One of the worst-kept secrets in gaming is the PlayStation Game Pass-like subscription service. Last we heard, it seems like the program will offer three price tiers and combine PlayStation Now and Plus, but Sony hasn’t officially announced anything as of yet. However, according to Bloomberg, the program could be unveiled as soon as next week. The PlayStation rival to Game Pass is codenamed Spartacus.
Xbox Game Pass has over 25 million users, so of course, Sony wants in on that action. Also, the PlayStation brand has been around longer and has a wider catalogue of titles, so gamers have been eagerly anticipating something like this. According to Bloomberg sources close to the project, the service will launch with several recent hits from the company, but there isn’t any new word on which games from its retro catalogue will be available. Additionally, unlike with first-party Xbox titles and Xbox Game Pass, first-party PlayStation titles like the upcoming God of War Ragnarok probably won’t hit the subscription service right away.
Still, I think combining PlayStation Now with PlayStation Plus is a great idea, depending on how attractive the price point is. However, I’d like the option to buy older titles outright like you can on the Xbox platform. Perhaps that is too hard to do with PlayStation 3 games due to the cell processor, which might necessitate streaming. But PlayStation 1 and 2 titles? Let me buy those adventures because I don’t trust Sony with not closing down its store eventually.
