Sony has finally revealed the release dates for the upgraded version of PlayStation Plus is becoming a tiered service while taking inspiration from the Xbox Game and Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions.
PlayStation Plus will receive three tiers. The first tier, PlayStation Plus Essential, will be the same as the current version of the service. The Essential tier provides access to online services, grants at least two free games a month, and offers discounts on the PlayStation Store. The second tier, PlayStation Plus Extra, merges PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now together. There are also plans for PS5 games to be added in the future, including titles like Returnal. The final tier, PlayStation Plus , will add retro games from the PS1, PS2, and PSP, with the previous tier already offering PS3 games through streaming. It's unclear what retro games will be added to this service, but it was confirmed today that many of the older Syphon Filter games are coming to PlayStation, and could be part of the titles that will become available.
When Sony first announced the changes to PlayStation Plus, a loose June release window was given for the update. The official PlayStation Blog has announced the release dates for the service, revealing it will launch on different days in different regions. According to Sony, the changes to PlayStation Plus will launch in select markets for Asia (excluding Japan) on May 23, in Japan on June 1, in the Americas on June 13, and in Europe on June 22.
Sony also revealed that cloud streaming will be coming to more countries in the future. The full PlayStation Plus offerings will now be available in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Republic of Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia at launch. There are also some countries whose PlayStation Plus service will have an exclusive tier, as the lack of cloud streaming access. Instead, they will have a different final option called PlayStation Plus Deluxe, which lacks the streaming games.
It seems that Sony has everything prepared for the PlayStation Plus rollout, with at least some countries getting it earlier than planned. The final tier's retro game access could be particularly interesting, as Sony has shown little interest in its back cata the past. It is possible the positive reception of Microsoft's backward compatibility across Xbox systems, as well as the retro titles with online functionality on Nintendo Switch Online, has prompted Sony to offer more on PlayStation Plus. Hopefully, fans won't have to wait long to find out which games PlayStation Plus will include, potentially increasing access to past PlayStation favorites.
The new version of PlayStation Plus will be released in North America on June 13 and in Europe on June 22, 2022.
Source: PlayStation Blog
