How much will new PlayStation Plus cost? Why does Sony have PS Plus?

NEW PS Plus Overview: The Good And The Bad (Game Catalogue, PS1 and PSP Classics)

‏The new PlayStation Plus is officially here! (in Asia) So let’s check out the Deluxe tier catalogue and perks. There’s a wide range of PS4 and PS5 titles, that much was expected. But we’re gonna spend some extra time looking at the new lineup of PS1 and PSP Classics. There’s a lot of good stuff here, but unfortunately there’s some bad as well. You may have heard, the dreaded 50Hz PS1 games are back. We are shocked, just shocked. Well, not that shocked.

How much will the new PlayStation Plus cost?

The new PlayStation Plus options look a lot like Xbox Game Pass, which gives players access to a collection of games that rotate periodically and gives new owners a cheaper way to access a library of quality gaming titles right out of the gate.

It has also released a full list of PS5 and PS4 games to come “in the launch timeframe,” with big names like Spider-Man, The Last of Us Part II, and God of War, as well as its lineup of classic games (included below).

One difference will remain, however: Sony has said that unlike Microsoft with Halo Infinite, Gears 5, and Forza Horizon 5, it won’t include brand new first-party games in the subscription package. That means that, at least initially, Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West, and Gran Turismo 7, for example, won’t be on the list.

PlayStation Plus Essential costs $9.99 / month and provides basic access to online services just like the previous Plus subscription. Plus Extra offers everything in Plus Essential and comes with a catalog of PS4 and PS5 games for $14.99 / month, while Plus Premium comes with all these perks in addition to an extra 340 games and the ability to stream PS3 titles from anywhere. It also includes the benefits players used to get from PlayStation Now combined with Plus.

Sony also confirmed that Ubisoft is bringing its subscription package to PlayStation as Ubisoft Plus Classics, which will be bundled with the Plus Extra and Plus Premium subscription tiers and includes 27 games at launch. However, once again, unlike the Ubisoft Plus subscription available now on PC, Stadia, and Luna (and eventually on Xbox), it won’t include day-one release titles.

Why does Sony have PlayStation Plus?

Sony has explained why a PlayStation Plus subscription will be required to play PlayStation 4 titles online. In the latest issue of Famitsu (translated by Kotaku), Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida said that it would have been “absurd” to keep the service free, considering the “large investment of resources” Sony has made for online infrastructure.

“The main pillar for the PS4 will be online play. We’re developing many new ways to play and connect which requires a large investment of resources,” Yoshida said.

“Considering the cost, to try to keep such a service free and consequently lower the quality would be absurd. We decided that if that’s the case, then it would be better to receive proper payment and continue to offer a good service.”

Currently, Sony does not charge a penny for online play for the PlayStation 3. PlayStation Plus subscriptions are offered for $50 per year, and current memberships will carry over to the PS4.

The move puts Sony in line with Microsoft, which currently mandates that Xbox 360 users have an Xbox Live Gold membership ($60/year) to play games online and access features like Netflix.

Elsewhere in the Famitsu issue, Sony Japan president Hiroshi Kawano said just because the PS4 is the main show moving forward, support for the PS3 is not ending anytime soon.

“It’s been seven years since the release of the PS3, and the console continues to sell at a constant pace, plus we have many upcoming titles,” Kawano said. “We have no intention of immediately shifting from the PS3 to the PS4.”

“With the 2014 launch of our cloud service in the US allowing users to play PS3 games on the PS4, some people may switch consoles from the PS3 to the PS4,” he added.

PlayStation Plus patch attempts to fix PS1 PAL games

Sony’s efforts to address complaints about the slower PAL games on PS Plus has only made things worse.

It’s still only available in select Asian markets, but the revamped PlayStation Plus service is already off to a rather bumpy start. There have been reports of frequent crashing and some of the PlayStation 1 games included with the Premium tier are the inferior European PAL versions.

Aside from it being strange that Sony chose to include games in the PAL format for regions that never used it (like Taiwan), PAL versions are inherently slower than their NTSC counterparts and often have vertical borders. While not strictly unplayable, they are the worst way to play retro video games.

Word of this has quickly spread and, naturally, elicited a lot of confusion and frustration, even from those who don’t have access to the service yet. Sony appears to have acknowledged the complaints and attempted to fix the problem but… has only made things worse.

So far, it seems the only PS1 games based on their PAL releases are the first party titles from Sony, such as Ape Escape. The only exception is Syphon Filter which, for some reason, is based on the North American NTSC release.

Sony recently issued a patch for a few of these games to improve their performance and have them run at a faster speed, namely Jumping Flash, Everybody’s Golf, and Kurushi.

As you can see though, the patch has introduced a new issue and created what’s referred to as a ‘ghosting’ effect, where a trail is left behind every frame whenever the screen moves.

This is believed to be because Sony is adding the missing frames by blending existing ones. More examples can be seen on Twitter via user Windy Corner TV.

Sony PS1 emulation runs into 50Hz problems

Sony PlayStation emulation—which is part of the new PlayStation Plus service—has problems with its 50Hz rendering.

PS1 games running on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 have had some trouble with frame rates and ghosting effects. Sony has opted for the European PAL version of many of its classic game offerings, because of their localisation advantages. (They feature a minimum of five languages.)

Unfortunately, the PAL versions of PS1 games only ran at 50Hz—rather than the 60Hz that was standard for American NTSC and Asian-territory versions. This means, basically, that, because their refresh rate is lower, the performance of these games is slower. Games run at more choppy frame rates.

Sony has issued a patch for PlayStation Plus, attempting to address these performance issues. However, the patch—which affects Jumping Flash, Everybody’s Golf and Intelligent Qube—makes these 50Hz games run in 60Hz. Only, it does this by blending frames together, which creates a weird ghosting effect.

Will Sony make PS4 online free?

It is required to play the vast majority of games online – only some free-to-play titles are exempt. In order to play most PS4 and PS5 games in online multiplayer, you need to have a PlayStation Plus subscription.

Can you play GTA online without PS Plus?

Can you play GTA Online without PS Plus? The short answer, we’re afraid, is that you do need PS Plus to play GTA Online on PlayStation, which is in line with most other games on Sony’s platforms.

Which came first Xbox or PlayStation?

The Xbox, Microsoft’s first entry into the world of console electronic gaming, was released in 2001, which placed it in direct competition with Sony’s PlayStation 2 and Nintendo’s GameCube.

Is PS Plus worth?

PS Plus: Is It Worth It? In short, yes. A PlayStation Plus membership is absolutely worth the price of admission. For £49.99 in the UK and $59.99 in the US, a 12-month subscription will give you access to at least 36 free PS5 and PS4 games.