Reaction: Sony's Positive PS Plus Reboot Proves the Value of Catalogues

Voted that it was OK. For Good it would need trophies added to games that never had them; for very good it would need downloadable PS3 games as well.
I don’t care about day 1; like most adults, I don’t have time to stay up to date with releases anyway.

Me, yet to play Demon's Souls, Spider-Man, or Returnal:

ps3 games still being stream only still bothers me

The value in this is very subjective, for me and I suspect a few on here, I own all the PS4/5 games that I would want on this service so far. The draw would have been the PS1 and PS2 games but outside of Mr Driller, Tekken 2 and Syphon Filter, I'd say it was a poor selection, particularly PS2 which just seems to be the exisisting PS4 versions and I suspect they will always be rather limited due to licensing etc.

So a service that unquestionably has some amazing games on it but I feel I'm not really the target audience, at least until some more classic games are announced.

It's great news that you can download previously purchased games and buy some of these as well

I’m much more interested in the retro titles and the fact that I’ll be able to download older games that I’ve previously purchased is phenomenal news.

Ape escape isn't enough to make me want premium, extra looks like the best choice atm and Essential have been giving us crappy sports games for a while now.

I don’t care about old games or services Sony need to give us a game showcase soon and stop trying to win over Xbox fanboys they will never buy a PlayStation.

I want GT7 on the demos and an announcement that something like F1 Manager is going to be a third party first day launch and I’ll be all over it.

I think it's a really strong start. New PS5 owners are totally set, and people like me who are being grandfathered in have a lot of good options to start with. I'll definitely be curious to see how this evolves over the course of the first year, but this is a solid first impression.

I counted 11 games including Miles Morales & Ghost of Tshushima that I will want to play including the Infamous games I missed out on during the PS3 days

PS Plus Premium is a no brainer for me

Seems like although people here wanted PS Plus rebrand to be bad, Sony managed to make it interesting.
It is genuinely a better offering than GP currently (might change once they release a few exclusive games).

I think it's great, but I guess the proof in the pudding will be to see how often they add Triple AAA PS5 games to the list.

A really good start and I'll look forward to checking it all out when we eventually get it in the U.K.

So how many detractors are trolling? Because I'm genuinely confused why anyone would say these offers are negative at this point. 750 games? That's insane! If you buy a new Playstation and pay $100, you're set for the year and possibly longer depending on if you can keep everything.

God awful PS1 Classics list which is all I cared about. So I am happy to cancel my PS Plus over this horrible offering.

Went for "good", for it to be "very good" there needs to be a much better classics selection for Premium. At the moment, Extra is the best value but I would also say Extra is better than Game Pass currently but that says more about Microsoft's 1st party library over the past 5 years.

My biggest desire was to see a good selection of PS1/PS2/PSP games. So far, that list is pretty pathetic. Know it’s not the “full” list but you know what Sony would want to lead with the good stuff so I’m not hopeful. Newer stuff is a good selection but I’ve already played most of them. Gets an “OK” for now but fingers crossed that I can up that with more classic game additions.

@ShogunRok Returnal and demon souls are so time consuming (and great games) they will limit the games you play..Imagine paying a subcription for elden ring and nearly 4-5 month you don't touch anything else.

I think it's ok ,there were nice surprises like the Demon's Soul remake and NBA 2k22 and AC Valhalla PS5, but not offering the PS5 versions of Spider-man and Uncharted is pathetic and the whole concept of using trials as a selling point for the highest tier is laughable

I'm surprised at how much offerings the PS4 and PS5 selection had, especially the fact Sony not only offered the Demon's Souls remake but the original game on PS3, giving people options to play both versions. I think it's a good start, we still need to see more games but I feel it will provide a good value for money we just need to see more of the classic titles because I felt that was the weakest of what we've seen so far

@Bentleyma Then they should lead with the best, not this swill. I guess I will be repurchasing a PS3 to enjoy the PS1 Classics I've owned yet can't access.

I unironically might buy more PS1 games on my Vita knowing it’ll be available on my PS4 through this crossbuy thing, like Jumping Flash or Syphon Filter

I’ll definitely upgrade to extra. I’ve been wanting to try out Demon’s Souls but it never goes on sale for less than 45 bucks and I’m not paying that much for a game I may end up hating. I paid full price for Bloodborne and ended up hating that game.

Plus I wouldn’t mind running through Miles again, since I sold my launch PS5 copy after beating it.

I’m pretty impressed so far.

@ShogunRok You're young, so it makes sense you don't care about the PS1 legacy

@jmac1686 Sony is all about surprises. I doubt we are seeing the best. They make very little fanfare. I think it's an awesome shakeup of PSplus+now.

