In response to Microsoft’s resounding success with its games subscription service Xbox Game Pass, Sony is reportedly buffing up its own service, PlayStation Now, with even more games and multiple tier options. After being revealed by Bloomberg late last year, this new project–internally codenamed Spartacus–seems to be getting closer to completion, as reports regarding its pricing and contents have now begun to surface.
According to a recent report by VentureBeat, PlayStation Spartacus will offer users three tiers: Essential, Extra, and Premium. However, according to the report, these names are subject to change prior to the service launching.
The first tier on the plan, Essential, will supposedly run players $10 USD and offers up a small selection of games each month, not unlike PlayStation Plus in its current state. The Extra tier then starts at $13 USD, and comes not only with these “Essential” monthly games, but access to a larger catalog of PlayStation titles similar to PlayStation Now. Lastly, the Premium tier includes both of these features along with PlayStation Now’s streaming capabilities, a library of “classic games,” and a new “game trials” feature, allowing players to try out new games before they purchase them. However, the report states these trials will likely have a time-limit function similar to EA Play. Subscribing to the Premium tier is also the most costly option, setting PlayStation users back $16 USD a month.
The report states that much like the tier names themselves, the prices of the tiers are also subject to change. However, this is a general outline of what to expect from Spartacus as of right now. While the program doesn’t offer day one releases, it does help strengthen PlayStation Plus and could transform the program into a greater rival to Game Pass. After all, just last month Xbox reported it had reached 25 million subscribers on Game Pass, a staggering number that could rapidly grow once Activision Blizzard joins its ranks.
Sony is reportedly moving into a testing phase for Spartacus in the next few weeks with a goal of announcing the project sometime in March. When exactly Spartacus will hit consoles has still yet to be determined, though it seems safe to say you can expect it sometime later this year.
