Sony will soon be ditching PS4 games as part of the PlayStation Plus service. The company has announced that starting in January 2026, the service will be phasing out PS4 games offered each month across the Essential, Extra, and Deluxe tiers. Instead, the service will start to favour PS5 games only. Sony says it “may” still provide games that are playable on both PS4 and PS5.
The company says this change will be gradual. So instead of having only PS5 games included in the Essentials lineup, subscribers will start to see PS4 games added “occasionally”. Sony says PS4 games will no longer be seen as a key benefit to PlayStation Plus as it shifts towards offering PS5 games as a priority on the service.
Of course, this change doesn’t affect any games you have already redeemed on your account. It also doesn’t mean that Sony is going to pull the plug on all PS4 games which are available in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalogue (we hope). It just means that when the Essentials and Game Catalogue list goes live each month, you’ll see fewer PS4 games as part of that list.
A big question will be “what value will PlayStation Plus have with fewer PS4 games?”. Sony says it will continue to evolve the service and optimize benefits that users receive. This includes exclusive discounts, online multiplayer access, online game save storage, and more. Sounds like everything users already get.
If you rely on PlayStation Plus for your PS4 games, and you pay R2000 a year for the Deluxe membership, you might want to keep an eye on its value over the next year to see just how it evolves. If a time comes when no more PS4 games are offered at all, you might need to upgrade to a PS5 or cancel your subscription.
The February PlayStation Plus Essentials lineup was recently announced. The lineup includes Payday 3, High on Life, and Pac-Man World: Re-Pac.
Source: PS Blog
