PlayStation’s Game Pass rival codenamed “Project Spartacus” is very close to launching according to a new report. The service, which is designed to offer PlayStation owners an Xbox Game Pass alternative on PS4 and PS5 consoles is set to be announced by the end of March. New details claim that the service is “pretty close to actually launching”.
The news comes from VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb who detailed some of the information regarding Sony’s Project Spartacus in his latest episode of Grubbsnax. We know that Sony is going to merge PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus into one service when Project Spartacus launches but now we have an idea on how it might be structured.
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Sony will reportedly divide the service into three tiers called Essential, Extra and Premium. The service will run from $10, $13 and $16 per month respectively.
The Essential package will basically be the same PlayStation Plus service users currently have with monthly free games and the ability to play online. The Extra tier will also come with a “downloadable game catalogue” that features over 300 titles.
Reports claim that anything included in the PlayStation Now service will be part of this catalogue of games. However, instead of streaming these games, users can download them directly to their consoles. We have already seen hints of this in some of the latest games Sony has brought to PlayStation Now. For example, GTA Trilogy and Shadow Warrior 3 are both day-one launch titles on PlayStation Now.
The highest tier on PlayStation Project Spartacus, called Premium, will give users access to classic games through a cloud streaming service. Reports claim that these games include PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP titles all powered by the cloud and streamed to your console.
Given the requirements for PlayStation Now, Sony will most likely follow the same road with the Premium tier and offer these classic games only to supported territories. Chances are, South Africans are out of luck when it comes to signing up for the Premium tier due to the lack of data servers in the region. Sadly, we don’t have any sort of cloud-based gaming service here and Project Spartacus will be no change.
Sony is also prepping to include game trials in the service. This includes timed demos for first-party games. For example, Horizon Forbidden West and other PS5 and PS4 exclusive games will be downloadable through the service but limited to a set number of hours in gameplay. This allows subscribers the opportunity to test these games out and purchase them if they want while also carrying over their progress to the full game.
Sony is expected to announce this new project very soon. We reckon by the end of March, users will be able to start subscribing to the various tiers.
What do you make of this service? Let us know down below!
Source: VGC
