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Report: Sony overhauling PlayStation Plus with new tiers and streaming

modiz

Member
Jim Ryan, CEO of PlayStation, market leader since decades, since the start of this generation, when it comes to
BC
PC ports
Cross gen
Gaming subscriptions
Cloud
PqXIMLx.gif
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Disney+ doesnt offer their biggest movies day one. Doesnt offer their shows in one go. They stretch them weeks unlike Netflix. They charged an extra 30$ for their AAA movies. It’s mostly back catalogue. With some strategic content here and there. At most one show per season.

It’s exactly like PSNow.

Playstation and Nintendo arent going to offer all their titles day one in their subscriptions until they stop selling 10+ million copies each. Excluding games like Destruction All Stars, Pacman 99, aka games that are risky or multiplayer centric.

I can see Sony releasing The Last of Us: Factions day one on PS+….+.

Two big differences though, most mainstream movies are also not being released day and date vs sony main console competition is putting games day and date.

But I do see the hesitation, the best idea might be a 6 month delay.

But don't also discount the potential a streaming revenue could bring. While Sony may release 2 games a year and sell 10 million copies each (say 5 million a year) not all are out full price. But let's say that's $50 x 10 million each / 2 years, that's basically a half a billion dollars per year. Say my numbers are off and that's 1 or 2 billion instead, ok.

If they had a streaming service that was wildly successful, say 30 million subs, that's 5.4 billion per year in revenue. You can see how that covers a lot of aaa revenue......this is the carrot that ms sees.
 
Not good enough. Pay a subscription service to play old games? How is this a GamePass competitor? Don't all first party Xbox games release on Gamepass day one?

Sounds like a quick fix instead of a proper subscription service.
 
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Not good enough. Pay a subscription service to play old games? How is this a GamePass competitor? Don't all first party Xbox games release on Gamepass day one?

Sounds like a quick fix instead of a proper subscription service.
Besides, Microsoft first party games and some indie games, aren’t a good number of games on Gamepass pretty old as well? I think the only time when you get a newer release of a major game is when they don’t sell as well as expected, but I could be wrong.
 
Remember what jaffe said about it?

Jaffe cited his information as coming from “people at Sony who have told me that they are doing some stuff” as “a response to Game Pass.” However, Jaffe admitted he did not know the details, dreading what steps Ryan could go wrong with.

“If Jim Ryan thinks the proper response to Game Pass is to emulate backwards compatibility, PS3 games, PS2, PS1, and then to also add Trophies, which is what that patent suggests they’re going to do, and they’re also going to fold in all the movies and shit and make a streaming service, he’s absolutely wrong if he thinks that mixing it with PS Now [is a good idea].”
 
Besides, Microsoft first party games and some indie games, aren’t a good number of games on Gamepass pretty old as well? I think the only time when you get a newer release of a major game is when they don’t sell as well as expected, but I could be wrong.
Yeah I think it's like that. But still, MS puts their games there day one, Sony won't do the same. So imo, this is not a gamepass competitor if it turns out to be like the rumors say it.
 
I'm thinking Sony will roll some of their movie/tv offerings into to try to broaden the appeal.

IMO, the Sony's gamepass should just build on top on their current PS Plus. This 3 tier IMO is step in the right direction.

If Sony wants to appeal to the 2 billion casual gamers, then they should build a separate service for them. PS Plus should exclusively be gamer-centric. The casual-centric could be what you're suggesting. Sony will leverage their Pictures making movies and shows, and Crunchyroll for anime, and offer gaming as additional value. Luring in the usual crowd that Netflix, HBO and Disney target but will have additional proposition of being able to play Sony AAA games through streaming. That's how I would do it if I were the CEO.

PS PLUS = gamer-centric
SONY PASS = casual-centric
 
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Sony makes damn good money on first party and it is good for their platform so I think we will see more of what we have already seen. First party on PC.......eventually. First party on subscription......eventually.

Sony doesn't need to copy gamepass. PS Plus is already at 40 million subs without day one games. Offering a pool of games at a higher price will only increase the subscription while still banking on AAA blockbuster games.

But I can see some Sony games, especially the MP ones, releasing on the higher tier service day one.
 

Lupin25

Member
Comparing PS+ to Gamepass has never been logical. Why does this keep cropping up?

it’s not and PS Now is more of a direct competitor, but if we’re theoretically discussing the unification of both PS Plus & Now, it makes sense…

“Right now,” that is.

