The redesign of the Playstation Plus has been available for a few hours in several Asian countries. The opportunity for players to give their first impressions of this new formula. And as much to say that the returns are not really positive, the fault of a pricing policy of Sony described as scandalous.
As you may know, Sony will launch in France this June 23, 2022 a brand new redesign of the Playstation Plus. This time, players will have the choice between three distinct formulasnamely the Playstation Plus Essential, Extra and Premium whose prices range from €8.99 to €16.99 per month.
If the first formula offers the same features and advantages as the current PS Plus, the Extra subscription also includes the services of PS Now, in particular by offering access to 400 games from the PS4 and PS5 catalogs. As for the Premium formula, it gives pride of place to backward compatibility by providing access to a selection of great classics from the PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP catalogue. In any case, this is what Sony promises.
However, since this Wednesday, May 25, 2022, the new Playstation Plus is available in some Asian countries. The opportunity for us to collect the first impressions of the players. And as much to say that they are not really positive.
Also read: PlayStation Plus see what the new interface looks like
A ridiculous number of games, far from Sony’s promise
First, the players denounce a number of accessible games much more limited than that promised by Sony. According to user Slzyc on Twitter“we only have 12 PS5 games, 5 PSP games and 4 PS2 games. At the moment, the Deluxe level (editor’s note: the name of the Premium formula in Asia) is not worth it”. If this is indeed the case, we are far from the 400 games and more promised by Sony.
To this must be added a pricing policy worthy of the scandal caused by Horizon Forbidden West pre-order offers. Indeed, players who subscribe to the current PS Plus (without PS Now) have found that the length of their current subscription was halved if they wanted to upgrade to PS Plus Premium.
A scandalous pricing policy according to the players
Also, gamers who took advantage of a PS Plus subscription discount were “pleasantly” surprised to see that Sony demanded payment of the difference to be able to switch from the classic PS Plus to the Extra or Premium formula. In other words, if you have accumulated several years of PS Plus subscription thanks to promotional offers, you will have to pay the difference to benefit from the new formulas.
This policy is not an error and has been confirmed by Sony. “Since you have the discounted Playstation Plus at the time of joining, there are two PS Plus subscriptions that are not eligible for the discount:
- The PS Plus subscription purchased with a discount
- The PS Plus subscription purchased with a redemption code
PTherefore, if you need to upgrade to a Tier 2 (Extra) or Tier 3 (Premium) PS Plus subscription, you will need to make up the difference between the previous discounted price and the regular price.“, explains the Japanese manufacturer. All that remains is to hope that the rumble of Asian players will encourage Sony to change its strategy before the launch of the new service in France…