Sony is reportedly working on expanding its PlayStation Plus service to compete with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. According to Bloomberg’s report, the service’s codename is Spartacus which is a combination of PlayStation Plus and the PlayStation Now services.
The subscription is expected to launch in Spring and features multiple “tiers” of subscription akin to Nintendo Switch Online and Xbox Live/Game Pass & Xbox Cloud Gaming subscription plans. The basic plan will be the same as the current PlayStation Plus subscription and will retain all current membership benefits, while the mid-tier plan would offer a huge catalog of PlayStation 4 games along with PlayStation 5 games in the future. The highest tier subscription would offer “extended demos, game streaming(PS Now), and a library of classic PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP games” just like the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack which features several NES and SNES titles.
Sony seems to be following in Microsoft’s footsteps to expand the PlayStation brand onto other platforms by improving their cloud gaming infrastructure, given that the Xbox Game Pass offers its own cloud gaming service and has seen fairly substantial growth, having around 23 million subscribers. While some might think that Microsoft seems to be losing money, Phill Spencer believes that the subscription is “very sustainable” and that it “continues to grow.”
Sony has also embraced the PC market, with God of War which is scheduled to release on 14 January 2022, and UNCHARTED™: Legacy of Thieves Collection sometime in the same year. Both these titles are being published under the PlayStation PC LLC moniker.
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