@Deoxyr1bose I bought a ton of PS1 games on my PS3 so I'm stoked they will be added to my list(through time) on the ps5 😋

will the games get removed after 90 days like they do with psnow even alot of the exclusives leave after 90 days on psnow

Will Nintendo likely to copy or one up Sony in terms of changes to Switch Online? For example, allow purchases of retro games currently on Switch Online?

Still waiting on the full list. I have everything bought from PS4/5 so its about old games for me. If they have Shadow Hearts and other PS2 gem JRPGs on there it is a Win in my books. Also if i can buy outright

Im excited. Many games i wanted to play but haven't bought for various reasons. Starting with Spiderman Miles Morales, Death Stranding directors cut and the South Park games, just to name a few

I still belive that Sony leaves a lot of potential unused with this 3-tier model. Why don‘t they include PS1, PS2 and PSP games („SD systems“) in the Essential tier? This would make old IPs popular, from a time when not every Sony game was a cinematic third person action adventure. These often weird Japanese action games were a big and beloved part of the PlayStation experience. If people don‘t know them, Sony has no chance to re-establish them again for new games. And this would help to move PlayStation away from the today‘s one-dimensional approach. Obviously the California-based PlayStation executives are totally happy with the current state, and I find it sad.

I was kind of excited but after seeing the list, I've pretty much played everything on there, the classic games aren't that good, yet, and what's there I already have or have played. Still, we need to see the entire list but so far, I'll stick with Essential.

Still baffled why people are never happy with a service like this. People seem to want every game ever made from every PlayStation day one and day one releases too. It's not quite as simple as that. I think with the Ubisoft games and the older games there will just be more overall choice for everyone. If you only like specific games only chances are a service like this will rarely have what you want as you probably already own it.

@BartoxTharglod You do realize that the day one stuff can apply to more than just first party games on GamePass. Like The Show 22 earlier this year and Sniper Elite 5 next week. Saving me money as I would have bought both games at launch.

Anyway, I want both services to succeed and already have the Premium tier locked in with Plus through February 2025. Games on this as far as PS4 and PS5 look good so far. Just hope that those retro titles pick up.

Competition makes things better all around.

@BartoxTharglod Yeah that is a very odd statement isn't it (but perhaps to be expected from Pushsquare recently) because for anyone new to PS or Xbox this would be a no-brainer recommendation over Gamepass from my perspective.

Heck, I have a chunk of those announced games (including a barely touched Death Stranding and Miles Morales - yay backlogs) but even for myself I'd take this over GP any day, and that's only what's been announced so far.

Sony have come through, and deserve credit rather than sniping!

The big win here is that old purchases via the PS Store on PSP, PS3 or even Vita (depending on the purchase) are available for download and play once this launches. It also seems to imply that these titles will be purchaseable via the Store, tho not confirmed.

Granted that list was EXTREMELY light on the back-compat titles, specifically with PS1, PS2 and PSP. Considering the lack of big name publishers: Square, Capcom, Bandai-Namco, etc. I would expect this list to be a slowly rising crescendo of HOLY CRAP! they did it! Very similar to the Xbox Back Compat which hit its final peak last year.

Considering the absurd depth of Playstations Library if they get with it and go nuts, this could be the biggest move in years towards serious Game Preservation. I am SOOOOOO glad they did not follow Nintendo's style of paywall only. I will hate that till the day I die.

@BartoxTharglod Well, you just made it sound like all it is is the MS catalog. Anyway, it’s far from “abysmal” for me. Like I said, saving me lots of money.

But all depends on your individual wants. I think both services will have good things to offer. And that’s great IMO.

what would the possibility be that older disk games we own would be playable or at the very least used as a sort of verification check . For example I own a copy of MGS for the ps1 if they add it to the new plus subscription with the ability to buy it if i just put my disk in would there be a way to acknowledge that and allow me to download and play it as if i purchased it off the store

@Shepherd_Tallon My man always out here spitting facts.

If you don't already have the PS4 / PS5 exclusives on offer it's great value however if you're only interested in the classics then the premium is crap

As I said in one of the other comments section for another article, the value of this so far depends on how long of a PlayStation fan you've been. If the PS5 is your first PlayStation console, then the list is great. If you've been a long time PlayStation fan like myself, then you own the vast majority of the games on the PS Plus Extra list unless you are only a casual gamer. Why wouldn't a long time PlayStation fan/gamer that plays a lot of games own most of them?