Lol.
 

SSfox

Member
So we have to pay subs to get the full BC? Fuck off, just give me option to buy retro games.

At this point I wish Sony will just make online free again like in PS3, they're following so much MS in everything and they forgot their origins and from where they came, i don't care about some kind of subs or what Xbox does but seeing Sony following every MS step is kind wack, just make online free so I won't have to sub.

More and more Sony are making me want to switch to steam.
 

Vae_Victis

Banned
I only care if they'll sell those PSX/PS2/PSP games own their own without the subscription and if you own the disc it just works..
Not really interested in a rental service.
I wouldn't hold my breath for that.

Sony has really not cared about releasing PS1, PS2 and PS3 games on their newer systems, there's maybe 50 PS2 games on PS4 and that's it. They know those games won't sell anywhere as much as new games, and it costs them time and licensing headaches to port them (compared to throwing a contract at a random indie dev to fit the same $10-spot in the store).

If any of Schreier's article is true, it will probably be a streaming feature where they emulate those games remotely on dedicated hardware or even run it on hardware equivalent to the original (let's say they built a hew hundred thousands PS2s and PS3s and are storing them somewhere for this), that's the only feasible way for Sony to suddenly offer a substantial number of old games on PS4 and PS5 as part of a new service. It's either that or they will add maybe a couple dozen hand-picked games to the current library on PS4, which would account to nothing and would be a dead on arrival feature (so they likely aren't banking on that).
 
No matter how u market it , if ur not giving first party games on launch day like Forza , flightsim and halo it really is not worth it
Those 3 games alone saved me 180 dollars ,PS1 and ps2 games are just added benifits if ur not including ur first party or kick ass 3rd party games I don't see it's value
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
You need to go all the way, adding some BC games and a few movies and increasing the cost ain’t gonna cut it.

The guy who said incorrectly that BC was dead should know this. BC is great but you should just add that for free.
 
Yes bc is great , even greater If it's improved frame rates and 4k graphics , but u can't up a tier and increase price just because of it ,for this to really compete with gamepass is first party games just like ms is doing with Forza , halo , gears ,flight sim etc etc
 

Ozriel

M$FT
.

So it'll be 1v1 eventually. It already is for many psychologically.

i don’t believe anyone equates the two, psychologically or otherwise. Dramatically different price points with dramatically different value.
PS Now has always been the more comparable service.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Xbox fans having meltdowns because Jason threw Gamepass into his Twitter post.
This new service from Sony will likely not be a direct competitor to Gamepass.
It's basically sounding like a unification of PS plus and PS now. Something PS fans have been asking for a long time.
Jason loves to stir some shit among the warriors lol

The comparison to Gamepass is also in play in multiple websites eg The Verge.
It’s a subscription service that combines online play + a game library and BC.

something doesn’t have to be 1:1 before you consider it a competitor
 
I posted it here many moons ago. This is how Sony should do it.

PS+ Premium (target: gamers)
  • No Day and Date Release of first party AAA games.
  • Day and Date Release of AA Games.
  • Day and Date Release of first-party multiplayer games. (They did it with Destruction Allstars. They should continue with it.)
  • PS1/PS2/PS3/PS4 BC games.
  • Monthly games similar to how PSNow is currently.
  • Remove streaming and make it available in all countries.
SONY PASS (target: casuals)
  • Sony Movies & Shows + Funimation/Crunchyroll + Playstation Games (Not day 1)
  • Doesn't need backward compatible games. Casuals don't care for them.
  • All-streaming, not available for download.
 
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Goalus

Member
I posted it here many moons ago. This is how Sony should do it.

PS+ Premium (target: gamers)
  • No Day and Date Release of first party AAA games.
  • Day and Date Release of AA Games.
  • Day and Date Release of first-party multiplayer games. (They did it with Destruction Allstars. They should continue with it.)
  • PS1/PS2/PS3/PS4 BC games.
  • Monthly games similar to how PSNow is currently.
  • Remove streaming and make it available in all countries.
Remove streaming, but still offer PS3 games?
Absolutely.
It would require some engineering skills on Sony's side though. I doubt they can pull this off.
 
