Sony removed the PS Now service and replaced it with a three-tiered system of PS Plus. You can now choose between Essential, Extra, and Premium plans, each of which comes at a different price with a different selection of features.
If you own a PS4 or PS5, you’ll probably want to subscribe to one of the three PS Plus plans Sony has to offer. There’s an Essential plan, an Extra plan, and a Premium plan—but how do they differ in features and cost? Which PS Plus plan should you invest in?
We’ll tackle all of these questions and then some in this guide. By the end, you’ll be an expert on everything there is to know about PS Plus.
PS Now Was Merged With PS Plus
Sony used to offer gamers two unique services: PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus.
PS Now was solely a video game library with some games that could be downloaded to your console and others that could only be streamed, either via console or a compatible computer.
PS Plus was largely purchased by people who wanted to play online multiplayer games, and the service also offered subscribers two to three free games to download every month.
In June 2022, Sony made the decision to merge these two services, presenting something that looked more like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, at least in the sense that the game library and online services were finally offered in one service. However, Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass still has a leg up over the new PS Plus app on computers.
With Xbox Game Pass, you can use almost any Bluetooth controller or your mouse and keyboard to partake in cloud gaming. But with the PS Plus app, you can only play games with a DualShock 4 controller. Anyone who bought the PS5 as their first console and only has a DualSense controller won’t be able to take part in streaming games from their computer.
What Happened to Existing of PS Plus or PS Now Subscriptions?
Sony automatically moved any subscriber who signed up before June 13, 2022, to a similar tier among the three new PS Plus plans.
If you were only subscribed to PS Plus prior to it merging with PS Now, you automatically became a subscriber to the PS Plus Essential plan and your subscription cost wouldn’t have changed.
If you were only subscribed to PS Now or to both PS Now and PS Plus, you automatically got a PS Plus Premium subscription.
This unfortunately meant that subscribers to just PS Now prior to the merge ended up paying double what they previously had to pay. Or, people could opt for the PS Plus Extra plan and save $20 per year if they didn’t need the bonus features that came with the Premium plan.
For anyone already subscribed to PS Now and PS Plus, the subscription cost wouldn’t have changed. Instead of paying $60 per year to each service, they would be paying $120 per year for one service that combines features of both.
How Much Does Each PS Plus Plan Cost?
The PS Plus Essential plan costs the same amount as the previous PS Plus plan, offered alongside the expired PS Now service. For the Essential plan, you can pay $9.99 per month, $24.99 per quarter, or $59.99 per year. The annual subscription plan will be the most cost-effective for all three PS Plus plans.
For PS Plus Extra plan, subscribers can pay $14.99 per month, $39.99 per quarter, or $99.99 per year. The PS Plus Premium plan, that comes with all the features Sony has to offer, will cost you either $17.99 per month, $49.99 per quarter, or $119.99 per year.
What Features Come With Each PS Plus Plan?
The PS Plus Essential plan is basically what the standalone PS Plus used to be. With the Essential plan, you get online multiplayer access, exclusive discounts and content, cloud storage saves, Share Play screen-sharing, Game Help tips, and free monthly games to download and keep for as long as your subscription is active.
Upgrading to the Extra plan grants you access to the massive Game Catalog, with up to 400 downloadable games available at any given time. You’ll also be able to play games that rotate into the Ubisoft+ Classics catalog. Right now, this includes games like Far Cry 6, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Watch_Dogs, For Honor, and Monopoly Plus.
The PS Plus Premium plan comes with everything that’s been mentioned so far, as well as the Classics Catalog, Game Trials, and cloud streaming as an alternative to downloading games on your console. The Classics Catalog contains over 400 PS1, PS2, and PS3 gems, and the cloud streaming feature allows you to play most games through the PlayStation Plus app on your computer, as long as you have a DualShock 4 controller to play with.
Not every game will have a Game Trial through PS Plus Premium, but these are bonus demos you wouldn’t be able to access with any other subscription tier. At the time of writing, there’s a Game Trial for God of War Ragnarök, Cyberpunk 2077, Rollerdrome, and OlliOlli World, among others.