That along with the PS3 games being streaming only really holds it back so far in my opinion. I'll wait to entirely write it off until the full list is out, but I definitely can't agree that this is an extremely positive start unless you're new to the platform.

@nomither6 They will have to deal with it once the farms of actual PS3 systems they are using to stream the games start to fail. Until then, I wouldn't hold my breath. The Cell Processor continues to exact its revenge on the world.

Can give it but can’t take it. Bad form guys. Whatevs.

@Otherbarry 0% chance because PS4/5 can't read CDs. And Microsoft has patented using a disc in a different device as the DRM check to grant access to a digital copy of the game, no way Sony would license that technology as there's be no profit for them since they don't sell PS1 discs anymore.

@KilloWertz "Why wouldn't a long time PlayStation fan/gamer that plays a lot of games own most of them?"

I can tell you why I don't own most of these games, and I've been on playstation since PS1 (but skipped PS3). I'm probably not a casual gamer, I play (and fully complete) probably upwards of 50 PS games a year. Obviously games of varying length ranging from disappointing indie games to fantastic AAA games.

The games listed here are a miniscule drop in the bucket of the total PS library. Like, less than a fraction of a percent. Most of the significant games here like Miles Morales or Guardians of the Galaxy have never been free and have not gotten a steep enough sale to warrant a purchase from me to jump the line into the backlog. There are so many games to play, for me I don't see it as a good idea to buy games at release or full price because instead I can get 5-10 other games on sale and just keep waiting for a sale. They always go on sale sooner or later.

@Milktastrophe Your probably right , that being said i don't think the licencing thing would be that big of an issue . lets not forget Sony owns the patent on Blu-ray and is able to collect royalties from every game that sells , sure not huge money but whos to say a mutually beneficial agreement couldn't be worked out lol . Again though i ultimately feel your right and and it seems unlikely would be cool though only because i still have a bunch of old ps1 ps2 games

I just wish there was a cheaper tier for those who don't want any of the "free games"...
I just want online multiplayer, automatic save data backup and cloud functionality.
And a way to move the PS5 save data using a USB like you can on PS4 would certainly be nice. It is disgusting that they put a basic function like that behind a paywall.

Too bad that both Nintendo and PlayStation puts useful and even necessary functions behind a subscription.

I haven't had a PlayStation since the PS2 days. I kind of left after Halo became really popular in Jr high for me. Went full Xbox. In recent years I've been bored of Xbox. It's on 2020 I bought PS5. And I found on CD keys $26 PS plus cards. Just on a whim. I bought 8 years of them lol figured that the PS4 lasted that long. I'll just buy 8 years for a super cheap price and then called it a day. (I haven't bought one single game, I've just been playing the PS plus collection and all of the free games throughout the months I got from PS Plus) I luckily had a one-month PS now card laying around (I was waiting to use it. If Miles Morales ever came to it for PS5). Now I'm going to be upgraded to PS Plus Premium till November 2028. This is an amazing collection of games 10/10 for me. I've been a die-hard Xbox fan for a long time. But gosh dang I'm bored as heck of gamepass. Sure, it might be awesome for a lot of people. But I'm not super impressed with their offerings. Well I won't be renewing my gamepass at all and I'm going to sell my Xbox when game pass ends? because I really don't play it much anyways. Looks like I'll be set for PlayStation till 2028!

I’m a rare gamer. I play a lot of different games and there is nothing new of interest for me.

If online wasn’t tied to this crap I’d drop it in a heartbeat.

@KilloWertz I’m exactly the PlayStation gamer you’ve described. I’ve played a ton of different games and there is nothing new of interest in that list for me.

We need more games from japanese studios

@Milktastrophe Guardians of the Galaxy has been $30 ever since before Christmas. Honestly, I don't buy a lot of games at release either, but a lot of games go on sale not that long after release. First party titles take longer, but they have gone on sale too.

Still, you're not wrong about this only being a portion of the list. Maybe they'll add some games that I'd be interested in that I don't own already. We'll see, but so far unfortunately that's not the case since they picked a lot of games people would already own. Obviously not everybody, but enough people should already own a decent portion of them.

@OmegaStriver Maybe when they announce the rest of them they won't be mostly games that people would already own. Then maybe I'll reconsider upgrading my subscription.

Demon's Souls and Guardians of the Galaxy make this worth it to me. That said, this is only 1/5th (150 of 750 titles) that are going to be available at launch. That number is insane! It's almost as large as my digital library!

Edit: Never mind...I only have 669 games in my digital library...224 PlayStation Plus titles...but I'm pretty sure that doesn't include my PS3 library.

