Sony’s PS Plus tiers complicate the simplicity of subscription services

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There is a new range of subscriptions for the PS Plus. Prior to their official unveil, the plans were characterized as an attempt to respond to Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass, offering various selections of games to download or stream as part of a single monthly subscription. The truth is more complicated now that they are official.

The pitch for Microsoft's Game Pass is fairly simple. You get access to a broad array of games as part of a subscription, and Microsoft has committed to releasing its major first-party games on its subscription service the day they release.

Sony has taken a different approach. It doesn't commit to releasing its first-party games on its subscription service as they launch, and it splits the service into three different tiers, which offer more games the more you pay. They will launch in Asian markets in June, with North America, Europe, and others following closely behind. It's a step towards improving Sony's subscription offerings, but in the process, Sony has created a complicated array of price points to choose between.

The dozen-plus games already available as the PlayStation Plus Collection will be included in the $9.99 tier. You can get up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games with the PS Plus Extra. You can get up to an extra 340 games with the PS Plus Premium, which includes games from the original PS2, PS2, and PS3. Some of the additional games are available to download, but others are only available to be streamed.

If you choose to pay for a subscription on a quarterly or yearly basis, there are discounts available. I won't list all the prices here, but you have a choice of nine different ways to pay for PS Plus in the US alone. It means there are a lot of decisions to be made.

I wouldn't blame you if you find that complicated. You can never pay separately for one of Microsoft's games with the Xbox Games Pass Ultimate. Sony seems to be suggesting that its subscription tiers are an additional purchase. In Sony's world, you still pay as much as $70 for its big-budget games at launch, but you might also pay for a subscription that bulks out your library with a selection of slightly older and even retro titles. It comes down to how much you want to pay and how often you want to play.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony's new tiers of PS Plus are simpler than the ones it already offers. You have to pay for two separate subscriptions if you want to stream games via PlayStation Now and get access to PS Plus. According to Jim Ryan, three-quarters of PlayStation Now subscribers also hold a PS Plus subscription.

The analyst Daniel Ahmad points out that the pricing of the new tier suggests that it is targeted at specific users. The price of PS Plus is $9.99 a month, and the price of PS Now is $9.99 a month. You would pay $19.98 a month for both of them, compared to $17.98 for the new Premium. If you pay yearly, the two will set you back either $119.98 or $119.99. Three-quarters of PlayStation Now subscribers will pay for PS Plus Premium.

That doesn't explain PS Plus Extra, Sony's middle tier that offers PS4 and PS5 games. It is a direct competitor to the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate but lacks some of its cloud gaming features. It almost feels like it's an attempt to get customers to subscribe to the most expensive tier.

It's not unusual for music or video subscription services to have different tiers. The maximum number of streams you can watch at a time is one of the differences between the different tiers. If you subscribe as a family or a couple, you can get discounts on the single paid tier, while Apple recently added a discounted plan that restricts it to being controlled with a voice command.

If you pay less, the different price tiers all offer the same content and quality. Each tier of PS Plus has different amounts of content.

Sony seems to be trying to simplify its subscription offering by merging it with PS Plus. Microsoft has spent years building an all-in-one service. Microsoft made hundreds of Xbox games compatible with the Xbox One when Sony abandoned backward compatibility for the PS3 with the PS4. Microsoft has been on a buying spree that will make people notice when it promises to include its first-party titles in its subscription service.

Sony feels like it is taking a patchwork approach to its tiers. It is making older titles available via subscription long after their initial release. Some games for Sony's older platforms will be available to download, but cloud streaming is needed to offer PS3 games because hardware backwards compatibility isn't possible. There are gaps in its approach, but it is stitching together these different initiatives.

Sony's new subscription offerings are not a bad deal. You might need to pay close attention to the fine print.