Sony is pulling PS Now retail cards from sale in the UK following reports of PlayStation launching their own Game Pass competitor. UK retailers are said to be removing them from sale by the end of next week, which may be an indication that Sony is gearing up to announce their Game Pass rival subscription.

As reported by VentureBeat, the decision to discontinue PS Now retail cards is largely due to Sony’s plans to offer a Game Pass-like subscription service that will be attached to PlayStation Plus. While these reports haven’t been officially confirmed or denied by PlayStation, it seems very likely that they’ll announce the subscription service sooner rather than later.

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Last year, reports surfaced that stated PlayStation were working on their own Game Pass competitor codenamed ‘Spartacus’, a subscription service for both PS4 and PS5 that will rival Xbox’s current offering which delivers hundreds of games to play at a monthly cost. The rumour is that this new subscription service will be an extension of PlayStation Plus as it combines PS Now, with costs varying depending on specific tiers. As with all reports, take this with a grain of salt until we have confirmation from Sony themselves.

According to documents, the tiers will be split up into three offerings. The first tier will retain the PlayStation Plus benefits, with free games every month and online play. The second tier will offer a large catalogue of games similar to Xbox Game Pass, though it will apparently exclude first-party games at launch. The third and final tier will add extended demos, game streaming and a full library of games from across PlayStation’s history and library.

There’s a ‘big’ PlayStation State of Play event expected for February, according to reports, so could this be the event we’ll see Sony pull the curtain back on this new subscription service?

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Source: VentureBeat