It is almost time. Sony is getting ready to debut its Game Pass competitor dubbed “Project Spartacus” next week. According to Bloomberg, the company will announce the program next week and detail what the service will be about. At the same time, the company will showcase a splashy lineup of older games that will arrive with the service. This includes PS3, PS2, PS One and PSP games.
Project Spartacus will merge both PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus into one package. This means players will subscribe to the service and gain access to an instant game library. Reports claim that this library will consist of over 300 games. However, this has yet to be confirmed. Sony has already begun porting PlayStation Now subscriptions to PlayStation Plus memberships ahead of the reveal.
The service will also be divided into three tiers. From what we know, this is what they will offer.
PlayStation Plus Tier 1
- Roughly the same price as the current subscription ($10 per month)
- Free PS4 and PS5 games added monthly user can keep with an active subscription
- The ability to play games online
- Discounts and other freebies such as DLC and cosmetics in games
PlayStation Plus Tier 2
- Estimated to cost $13 per month
- Free PS4 and PS5 games added monthly user can keep with an active subscription
- The ability to play games online
- Discounts and other freebies such as DLC and cosmetics in games
- Access to 300+ game library
PlayStation Plus Tier 3
- Estimated to cost $16 per month
- Free PS4 and PS5 games added monthly user can keep
- The ability to play games online
- Discounts and other freebies such as DLC and cosmetics in games
- Access to 300+ game library
- Access to classic PS3, PS2, PS1 PSP games through cloud-based streaming
The three tiers will all depend on your region. For example, Tier 3 offers the best package but the PS3 and older backwards compatible games will rely on cloud-based streaming. This means regions where PlayStation Now is unavailable will not have access to this tier. Sadly, this means South Africa is off that list.
As for the 300+ game library, we don’t know yet whether or not this number is accurate. We also don’t know if this number includes the older backwards compatible games. You can expect Sony to go all out with this collection of games though. They will most likely leverage their exclusive relationships with publishers like Square Enix and Capcom to offer full games on the service.
Sony is also expected to offer demos for upcoming PS5 exclusives on the service. This means players won’t have access to first-party exclusives on day one like Xbox Game Pass. However, they will be able to play portions of Sony’s lineup before purchasing the game. Progress is also expected to carry over to the full game.
We will share more as we hear more.
Source: Bloomberg
