news tip PlayStation Plus: what will become of current subscribers and PlayStation Now? Everything you need to know regarding the new formulas
The new formulas of Sony’s PlayStation Plus service were unveiled yesterday, and their announcement naturally raised many questions regarding the future of current subscribers. We have gathered as much information as possible to guide you through this transition period, and perhaps even help you decide which subscription to turn to this summer!
Yesterday, we presented to you exclusively new offers related to the PlayStation Plus service from Sony. Indeed, the subscription will undergo a major overhaul in the coming months aimed at setting up three different formulas, each offering unique services and even some new features for Sony platforms. By the end of June 2022, PlayStation Plus Essential, Extra and Premium subscriptions will replace the simple Playstation Plus and PS Now to offer more flexibility to subscribers. Even though the new formulas won’t be available for a few months, it’s natural to have questions regarding them. What will happen to existing subscriptions? How to change your subscription to a particular formula? And above all, which version to choose to get your money’s worth? We answer each of these questions below:
Summary
- What regarding existing subscriptions?
- How to change my subscription?
- Scenario 1: you already have a subscription
- Scenario 2: you do not have a subscription
- Which subscription to choose?
- At budget level
- At the content level
What regarding existing subscriptions?
If you subscribed to a PlayStation Plus and/or PS Now subscription before the implementation of the new formulas, the change will be made automatically to an equivalent subscription. Concretely, PlayStation Plus subscribers will become PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers, and they will not have to pay anything more since the two subscriptions are equivalent in terms of price and services.
As for PS Now, the service will be absorbed by PlayStation Plus in June 2022, and subscribers will upgrade to a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription at no additional cost until their subscription ends. They are free to change the formula followingwards. We explain the procedure to follow in the following lines:
Scenario 1: you already have a subscription
As explained above, holders of a PlayStation Plus subscription will be automatically switched to the Essential formula, while PS Now subscribers will migrate to the Premium version. However, if the formula assigned to you does not suit you, an upgrade will be offered to former PlayStation Plus users to switch to the Extra or Premium version. In this case, you will only have to pay the difference between your current subscription and the subscription you want.
For PS Now subscribers who will have access to PlayStation Premium, you just have to wait for the end of the subscription to which you have subscribed to switch to the Extra or Essential formulas. Logically, you should also be able to modify your subscription before its term, but it would be silly to deprive yourself of the advantages of the Premium formula when you are not paying for them.
Scenario 2: you do not have a subscription
If you don’t have a PlayStation Plus and/or PS Now subscription but are interested in the new formulas, you can totally subscribe to them as soon as they come out. To do this, you can:
- Go straight through the PlayStation Plus tab from your Sony console to purchase the subscription of your choice.
- Get yourself a PlayStation Plus gift card at a retailer and enter the code provided in the menu Redeem a code of PlayStation Store.
You can also subscribe to PlayStation Plus and/or PS Now services now and that your subscription will automatically switch to the new formula in June 2022.
Which subscription to choose?
At budget level
Now that you know all regarding the future of PlayStation Plus subscriptions, you’re probably wondering which plan is worth the most. Regarding the budget, we advise you to opt for a one-year subscription, because even if you are asked to advance a larger sum at once, you will pay less than a monthly or quarterly renewal. For example, if you subscribe to PlayStation Plus Essential for a month, you will have it for 8.99€ per month, whereas if you pay the 59.99€ upfront, this is equivalent to less than 5€ per month. In concrete terms, you save around €4 per month, or €48 over the year, which is not negligible, especially since the gap between the monthly and annual subscription widens more for the Extra and Premium formulas.
Also note that if you subscribe to PlayStation Plus now for one year and switch to another subscription when the services change, you will only have to pay the difference between the two formulas. In this way, you will be able to take advantage of a substantial subscription that you will have paid twicerather than immediately paying €119.99 for the Premium formula, for example.
As a reminder, here are the prices offered by each of the new subscriptions:
- PlayStation Plus Essential :
- 8.99€ for a month
- 24.99€ for three months (i.e. 8.33€ per month)
- 59.99€ for twelve months (i.e. less than €5 per month)
- PlayStation Plus Extra :
- 13.99€ for a 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 :
- 16.99€ for a month
- 49.99€ for three months (a little over €16 per month)
- 119.99€ for twelve months (a little less than €10 per month)
At the content level
A priori, the new PlayStation Plus subscriptions have been formulated to suit different player profiles, and while the choice to subscribe or not is completely personal, you may be wondering which one would be best for you. To start, subscribers to the classic PlayStation Plus should be able to recognize themselves in the Essential formula, which is more or less identical to the one we already know. It allows you to take advantage of online gaming features, cloud saves, discounts on the PlayStation Store, but also included games to download every month.
The Extra version combines all these elements, and adds more titles available for download. This is an interesting formula for players who prefer dematerialized formats, since it gives you access to a catalog of 400 games PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 To download. It’s a good compromise for PS Now subscribers who don’t have enough of PlayStation Plus Essential, who don’t necessarily have the means to afford the Premium version, and for whom streaming is not a decisive factor.
As for this latest version, it has all the elements mentioned before, plus games from older consoles like the PlayStation Portablethe PlayStation 1and the PlayStation 2. You can download them all, but also play them in streaming. Streaming will also be available for titles PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. But the most impressive service of this formula is undoubtedly access to new AAA PlayStation Studios games for a limited timea priori as of the exit or in any case quite close to the launch. The Premium formula will therefore be suitable for players fond of streaming and older titlesespecially current PS Now subscribers, but especially to those who like to dabble in different types of games, since the Premium library is likely to be very varied.
Finally, know that the PlayStation Plus Collection will be included for all PlayStation 5 owners, regardless of their subscription level. All subscribers will therefore have access to a catalog of 20 digital PS4 games including notable titles like Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition, The Last of Us Remasteredand Uncharted 4 : A Thief’s End.
And you, are you interested in the new PlayStation Plus formulas? If so, which subscription do you plan to opt for and why? Tell us everything in the comments!
