PlayStation launches game subscription service 5 years late

This is the edition of Combo, Folha’s games newsletter. Do you want to receive it every Monday in your email? Sign up below.

Five years after Microsoft launched Xbox Game Pass, its game subscription service, Sony decided to follow suit. Last Tuesday (29), the Japanese company announced the reformulation of the PlayStation Plus subscription service, which will include access to a library of more than 700 titles. The product will be available in June in Japan and will arrive in other countries in the following months, including Brazil.

Unlike its competitor, Sony says it does not intend to make its main titles available on the service since launch. This explains the different views of these companies on the role that subscription services will play in the games market.

Game Pass is currently the backbone of Microsoft’s strategy in the video game industry. The company’s most recent acquisitions, including the billion-dollar purchases of Activision Blizzard and Bethesda, are aimed, in large part, at increasing the catalog of titles the company can make available on its service.

Among developers, however, there are still doubts about whether adherence to this model is advantageous. Mainly for studios that make the so-called “AAA” titles, big releases that demand a lot of investment and years of development.

If, on the one hand, joining a subscription service considerably increases your player base, favoring profit from microtransactions and expansions, on the other hand, doing so at launch can sacrifice a considerable slice of revenue from the sale of games. Whether the financial result of this exchange is positive or not is a complex calculation, for which the industry does not yet have an answer.

Sony decided to take a more conservative approach with its subscription service. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan explained in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz that he sees a “virtuous cycle with the studios”. According to him, investment results in success, which allows for more investment, which results in more success.

“If we did this [liberar acesso desde o lançamento] with the games we make at PlayStation Studios, the virtuous cycle would be broken. We wouldn’t be able to maintain the level of investment we want in our studios, and we believe that the impact this would have on the quality of the games we make is not something gamers want,” Ryan said.

Still, the redesign of the service is an important step for the company. Not only to compete with Microsoft, but to leverage its profits in “games as a service” – titles that undergo constant changes, adding new content and players for years, and which are financed with microtransactions and expansion packs.

Despite having several successful titles, the PlayStation studios catalog lacks a game of this type. Not by chance, Sony recently announced the acquisition of Haven Studios, a Canadian developer that is producing a title for PlayStation 5 with these characteristics.

Specifically for the Brazilian public, there will be another big difference between the services.

• THE Microsoft provides access to cloud games (no download required) in the most expensive category of Game Pass.

• Sonydespite having access via the cloud in other countries, did not provide a forecast for this functionality to be made available here.

Among the games that should make up the service’s catalog at launch are “Death Stranding”, “God of War”, “Marvel’s Spider-Man”, “Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales”, “Mortal Kombat 11” and “Returnal”. .

Check out the price ranges for Sony’s new subscription gaming service

PlayStation Plus Essential

Prices:

• BRL 34.90 per month

• BRL 84.90 per quarter (equivalent to BRL 28.30/month)

• BRL 199.90 per year (equivalent to BRL 16.66/month)

Benefits: the same as those already offered by the service currently

• Two monthly downloadable games

• exclusive discounts

• Cloud storage for saved games

• Access to online multiplayer mode

PlayStation Plus Extra

Prices:

• BRL 52.90 per month

• BRL 139.90 per quarter (equivalent to BRL 46.66/month)

• BRL 339.90 per year (equivalent to BRL 28.33/month)

Benefits:

PlayStation Plus Deluxe

Prices:

• BRL 59.90 per month

• BRL 159.90 per quarter (equivalent to BRL 53.30/month)

• BRL 389.90 per year (equivalent to BRL 32.49/month)

Benefits:

• Same as Extra Level

• Catalog with downloadable PSP, PS 1 and PS 2 games

• Limited time game play

PlayStation Plus Premium

Prices:

Benefits:

• Same as Extra Level

• Additional catalog with up to 340 PSP, PS 1, PS 2 games by download or streaming and PS3 by streaming

• Cloud streaming of PS 4 games available at Extra*

• Streaming PS 4 and PS 5 Games on PC

• Limited time game play

*Available in regions where the PlayStation Now service currently works

play

game tip, new or old, for you to test

God of War
(PS4 and PC)

Released exclusively for PlayStation 4 in 2018, the action game from the Santa Monica studio gives a good sample of the level that Sony studios productions can reach, both in graphic proficiency and finishing, as well as in plot and gameplay quality. With the launch of the PC version in January, it’s even easier to get to know this new video game classic.

update

news, launches, business and what else matters

• Russian developer Four Quarters of the indie hit “Loop Hero” has suggested that fans of the game turn to piracy if they are unable to purchase the title due to Western sanctions on Russia. According to a report by Vice, the company’s message was published on the Russian social network VK and even included a link to a torrent file of the game.

• Sony has announced the games that will be available for free to PlayStation Plus subscribers in April: the online multiplayer “Hood: Outlaws & Legends” (PS 4 and 5), the SpongeBob platformer “Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom”. Rehydrated” (PS 4) and the roguelike “Slay the Spire” (PS 4).

• E3, which was once considered the most important game fair in the world, will not take place in 2022. The event had not been held in 2020 because of the pandemic and returned in 2021 in a digital-only version. Despite this, the ESA (Association of Entertainment Software), which organizes the fair, said that the event will return in 2023 “invigorated”.

• The NGO Games for Change, which promotes the use of electronic games for social development, will hold the cycle of seminars Online Games, Childhood and Adolescence (JOIA 2022) from April 19th. Registration is now open. There are free places for teachers and students from the public network.

download

games that will be released in the next few days and promotions that are worth it

apr 5

• “LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga”: BRL 199.99 (PC), BRL 229 (Xbox One/X/S), BRL 229.90 (Switch), BRL 229.99 (PS 4/5)

• “MLB The Show 22”: BRL 222.45 (Xbox One), BRL 299.90 (Switch, PS 4), BRL 349.90 (PS 5), BRL 349.95 (Xbox X/S)

apr 7

• “Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition”: BRL 90 (PC), BRL 104.90 (Switch), BRL 104.95 (Xbox One), price not available (PS 4)

• “Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter”: BRL 118.15 (Switch)

• “Slipstream”: R$19.99 (PC), R$29 (Switch), price not available (PS 4/5, Xbox One/X/S)

• “The House of the Dead: Remake”: price not available (Switch)

Readings of the week

what came out about games in Folha