According to a report from Bloomberg today, PlayStation is working on a direct competitor to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. Code-named "Spartacus", this service is expected to launch in spring for the PS4 and PS5, and it will merge PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now plans. According to the report, Sony might phase out the PlayStation Now branding in favor of the PlayStation Plus one.

With a monthly "Spartacus" subscription, PlayStation console owners will be able to access a range of new and classic games. Bloomberg found that there might be three tiers of subscription. Tier 1 would be similar to the offerings of PlayStation Plus. With Tier 2, subscribers would have further access to PS4 titles and "eventually" PS5 games. Tier 3 would add more options like demos, game streaming and "a library of classic PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games".

While the report cites the news come from "people familiar with Sony’s plans and documents reviewed by Bloomberg", you might want to take this information with a grain of salt until an official announcement is made public. Nevertheless, would you be interested in such a subscription service from Sony?

SOURCE

 

[djpannda]

....Might be better then Gamepass if Sony wants.. the PS library is way better then Xbox... now the scary part is the Price!

 

[Reploid]

Nah, it's now+plus, and barely would compete with gamepass, cause soony's pockets not as deep.

 

[Chary]

Merging PS+ and Psnow is the smart decision. Nothing can compete with Game Pass, imo,so long as Sonys old games are their original versions without any fancy graphical upgrades like on XSX. However, I would soooo be down for retro game trophy support

 

[subcon959]

I strongly believe the only reason Game Pass got as popular as it did is because of the stupidly cheap deals to convert to it from Gold. It was kind of a genius move by MS, and I can't see Sony doing anything along those lines, so they would have to provide something special.

 

[Kioku]

If Sony opened this up to PC and gave subscribers an official outlet to play classic PS1/PS2 titles, I can see this being better than Gamepass.

 

[WG481]

A PlayStation game pass, if priced right (so not $80/month), will have no competition.

NSO is good, but the SNES-NES-N64 library get complained about too much (and who doesn't have copies of SNES/NES/N64 games already lol.) Xbox it's like "wait, I can buy these literally anywhere I want."

Sony releasing a game pass correctly with titles people actually want would result in me spending a lot more time and money on my PlayStation

EDIT: I saw what Tier 3 library would bring and now I want to get it to see if I can play Persona 1/2 on my PS4.

 

[AlexMCS]

NSO is good

Don't make me laugh so hard man... my sides!

 

[subcon959]

If Sony opened this up to PC and gave subscribers an official outlet to play classic PS1/PS2 titles, I can see this being better than Gamepass.

I would cancel Game Pass in favour of that.

 

[RobXcore]

NSO is good.

People like you who are drooling over Nintendo stuff is the reason why they offer shitty and overpriced games/subscription, no offense, but NSO is FAR from being good.

 

[Plazorn]

I assume this will go with the new PlayStation phone controller. If it works out you will be able to play it in the XBOX Series X browser, right?

 

[ut2k4master]

the article is very light on actual details. will the ps1/ps2/ps3/psp games be playable locally/offline or are they streaming only? id expect it to be the latter

 

[Scarlet]

PS Now wasn't good enough so they're going to try PS Later.

 

[D34DL1N3R]

If Sony opened this up to PC and gave subscribers an official outlet to play classic PS1/PS2 titles, I can see this being better than Gamepass.

I would cancel Game Pass in favour of that.

PS Now has been available for PC since... I don't know. It's been a long time.

 

[CloudStrife1901]

Abit late. Already stopped my ps+ subscription months ago when the 7.55 jailbreak became available. I'll stick to gamespass on the xbox

 

[Bladexdsl]

so basically only for the ps4 since no one can use it on ps5

 

[subcon959]

PS Now has been available for PC since... I don't know. It's been a long time.

The PS2 games are streaming only for PC though right?

 

[yoyoyo69]

....Might be better then Gamepass if Sony wants.. the PS library is way better then Xbox... now the scary part is the Price!

It won't, Sony are their own worst enemy. They do this only out of desperation, but will never admit it, obviously.

Microsoft have turned things around very well, fairly positive now, Sony have always been a negative corporation. Nintendo are a bit of all sorts, more like Sony though than Microsoft, which figures with both being Japanese in origin.

 

[ut2k4master]

The PS2 games are streaming only for PC though right?

all psnow games are streaming only on pc

 

[masagrator]

....Might be better then Gamepass if Sony wants.. the PS library is way better then Xbox... now the scary part is the Price!

And availability. PS Now is still available in less regions than xbox streaming service.