Top 5 Things You Need to Know About the New PlayStation Plus Tiers
- Sony is officially restructuring PlayStation Plus into three distinct tiers (Essential, Extra, and Premium), replacing the old single-subscription model. The new system launches in June 2022, with a staggered rollout across regions starting in Asia.
- The middle "Extra" tier is the biggest value upgrade, adding a massive library of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games for download, rivaling Xbox Game Pass. This includes major first-party titles like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Returnal, and Ghost of Tsushima.
- The top-tier "Premium" offers everything in Essential and Extra, plus classic games from PS1, PS2, PS3 (via cloud streaming), and PSP. It also includes time-limited game trials for new releases, a feature absent from previous PlayStation Plus versions.
- Price hikes are here: Essential stays at $9.99/month, but Extra jumps to $14.99/month and Premium costs $17.99/month. However, existing PlayStation Plus subscribers will be auto-converted to the new tiers at a pro-rated rate during the transition.
- The biggest controversy? No backward compatibility for physical PS1, PS2, or PSP discs, and no day-one releases for most first-party games (unlike Xbox Game Pass). Sony says major titles will still launch at full price before potentially joining the catalog later.