Besides, Microsoft first party games and some indie games, aren’t a good number of games on Gamepass pretty old as well? I think the only time when you get a newer release of a major game is when they don’t sell as well as expected, but I could be wrong.
Nope, there’s also many big 3rd party games day one (MLB, Back4blood, Outriders e.t.c), new (not day one) games as well like Scarlet Nexus and honestly if your idea of an indie game are games like Stalker 2, A plague’s tale 2 or even The Gunk then you better hope that Sony’s service has such games day one or very close to day one.

As for sony’s service when it becomes the equilevant of gamepass then I will subscribe, don’t care about playing unoptimised (and streamed ?) ps1 games or extremely old games. I still doubt that they will be offering many if any at all ps5 games, at the beginning, even older ones.

For example Sony, at the very least, should be ready to offer games like Kena day one.
 
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Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
I posted it here many moons ago. This is how Sony should do it.

PS+ Premium (target: gamers)
  • No Day and Date Release of first party AAA games.
  • Day and Date Release of AA Games.
  • Day and Date Release of first-party multiplayer games. (They did it with Destruction Allstars. They should continue with it.)
  • PS1/PS2/PS3/PS4 BC games.
  • Monthly games similar to how PSNow is currently.
  • Remove streaming and make it available in all countries.
SONY PASS (target: casuals)
  • Sony Movies & Shows + Funimation/Crunchyroll + Playstation Games (Not day 1)
  • Doesn't need backward compatible games. Casuals don't care for them.
  • All-streaming, not available for download.

Not having streaming on the premium service is shit.
Having streaming is amazing on console, being able to try games without the download.

Also how much will these cost?
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Xbox fans having meltdowns because Jason threw Gamepass into his Twitter post.
This new service from Sony will likely not be a direct competitor to Gamepass.
It's basically sounding like a unification of PS plus and PS now. Something PS fans have been asking for a long time.
Jason loves to stir some shit among the warriors lol


Any gaming sub is a competitor to gamepass because they are ultimately competing for the money people are willing to spend on a gaming sub.
 
Not having streaming on the premium service is shit.
Having streaming is amazing on console, being able to try games without the download.
It looks like PS+ higher tier would include streaming. I wouldn't complain if they they do.

My point though really is that Sony should target different market crowd. Gamepass strategy will not crack the casual crowd. Don't follow that. Ever. Instead: build a better service on top on the already successful PS+ (the news seems to suggest this) to cater to their loyal gamer crowd, and then build something different that could tap into the 2 billion casuals.

Also how much will these cost?

PS+ higher tier will cost a little higher I suppose. Sony Pass will have to compete with Netflix, Disney, and HBO Max. It should cost at par with their average at least.
 
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ksdixon

Member
How solid is the ps1/ps2/ps3/psp comment, or is it just referring to what's already on PSNow now for streaming?
 

SilentUser

Member
It already exists. This is just a rebranding with possibly added older system titles.

Now the question is, will the emulator wrapper be in those PS1/2/PSP games so you can download natively like you can PS2/PS4/PS5 currently.

More than likely it will be since it existed on the PS3/Vita already.
Hopefully I will be able to download PS1/PS2/PSP games to play natively, this is what interests me the most, honestly. Plus, would like to see them selling thoses games on PS store, so I could perhaps skip tha subscription model (and buy Suikoden II, Breathe of Fire III, Xenogears and more 😎)8
 
Gamepass strategy will not crack the casual crowd. Don't follow that. Ever. Instead: build a better service on top on the already successful PS+ (the news seems to suggest this) to cater to their loyal gamer crowd, and then build something different that could tap into the 2 billion casuals.
What would "something different" be? The point and end goal of Gamepass is that you can play all the games available on any device you own whereever and whenever you want. How do you make things even more casual friendly?
 

sinisterpanda

Neo Member
so correct me if I'm wrong:

tier 1: ps plus

tier 2: game pass ultimate without old ps1/ps2 games

tier 3: game pass ultimate + streaming
 

SSfox

Member
You need to go all the way, adding some BC games and a few movies and increasing the cost ain’t gonna cut it.

The guy who said incorrectly that BC was dead should know this. BC is great but you should just add that for free.
If the movies and tv show are gonna be the "bonuses" of this sub thing it's gonna be even more wack than I thought.

Now thinking about it people that were comparing Jimbo to Don Mattrick weren't exaggerating that much.
 