@jmac1686 lol canceling your ps plus sub because the list is poor.....how hard is it to understand they haven't released the full list? Smh

@KilloWertz for me $30 would even still have to be a game I'm really interested in, cuz I could get a few years older AAA game for $10 or $15, lol. Playing through Code Vein right now, a great pick up for $12.

I actually meant there's so many more games on PS4/5 in general, not as part of the new PS+, for an explanation of playing lots of games but not most of these. My intuition tells me the remaining day one games will not be as good as these, which is why they weren't highlighted today. Probably just the remaining games from PS Now. Future months will likely bring more good games.

@KilloWertz Yeah, I've been saying the same. It's similar to the PS Plus Collection, an insane value for new customers but it doesn't yet have much to offer long time PS players that have already played most of this we're interested in playing.

I feel it's intentionally calibrated to appeal to bringing in new customers without losing the spend patterns of us existing whales.

From a business perspective I understand it, but it's disappointing from a loyal customer perspective at least for now. I was hoping they'd throw us a bone here as a loyalty incentive. I'd like to be excited about it.

Why can't they just offer you the option of playing any game you want, instead of a list of their choice? The PS3 line up so far looks terrible

Many people are saying that they have many of them, that the list is bad an so on... but they forget that Sony has many players from poor countries (for some even 30 is a big number for a fame) and many players that only buy some games or relay on PS Plus games. So if they mange to add 50% more to they're subscriptions whit extra or premium, Sony will make a lot of money. Also having good games and may games in there only helps geting new people on board.

I voted "poor". PS3 games are still streaming only, meaning I have to keep my PS3 set up. Everything I want to play from PS4 and PS5 on that list I've already played or own and am yet to play. The PS1 line-up is pretty much a joke. I'm not a huge fan of the PS2 generation of games. So yeah, this is poor, at least for me. If they had a massive amount of PS1 games that were upgraded, or PS3 games for download, that would make this service worthwhile.

@Would_you_kindly How do you know that? this is not yet the complete list. always prejudices about everything man man. wait before you call something.

Yeah i'm impressed so far, i'm concerned about the PS1/PS2/PSP offerings but the PS4/PS5 side is really good. If they can net day 1 releases with 3rd parties and Indies it could be a good service for PS players.

Honestly the fact they didn't call these tiers Silver, Gold and Platinum is a missed opportunity and I'm still confused as to which tiers are which. It should be simple for people to immediately tell which tier would give the most value based on the name alone. Though on second thought I can imagine they would maybe want to avoid PlayStation Plus Gold as it would sound too similar to Xbox Live Gold. Who knows! But they still could've done something abit more intuitive.

Hoping the full list contains hogs of war and more forgotten classics.
Looking promising so far!

I voted okay. Some good games on there no doubt, but it still looks poor compared to the competition. Hopefully they will keep adding day 1 third party drops every month, or I think the numbers will drop pretty quickly

At this time it's just not hitting the sweet spot for me so voted ok.
It's the retro side that I'm most interested in but the games currently offered for me personally, are weak. I want the games that made me fall in love when the PS1 was in its infancy; Wipeout (and 2097), Ridge Racer, Rollcage, Tenchu, Destruction Derby, MGS, etc.
And the fact that PS3 are still stream only (which had unplayable input lag on PS Now) is quite frustrating.
I'll hold off for now and see what the future holds.

A good line up, and certainly some games I'd like to try out there (AC Valhalla, Guardians of the Galaxy, GoT, NBA2k22 among others) but I'd be concerned that a lot of those games will probably only be on the service for 3-6 months. No one seems to be mentioning that for some reason?

As for the rest that haven't yet been disclosed, I reckon they will mostly be made up of the filler/rubbish on PS Now already.

Great catalogue if you don't already own/played what you want from it.
With other words, a upgrade would be like throwing money out the window.

m underwhelmed. The new stuff is solid. Not spectacular but solid and similar to GPU. The classics announced are terrible. 8 ps1 and 1 psp?!? Why bother? The PS3 stuff is a backwards or at most sidewards step from what we have on now currently.
I thought they were going to blow me away but instead they’ve done a Nintendo and done the very very very bare minimum. I’m stacked on cheap codes for three years so it eases the pain much like I only pay £3 a month for GPU so the fact 22 will have no Xbox exclusives stings a little less. But no way is this service worth a tenner a month.

No Killzone. Only two of the resistance games. No classic God of wars. No sign of the first two Motorstorm games. Ps2 is pathetic…. Such a massive back cat and they manage a couple?

It’s the disrespect I expected Really… Jim has said he hates old games and has shown they don’t have a clue about classic games.

