The new PlayStation Plus still feels like a missed opportunity
Following months of speculation and with just a week to go until the service rolls out in Japan I’d love to be able to say we finally know exactly what the new PlayStation Plus is all about. After a partial reveal of what’s coming to the revamped service we’re a step closer to finding out, yet looking at the list of games available across the three tiers the precise shape isn’t any clearer. It’s another mumble of an announcement, in keeping with the air of slight incoherence that’s surrounded the project since we first heard murmurs of what was once known as Spartacus.
Sony has dragged its heels when coming up with what was once rumoured as a Game Pass rival, but perhaps that perception is part of the problem. The new PlayStation Plus doesn’t have the drive or disruptive purpose of Game Pass. Instead, it’s merely a merging of the existing services PlayStation had in Plus and Now, which partly explains the incoherence as the two are smashed together in something of a muddle.
It was possibly naive to think this might have been the moment when PlayStation took a step back to reassess and retool its services to take on the game changer that’s been Microsoft’s Game Pass, and Sony has been vocal in saying it sees itself taking a different approach. That doesn’t really explain the half-heartedness of the announcement, though, or the fuzziness around certain elements – are those remasters the PS2 classics we previously saw on PS4? How’s Ape Escape going to look running on a PS5? Why not at least give us a glimpse of heartwarming crowd pleasers like Syphon Filter or Jumping Flash – the original Mirror’s Edge! – in the here and now?
* This article was originally published here
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