North America, Europe and other territories. According to Ryan, his company’s intention is to reach virtually all PlayStation Network markets by the end of the year.