It is said that Sony is developing a new subscription service to enable it to better compete with Xbox Game Pass.
According to a Bloomberg report, sources familiar with the project codenamed Spartacus said that the service will charge a monthly fee for access to classic and modern games. It is scheduled to launch in the spring and will combine PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now into one service.
Documents presented to Bloomberg indicate that Sony plans to retain the PlayStation Plus brand and cancel PlayStation Now.
Obviously, customers will get three layers of services: one is similar to the current PlayStation Plus; the second will provide a large number of PS4 and PS5 games; according to Bloomberg, the third layer will add “extended demos, game streaming and classic PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP game library”.
It is worth noting that the details of the service may not be finalized, and the situation may change between now and the start.
Spartacus aims to make Sony’s PlayStation Plus service more competitive through Xbox Game Pass, which has accumulated more than 18 million users since its launch in 2018.
Not that the PlayStation Plus numbers are worth sneezing, because last time we heard that there were more than 47.6 million subscribers. However, in terms of products, Microsoft has a large library of available games, and many games start to provide services on the first day they are released. Currently, Sony only offers three games per month through PlayStation Plus—sometimes even more.
On the other hand, as of March 31, PlayStation Now had approximately 3.2 million subscribers. As of 2020, the service has provided more than 800 games, and more games will be added every month.