Which Games Are Included With PS Plus?
The only games included in the PS Plus Essential plan are the two to three free games offered at the beginning of every month. If you’re interested in any of the titles available in the Games Catalog, you’ll need to be subscribed to PS Plus Extra or Premium.
With an Extra or Premium subscription, you’ll have access to up to 400 popular titles from the PS4 or PS5 generations. These games won’t be permanently available in the service. Instead, games that have been in the catalog for a while are rotated out to make room for new games. Right now, Extra and Premium subscribers have access to popular titles like Horizon Forbidden West, Returnal, Ghostwire: Tokyo, Tchia, Hollow Knight, Ghost of Tsushima, DOOM Eternal, and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Then, only Premium subscribers will have access to older PlayStation games from the PS1, PS2, and PS3 eras. Similar to the PS4 and PS5 games available to Extra and Premium subscribers, these older games will rotate in and out of the service on a regular basis. Right now, you can play classics like Ape Escape, Jak and Daxter 1-3, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, Dark Cloud 2, Wild Arms, and Hot Shots Golf.
How Often Do Games Rotate?
With PS Plus subscriptions, there are two areas in which games rotate. There are the two to three free games you can download every month, and there’s the catalog of PlayStation games you can stream or download for as long as you have a PS Plus subscription.
The free downloadable games offered to PS Plus users are consistently rotated out every month. The general rule of thumb Sony has followed for quite some time is that the next month’s PS Plus games are announced on the last Wednesday of the current month, and those games are made available for download on the first Tuesday of the next month. For example, June’s PS Plus games were announced on Wednesday, May 31 and made available on Tuesday, June 6.
When it comes to the large game library for PS Plus Extra and Premium members, the routine for rotating games in and out doesn’t follow a set schedule. Following the PlayStation Blog is a great way to stay up to date with which new games are being added to the service. In an article announcing the PS Plus game catalog for June, there were many notable new games added to the service, including Far Cry 6, Soulstice, Killing Floor 2, and A Hat in Time.
There’s typically an article every month on the PlayStation Blog that details which games are being added, but not always which games are being removed. You can usually find an article that’s done the work for you, or you can check the “Last Chance to Play” section on the PS Plus Collections page on your PS5 console. This category is sometimes removed and players are unable to find it, which is likely due to it being updated, so if you can’t find it, try again another day.
Where Is PlayStation Plus Available?
When Sony announced the new PlayStation Plus subscriptions, the company stated that it would launch in most countries where the PlayStation Network is available. There’s a country selector on the PlayStation site that lets you see all the supported regions across Asia, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, and Africa.
Only select markets will have the cloud streaming option through PS Plus Premium, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
If you don’t see your country listed, be sure to check whether the cloud streaming feature is available through PS Plus Premium in your country before you pay for the highest subscription tier.
Which PS Plus Plan Is the Best?
For most people, the PS Plus Extra plan is probably the best. You get free games every month, online multiplayer access, and a massive collection of the latest and greatest PS4 and PS5 games—all for only $99.99 per year. There are only a few reasons why you’d upgrade to Premium or downgrade to Essential.
If you’re really into the older PlayStation games from the first three consoles or you have a DualShock 4 controller and want to stream PS Plus games from your computer, you should probably go with the Premium plan for $119.99. The Game Trials are a nice feature, but there are so many other games you can try out for free and fully complete through the Game Catalog that this isn’t really a deciding factor for most people.
Or, if you don’t ever find yourself taking advantage of all the free games available in the PS Plus Game Catalog, the Essential Plan may be all you need. For $59.99, you can play multiplayer games online with friends or strangers and download two or three free games every month.
There’s also the possibility that no PS Plus plan is best for you. If you don’t play online multiplayer games, won’t be able to take advantage of cloud streaming on your computer, and/or forget about the massive collection of PS4 and PS5 games because your backlog is overflowing, paying $59.99 for even the lowest tier of PS Plus won’t be worth it. You can always buy one to three months of PS Plus for a lower price to try it out, and then pay the annual fee if you decide to keep the service.
