Sony's PlayStation Plus service was launched in 2010 as a paid online service mainly for the PlayStation 3. As a further incentive to sign up for the service to play games online, Sony began offering a series of games each month for the PlayStation 3 and PSP, eventually adding the Vita and PS4. PSP games were eventually dropped and to me the heyday of PS+ were the few years where we were getting PS3, PS4, and Vita games every month. Any games claimed while subscribing to this service can be re-downloaded on any console that is signed into that account as long as the account is current. In the current world of the "all digital future," it is important to note that your PlayStation Plus games are being "rented" in a sense that you will only have access to them while your account is active.



In March 2019, Sony dropped PlayStation Plus games for the Vita and PS3, much to the chagrin of many subscribers, including myself. Currently the service offers only two PS4 games per month. At an annual cost of about sixty U.S. dollars, a case can certainly be made that this is a good value. However, I am finding that the value has diminished to the point where if I do decide to renew my subscription, it will almost solely be to retain access to the almost eight hundred titles I have accumulated in my download queue over the years. Walking away from the service means walking away from access to all those titles.

It is instructive to compare PlayStation  Plus with their main competitor's service. Microsoft's XBOX Live Gold service has been offering monthly games on their XBOX platforms in a similar way to PlayStation Plus, but there is a significant difference. If your membership lapses, you can still "keep" the games you acquired during your membership. Further, earlier in 2019 Microsoft merged their XBOX Live Gold service with their Game Pass service in the creation of a new service they call Game Pass Ultimate. Game Pass is a subscription service which gives members access to a decent list of games to download and play freely as long as they are subscribers. Rather than opening access to only two games a month, you have access to the entire list right from the start. Currently, as a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, I have access to the monthly selection of games offered for XBOX Live Gold as well as all Game Pass titles on my XBOX One and PC.


What Microsoft is offering is a better value than PlayStation Plus. Let's look at Sony's streaming service, PlayStation  Now. From what I can tell, PlayStation Now is similar to Game Pass in that a library of games are available from the get go and some of them are available for download. I am not a PlayStation Now subscriber but if Sony merged PlayStation  Plus with PlayStation  Now in the same way Microsoft merged Game Pass with XBOX Live Gold, I think it would be a massive success and would do much to assuage the ill-will harbored by longtime PlayStation Plus subscribers such as myself. As it stands, I am keeping my PlayStation Plus subscription alive for the sole reason that my download queue is basically being held hostage.

I hope it is clear to Sony that they need to follow Microsoft's lead in order to remain competitive as far as the value of their online subscription services. As I wrestle with the idea of paying to continue digitally "renting" games I've had in a download list for years, I find myself wishing Sony would discontinue PlayStation Plus and merge it with PlayStation Now. What do you think? Are you subscribed to any online console services? If so, do the games on offer have any influence on your decision to subscribe, or do you do it just to play online?

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