Game News PlayStation Plus: Mandatory demos for overpriced games? Sony’s new idea
Published on 04/26/2022 at 18:12
A few days ago now, the Spartacus project (now called PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium) was finally revealed to the world, and as you probably already know, it is a subscription program that brings together two services: PlayStation Plus therefore, but also PlayStation Now. That’s not all, we also learned that the Premium plan will include a little extra surprise, demos. How does this fit together? Answer right away!
Mandatory demos for big games?
The information has just fallen, it might be that Sony now forces the various studios to offer timed trial versions to garnish its new subscription proposal, namely the PlayStation Plus Premium; a service that combines the advantages of PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now and also offers some additional bonuses. These timed demos are one of them.
Indeed, according to sources shared by the Game Developer site, Sony would have recently addressed the various developers and publishers around the world to announce the news: studios working on big games, i.e. games sold at 34 dollars or more (regarding 32 euros) such as Kena : Bridge of Spirits, Shadow Warrior 3, Returnal or even FIFA 22are now required to publish trial versions of their games. These demos must last at least two hours, which is not nothing, and must be accessible on the PlayStation Plus Premium service for at least a year. Of course, creatives priced under $34 are not required to create demos, but can still offer them.
An advantage for players, less for developers
If this new proposal will undoubtedly appeal to curious players who like to test their games before going to checkout, note that this might well harm developers who intend to release their productions on the PlayStation Store. Indeed, the studios will now have to provide additional resources to create these famous demos. Games sold at €39.99 that have a short lifespan or a gameplay loop (like sports games for example) might also lose many buyers. However, note that these timed demos do not necessarily have to be made available at the time of the launch of the game, since Sony would have informed that the developers have up to three months following the release of a title to publish a trial version.
Also according to the various sources, it might be that the developers are also willing to offer custom demos, although these will then have to be approved on a case-by-case basis.
Finally, note that these requirements only concern games that will be released soon and that they do not apply to PlayStation VR productions. Obviously, all this information has not yet been formalized by the Japanese manufacturer, so you have to take it all with a grain of salt.
The different formulas in detail
As a reminder, when it is launched at the end of June, the new PlayStation Plus will offer three formulas: Essential, Extra and Premium.
PlayStation Plus Essential
- The online game
- Several games (two to three per month) to download
- Discounts on purchases
- Cloud backups
- 8.99 € for one month
- €24.99 for three months (i.e. €8.33 per month)
- €59.99 for twelve months (less than €5 per month)
PlayStation Plus Extra
- The online game
- Several games (two to three per month) to download
- Discounts on purchases
- Cloud backups
- PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games available for download (approximately 400 PS4 and PS5 games at launch of the service)
- 13.99 € for one month
- €39.99 for three months (i.e. €13.33 per month)
- €99.99 for twelve months (a little over €8 per month)
PlayStation Plus Premium
- The online game
- Several games (two to three per month) to download
- Discounts on purchases
- Cloud backups
- PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games available for download (approximately 400 PS4 and PS5 games at launch of the service)
- PSP, PS One and PS2 games available for download
- These same PSP, PS One, PS2 games, but also PS3 and PS4 in streaming
- Limited time access to the latest AAA games (presumably the day of their release)
- 16.99 € for one month
- €49.99 for three months (a little over €16 per month)
- €119.99 for twelve months (a little less than €10 per month)
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Par JeromeJoffardWriting jeuxvideo.com
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