Feature: Did PlayStation Plus Represent Value for Money in 2014?

I think I would value that at 'nearly £1000', but who knows? How else can it been valued in terms of monetary value?

The only three on there that really interested me were BioShock Infinite, DmC, and Tomb Raider.

More because I have enough games to play already without 'burdening' my backlog with stuff that could be good but could be not good.

They're definitely providing way too much value.

I barely played 5 games among all those PS+ games.

The overkill in value could kind of devalue purchased games. I mean for the price of one new AAA game purchase €50 you can get €1100 worth of games for 1 year PS+. (and the most confusing thing is that despite the obvious overkill value, some people still complain about PS+ games lol)

Europe got a BlazBlue game and we Americans didn't?! What?! In all seriousness though, it's impressive how many good games they gave away. I didn't download everything, but I'm happy with what I got. And it allowed me to play stuff I normally wouldn't. Gotta love broadening your horizons

Personally I find it hard to complain. Sure, we're not getting blockbusters every month, but a few solid games can work wonders when you're looking for things to play in between bigger releases.

When i first got a PS3, i didn't officially subscribe to PS Plus other than a trial just to take advantage of a game that was on sale on PSN. I am such a believer now. I got so many free games for my PS4, Even games I thought i would never try but ended up really liking them (Outlast for example).

I was counting my Games on my PS4 the other day (well in my folder) I don't keep all of these PS PLUS games on my PS4 just the ones i have liked & completed & i think it's been well worth it The only thing i still don't like the idea of is paying extra to play online(so you have to get PS PLUS(even tho it's worth it for all the games you get) then to play online games) :-/ It's a 'Microsoft' 'disease' that i wish never came to the PS brand

Here's a tip for people planning on buying a PS system they don't have but want the Free games while they are available.
-Use the PSN store via the internet, and just add the games to your download list.

-And even if you end your subscription, you should still get your games back after re-subscribing.

For me this service might as well be handheld only. I actually play a lot of Vita freebies and I am very content with the offering so far, although 2014 wasn't that good, but I hardly ever play a Plus game for more than 20 minutes on the homeconsoles. I own my vita to play the games I get for free with Plus, I own my PS4 to play completely different games than the ones we're getting and I believe this goes for lots of people. I'd seriously rather see them drop 3 free games a month and invest the money in their online infrastructure or use it to keep the cost of PSnow down.

There was pretty much something every month that I enjoyed. I don't mind the indie games but I'm from the NES era so I don't have to have a 3d open world blockbuster everytime I buy a game . The only kicker is that we don't get to access them without psplus . I feel if you buy DLC for some of those, they should let you play even without plus. I'll probably have plus the entire time so I guess it's no biggie. I voted good overall

Edit: I was counting PS3 games as well.

@get2sammyb I wouldn't mind a couple movies/tv shows, even if they're only accessible for the month. Just an idea though, I'm more than happy for it to stay as it is, insane value.

Listed, it sure did

It offered a pretty decent value for 2014. I mean, expecting AAA games on offer every month on PS4 is a bit ridiculous this early in the gen and that seems to be where most complaints come from. We probably don't start seeing that until sometime in 2016.

I love psplus although my backlog is beyond ridiculous right now.

The extra 20% off has made the difference for me.
The majority of the games have been sub par, in my opinion, including Outlast, but going into the PSN store and getting a discounted game that has a further 20 or so % off has been great!
I only have a PS4 so severely limited in the content offered on IGC.

Easy to say that you get over $100 free games each month but when you only have 1 console the other games are useless and you don't have the $100+ value.
For me it was a bit disappointing this year with PS+, only a few games I have liked. I am not a big fan of all those indiestuff but maybe Sony will start giving toptitles away in the second half of 2015. I still hope for that but I am not sure because you are now in some way forced to have PS+ for the online games.

Downside of PS+ is that I got some games for free that I bought just some months before and since than I only buy games I really want to play at release or I wait till I get them "for free" in PS+.

Obviously it still hasn't actually happened yet, but the PS+ version of Driveclub could be a good model for other freebies going forward - a portion of a AAA game for free with an 'upgrade' fee that allows you to keep the full game forever. It obviously wouldn't work for all games but some could give away the online, single-player or co-op component say - as long as it felt like you were getting a 'full' if shorter experience. Be interesting to see how that DC plus version works.

Its hard to complain, its a great deal for sure, the quality of the games could be a bit better but again its hard to complain.

I havent use much of the "free" games, because the PS4 ones has been freaking terrible so far (except this few months), but again... Its hard to complain.