Loxus

Member
Has someone told Sony that game pass isn’t sustainable?
Again, what does Sony merging PS+ & PS Now has to do with GamePass being sustainable or not?

It's like you don't know PS Now is basically doing what GamePass does but without day one releases.

PlayStation Now
Download or stream
Stream hundreds of PS4, PS3 and PS2 titles from a wide range of genres to your PS5, PS4 or Windows PC. Play as much as you like, save your progress, and continue playing on either device. Or pick from over 300 PS4 games to download to your console and they’ll be ready to play, in up to 4K resolution if you’re playing on PS5 or PS4 Pro.

Whether you stream or download, your PS Now subscription includes full access to all available online multiplayer modes.
 
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AmuroChan

Member
Well that's fine really given they are trying to re-introduce their offerings to better position themselves against their competitor.

PS Now as it was, had similar offerings to what they are now announcing (the day one aspect has not changed) and no one was talking about it.

I still hope that subscription services don't become the primary way for both Microsoft & Sony to make money from games they are publishing and so far we have no signs of that happening so that's good.

No one was talking about it because it was a half-baked service and it existed prior to Gamepass. As of last reported, there were only around 5 million PS Now subscribers. That's pretty terrible.

It's clear that neither Sony or Nintendo want to play in this space right now, but Microsoft is gradually forcing their hand. MS is all in on Gamepass. That's going to be the future for them and their primary delivery model of choice. They've said as much on their most recent earnings call.
 
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FranXico

Member
GPU includes streaming.

If Sony wants to compete in the value department, include day 1 releases. Without that, anything they release is not competing directly with GP. A lot more value in the service that is giving you access to $60 releases.
PSNow + PS+ would include streaming as well. PSNow still has more streamable than downloadable games.

Rental from release date would be the only difference.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
People are jumping to conclusions because Jason mentioned Gamepass on that title when honestly he shouldn't have. I'm sure it's bringing him the clicks though.
This sounds like a natural evolution of both PSPlus and PSNow.

Sony won't be including their new games in this new service day one just like MS wouldn't if their games were selling 3 or 4 million copies in 3 days.

It's really clear. I see this service as a "PlayStation legacy" kind of package. At least for now. It may evolve into something else later though.
Agreed. Any such service from Sony would be much more expensive than £11/$15 a month anyway to reflect the strength of their IPs.

Some people would subscribe anyway, but it wouldn't be given away cheaply via deals like GamePass is.
 
Why is Sony so insistent on trophies for old games? It makes no sense. Anyone considering this service would be much more likely to subscribe if it has more games without trophies than fewer games with trophies.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Has someone told Sony that game pass isn’t sustainable?

They said it wasn't sustainable.
They said it will bring the whole industry down and crash and burn. FUD almost 24/7.
They said owning the games for $70 a piece is always way better then renting for $1.
They called us green rats for supporting the service.

Imagine being one of them and changing your tune.

B-b-but I thought this wasn't a sustainable business model guys?

You guys are likely adults and you don't know the difference between releasing a game day-one on a subscription service versus releasing a game on a subscription service that's at least a year old.
 

chonga

Member
Phil Spencer went out of his way to point out that Gamepass is not losing money in hope for some future profit, but that it's already sustainable.

And no, MS generally doesn't talk about profits regarding their subdivisions. Has nothing to do with Gamepass.
Can't you see how you're admitting it isn't profitable?

You are literally proving the point everyone is making to you. "In the hope of future profit". If you can't see how this means it is not currently making a profit, and instead is sustainable because of other revenue sources and cash in the bank can cover those loses, please quit this thread.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
It looks like PS+ higher tier would include streaming. I wouldn't complain if they they do.

My point though really is that Sony should target different market crowd. Gamepass strategy will not crack the casual crowd. Don't follow that. Ever. Instead: build a better service on top on the already successful PS+ (the news seems to suggest this) to cater to their loyal gamer crowd, and then build something different that could tap into the 2 billion casuals.



PS+ higher tier will cost a little higher I suppose. Sony Pass will have to compete with Netflix, Disney, and HBO Max. It should cost at par with their average at least.

The casual crowd is goong to go with day 1 AAA content especially if its not much more money.

PS+ is now £4.16/month

How much is the premium tier goong to cost? £7.99/month?

Sure it will get some users but for most having day 1 games included for £10.99/month is the better option.
 
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