New Article: PlayStation Plus: A Year in Review 2023 – Value of Added Games and AAA Titles
In recent years, both publishers and console manufacturers have been emphasizing the importance of long-term game subscription services. Similar to the revolution in the film and television industry, video game subscription services are considered the future of game consumption. In line with this initiative, Sony has reaffirmed its commitment to subscription services through its enhanced versions of PlayStation Plus: Extra and Premium. As we enter 2024, the question remains: Has PlayStation Plus been able to justify its cost?
Taking a retrospective look at the Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus libraries of 2022, I have decided to examine the lineup of games added to PlayStation Plus in 2023 and reflect on whether the console manufacturer has justified its increasingly expensive service.
In 2023, the price of PlayStation Plus significantly increased across all available options. Previously, the annual Essential subscription cost £49.99, the Extra subscription cost £83.99, and the Premium service, which is the most expensive option, was priced at a staggering £99.99. Unfortunately, in September 2023, Sony raised the prices across all categories, resulting in the Essential subscription now costing £59.99, Extra subscription at £99.99, and Premium at a whopping £119.99. Let’s take a look at the games Sony added to PlayStation Plus in 2023 and whether the console manufacturer was able to justify its increasingly costly service.
In this article, I will take a different approach to examining the games released last year. Instead of looking at individual monthly additions, I have chosen to categorize the year and examine the games associated with each category in the industry.
Let’s start with PlayStation Plus Essential. In this basic category, subscribers receive 3 to 4 games per month, but unlike Game Pass or PS Plus Extra, these games are only available for the duration of that month. If you do not add the titles to your library during this period, you will miss out on these games completely. However, if you do add the games to your library, they will remain accessible as long as you are a PS Plus subscriber.
In 2023, PlayStation Plus Essential offered a total of 37 games to subscribers. I won’t list all the titles here, but only 3 of these games were first-party PlayStation titles – Destiny 2: Beyond Light, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and Dreams by Media Molecule. Considering that Destiny 2: Beyond Light was released years before Sony acquired Bungie, PS Plus Essential in 2023 technically only consisted of two first-party titles – a rather underwhelming result for those who subscribed to the service for first-party PlayStation games.
Fortunately, the list of third-party AAA games added to PS Plus Essential was much larger. It included titles such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Mafia: Definitive Edition, Code Vein, Battlefield 2042, GRID: Legends, NBA 2K23, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Alan Wake Remastered, The Callisto Protocol, Mafia II: Definitive Edition, and LEGO 2K Drive.
Among the indie games, there were titles like Axiom Verge 2, Olli Olli World, Tails of Iron, Trek to Yomi, Death’s Door, and Sable. While almost every AAA game was initially released prior to 2023, it cannot be denied that PS Plus Essential offers a diverse range of high-quality titles across all price ranges. However, it is worth noting that a large number of first-party games are not expected to be included in this service.
For many players, PlayStation Plus Extra serves as the middle ground between the three categories. In addition to all the benefits of PS Plus Essential, Extra provides access to a library of hundreds of games that are added (and removed) on a monthly basis. Similarly to the previous category, let’s focus on the first-party games provided by this subscription service.
Unlike Essential, PS Plus Extra offers a decent selection of first-party games, including Erica (FMV psychological horror), Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (remastered for PS5), Dreams, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Horizon Forbidden West.
Of course, this is only the beginning of the first-party titles in 2023. Many first-party games are already available with PS Plus Extra, including Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne, Shadow of the Colossus, Final Fantasy VII: Remake Intergrade, Returnal, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, and many more. While you won’t have access to the full PlayStation Studios library, the list of available titles is long enough, especially if you want to play games from previous years.
The remaining third-party titles in PS Plus Extra also offer an intriguing selection, with a strong lineup of AA and AAA games, both older and (relatively) newer. Many series have been added to the service, including all titles from the Life is Strange series, Dead Island Definitive Edition, Tomb Raider Trilogy, Wolfenstein 2: The Old Blood and Youngblood, The Evil Within, and its sequel.
In 2023, there was also a surprising number of games from Bethesda, despite the company being acquired by Microsoft. In addition to the aforementioned titles, the service was supplemented with games such as RAGE 2, DOOM Eternal, and Dishonored: Death.
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The source of the article is from the blog trebujena.net