Steam sales are better, but in the console market theres nothing like it

On a side note, shouldnt you add the price of the consoles to the sum ??? , i mean... Dont you need to have (pay) for the consoles to use the full benefit of ps+ ?? thats about $700-800 if you dont own any of them

All well and good saying how much money it saved people but it all depends on your taste of games and if you already have the games. For me it was either crap or already owned it every single month. Personally it offered me absolutely no value whatsoever this year. As I've said before only four games I've enjoyed and they would have cost me less than half the subscription price for a year. Having to also pay for online while it becomes more unreliable, the same sales happening again and again (with pathetic PS+ discounts compared to America, which needs addressing) and the whole mess of Sony Europe lying to everyone for a good few months about the service leaves a sour taste in the mouth as the year ends.

How does it make financial sense for them to give away so much?

@get2sammyb - A lot obviously went into this, so thanks for all the work, but somehow you managed to leave out the most important caveat - what systems do you own and what systems the games came out on?

Id say PS3 owners got almost all of that $1000 value, PS4 and Vita owners very little. Not that PS4 owners really had any choice, and Vita owners get what they get, but it seems to be an important part of the equation that you complely ignored.

As a PS3 owner only - and I may even buy a 2nd today for my bedroom - the year started off so great w/ Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite, DmC reboot, Batman, then slowly went downhill and crashed and burned at the end. I let my PS+ lapse and see no reason to renew. Mirrors Edge for free will keep me busy until Christmas, and Wii U actually has a solid line-up to me for 2015.

Too bad PS TV never got Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon or I would have bought that and renewed Prime.

i love ps+. i will never understand the complaints against it. as for what sony could add to it.....hmmmm well.... the only thing that really makes sense is making sony brand 5TB HDs and being able to order them from the ps store at an insane ps+ discount of course. the only problem i have is the fact that my 1tb hd is too smal for my ps3 backlog, dont get me started on my ps4s puny memory lol, im already juggling games around on it.

Frre gsmes are great, but the discounts are even better!

I complained alot but at the end of the day I payed only $30 for my first yr with psn plus. I do think PS3 had better freebies but a few good games came ps4 way to justify the psn plus. Second son light in January is a good value and some of the indies this yr were ok like outlast, dead nation, strider, pixel junk and velocity 2x but i do want more AAA Games next yr.
I've been looking for a discount on psn + before renewing and hope PSN gives a discount of its service before my 12/16 renew deadline. Looks like GameStop want be offering the psn+ $20 off like it did with ps4 launch. I'm sure Sony is preventing anyone giving major discounts on its service. They just wanted to entice us to get it at launch to get us hooked.

Congrats push square on being featured on polygon oh and ps+freaking rocks.

@DrClayman that actually sounds awesome. Especially with the huge amount of movies/shows song owns the rights to. That being said though they already have crackle which is pretty cool for a free service.

Got it for PS4 only, and it really didn't do anything except tide me over until mid-year when games of interest started coming out.

In all fairness, I bought the Arkham trilogy on disc before it was free, so they do offer games I'd buy otherwise. Tomb Raider and Metro too, I bought it on PS4, but still... to me personally, in NA, it's a good deal (frustratingly, I just happened to buy those games foolishly early, apparently)
Ps. Ps4 multiplayer!!!!

Best investment YET for me. Especially if you have both PS4, PS3 and Vita Since it gives away free games AND big sales on all 3 systems for each month. Honestly, compare to the competitor, Sony killed it! Str8up!

However, I do believe Sony can make the better out of it (even tho it's already Excellent imho ). Like instead of given people 6-7 games per month AND big sales. Why not just focused on 2-3 games but ALL critical acclaims or just one of the must-have titles like GTA V, Skyrim, TLOU, Uncharted, God of War. etc.
OR forget about free games and give us SUPER HUGE SALES like Steam sales or even better. I mean, it's the main reason why so many people love Steam . So yeah, why not ?

@adf86 the show "Powers" is going to be available for PS + members. For free. The entire first season. I'm really excited about this show too!

@hi_drnick OH MY GOD CLYDE RADCLIFFE! !!!!!

Of course it's a good service, I've been a member for so long that when I finally get a Vita I won't have to buy games for a long time.

Have to say having tried Injustice last night that it's probably the worst game ever given away with PS+. For such a hyped-up fighting game it's so slow, boring and clunky. Netheralm deserve some massive credit for taking some of the best characters ever and wrecking them. A truly special skill that.

the PS4 Pro means it is a more powerful platform until Microsoft's Scorpio comes out. The Xbox One is still the better system for media features, however, especially with Ultra HD Blu-ray playback, I'd played the videos of Vidmate APK in this and it works on the Xbox One S. Ultimately, the deciding factors is games.

PS4 is my life, i can't live without it. Microsoft has done a great job by bringing latest features in it.One of the best thing for gaming Kids.