PS Plus Members Received Over $1,500 in Free Games This Year

Still a no brainer

by Sammy Barker Mon 24th Dec 2018

Yes, technically you pay for PlayStation Plus’ so-called “free” games, but a standard 12-month subscription for $59.99 landed members over $1,500 in software this year. There were some pretty bloody big games available as part of the lineup, too, including the likes of Bloodborne, Ratchet & Clank, Mad Max, and Yakuza: Kiwami.

According to some Polygon number crunching, the average age of the games was just over three years, but continued support for the ancient PlayStation 3 has really bumped that number up. It’s going to be interesting to see how the service evolves in 2019, with strong competition from Xbox Game Pass and changes afoot.

What were your thoughts on PS Plus this year? You can read a full recap of all the free games in 2018 through the link, and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section below. There’s also speculation on January 2019’s PS Plus update through the jump.

[source polygon.com]

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

1
BAMozzy
Mon 24th Dec 2018

Overall, It was OK. I added more in 'value' than I spent on PS+ - although I know I need to renew to keep playing and I never actually own the games so 'value' could be argued - but as far as the cost to me to buy the games exceeded the cost of PS+ for me. Not sure how many hours I got from the games....

2
get2sammyb
Mon 24th Dec 2018

As someone who buys a lot of games, the best part of PS Plus for me are the discounts. I'd love to know how much I saved on the PS Store this year.

3
JohnKarnes
Mon 24th Dec 2018

PS Plus has always been a positive for me. Once again I purchased it for only $39.99 for the whole year in November. Its also really nice to see that extra discount on PSN games.

4
ApostateMage
Mon 24th Dec 2018

I only subscribed to PS Plus so I can play my fave online games. Obviously the free games are a cracking bonus but I've only really played a handful of them this year.
I do love dipping into the PS Plus library during a gaming lull and finding a cracker that I've forgotten about.

5
blacklivesmatter
Mon 24th Dec 2018

I can not say i see it as good value. If I want a game I buy it. I already pay for broadband this is just another fee on top of that.

6
wiiware
Mon 24th Dec 2018

I rarely play online games so I got psplus for the "free" games, discount, and cloud save. It's a no brainer for $40 / year if I bought it discounted on black friday.

7
redd214
Mon 24th Dec 2018

The discounts alone make up for the $40-60 spent in plus for me personally. I think it was by March or April this year it had essentially paid for itself in discounts alone. The free games and rest of the purchases for the year were all just icing on top. Always been a great value imo.

8
Flaming_Kaiser
Mon 24th Dec 2018

Nice off topic BTW Beyond Good and Evil is always online game even if you want play solo campaing. 🤮

9
Flaming_Kaiser
Mon 24th Dec 2018

@KingdomHeartsFan Its something else mate servers and services dont run free. 😜

10
leucocyte
Mon 24th Dec 2018

i downloaded nothing from ps+ this year, nor added to library. pretty sure i bought nothing on psn this year either, can't remember if i played any multiplayer or not. my sub is on the brink of expiry, not sure whether to let it lapse or extend it a couple of months to see if it does change as sammy believes. personally i think the end of PS3/vita support won't make any difference, as the number of subs from those platforms must be tiny in comparison with ps4.

11
Ralizah
Mon 24th Dec 2018

I was going to leave it behind, but I still have a lot of unplayed PS+ games, and I also managed to snag a sub for $39.99, so I thought I'd sub at least one more time. I'd like to play 20 of the IGC games (both new and in the backlog) by the time it lapses again. Those, Resident Evil 2, Tetris Effect, and Monster Hunter World should keep me busy on PS4 throughout 2019.

12
naruball
Mon 24th Dec 2018

@Bagshot yeah, you and everyone else

13
naruball
Mon 24th Dec 2018

@KingdomHeartsFan source?

14
naruball
Mon 24th Dec 2018

@KingdomHeartsFan Ironic.

You may wanna look up "burden of proof", KHF.

15
Weegee71
Tue 25th Dec 2018

When it's good it's good but more often than not it's utter Jimmy White

16
Ryall
Tue 25th Dec 2018

This is a theoretical maximum based on someone downloading every game across all three systems right? If you look to the value of actual games additive to libraries divided by subscriber base it would be far lower.

17
EVIL-C
Tue 25th Dec 2018

I don't even bother claiming the "free" when I am subscribed, because I like to own things with no strings attached. I lost my "complete" copy of Simpsons arcade due to it being pulled, so I just have the barebones demo, unless I re-sub. Not making that mistake again.