@themightyant but like Nintendo the value has to be there from the start. They started similar with a pathetic offering (I’m talking the classics here) and with no guarantee of releases we are drip fed one game a month.

Psp, ps3, pS 2&1 all have monster back cats and to only be able to get those few on from start is truly IMHO worse than nothing.

I have three years stacked and honestly believe the service will be just about serviceable by then and that’s if they don’t strip away the old games on rotation. I have no interest in having to play Syphon Filter now because it might leave in 60 days.

I really don’t know how they’ve managed to fudge the classic games so much. Licenses aren’t a problem as loads of the classics in my head are Sony own and yet still missing. They could and should have done way way better

@Naoto-chi totally agree its disgusting that cloud saving isnt free on PlayStation in this day and age

Actually pleasantly surprised by something Sony have done so that's a nice change of pace as of late.

Rates good for me.

Having said that, "extra" should be premium and they should have done a basic tier for online access and cloud. Also don't really get the fact that trials, that used to be free, is now some kind of selling point worthy of a higher entry price.

But yeah, good. Which from me is high praise indeed for the company atm.

Edit: also, not necessarily for me, but others. If the game is leaving the service, would they offer the chance to buy it, reduced, like ms does with gamepass?

@get2sammyb can I ask you what will happen to PS Plus Collection is Sony removing it??

I don't get why SONY are bringing their AAA Exclusives to PC for now really?!?! Just say they are only available on PS PLUS & that would boost PS PLUS I think big time. FORGET(ABOUT THE) PC(MASTER RACE) SONY!!!

In my opinion the higher tiers are designed for casual people who have either (A) Not bought or played any of these massive games and now wish to try their hand at them or (B) People who are limited on money throughout the year, and want the premium pass in a way to supplement their gaming. Or a combination of both.

Unfortunately for me, I am in neither bracket, I was relying on the classic games to be the defining factor, but alas the opening lineup looks pretty poor overall.

Will be sticking with essential, until the higher tier services become actually relevant for PS5 game enthusiasts.

IF Ubi+ works as the same as on the PC meaning you get day one releases and the ultimate edition the games then yes I’ll upgrade to the “extra” tier. If not and if Sony doesn’t get day one third party and indie games like on gamepass then this has zero value for me

Maybe I'm way off and can't be realistic anymore, but longer I look at this, more solid it feels. And there are big news outlets out there calling PS Plus rebrand a failure. It is as if they had an article written beforehand and are trying to make it fit the narrative now..
I guess I've just lost touch with reality :/

@Steve30000 As in paid keys for streaming games?

@Cikajovazmaj Most outlets are positive, but yeah there are a few who are making themselves look very silly by slating it.

I read one that wrote along the lines of 'with only Ghosts of Tsushima, Spiderman, Returnal, Demons Souls, AC Valhalla and Guardians of the Galaxy plus a few others, this already looks like a failure for Sony'

I actually lol'ed because it was so ridiculous.

Certainly puts the Nintendo one to shame. More so.

Kudos to Sony.

It's clear to see who the trolls are in these comments. None of them have avatars 😂 calling this sony news pathetic shows that you probably shouldn't be following PlayStation as a brand. I'd say go play game pass but their monthly additions seem to have taken a dip right now (and that's not even including the delays)

I'll be picking up extra ✌️

@MisterXpoSay it's not going anywhere. Still a benefit for the essential tier.

strange. this article is the complete opposite of what i am reading in the comments. most people don't sound very excited about this at all. where is the optimism coming from? sony is almost entirely centered around its own published games with this service but most enthusiasts have already played at least 75% of them so what value do these sony-published games add in this context? 3rd party support is lackluster at this point in time and that is where the main problem lies for me. there is potential but i think people will need to mull over it for 6-12 months before they know how things will play out. sony locking classic games behind the premium tier is inexcusable as well... what a nice way of celebrating its history eh? behind a paywall that doubles the subscription cost. nope.

@Apfelschteiner as in, we can play ANY PS3 game we want, not from a poor list

@doctommaso you'd think they just mashed ps plus and psnow together and called it something different... 😲

@Steve30000 There's not a good reason why every first-party game wouldn't be available.

I think the sub will be useful for people wanting to catch up on missed titles and will save them some serious money. The appeal of classic PS3 titles is limited somewhat by the potential lack of servers for games like Motorstorm Apocalypse.

I'm just glad Sony are bringing legacy PSP and PS1 purchases back for PSN users. This is a long-since needed move in the face of Microsoft's backwards compatible library which has let users use old disks from day 1, even expired licences like Lego LOTR and War for Cybertron.