PlayStation Plus Premium hasn’t launched in the UK and Europe yet, but because I’m a super hacker gamer girl I managed to subscribe through an alternate account so I could gain access to the service’s library of games and other exclusive features before anyone else. Well, anyone aside from people who actually live in the territories where it launched.

After spending a week with the new and improved offerings I’m underwhelmed. I know I shouldn’t have expected something to match Xbox Game Pass, and given my job I already own many of the games found in the upper tier library, but even so it feels like the whole thing has been cobbled together.

Related: Why Is Capcom So Afraid Of Dino Crisis?

First off, let's start with marketing. PlayStation Plus Premium was rumoured for months, with so many of us ready and waiting for Sony to reveal a subscription service that would not only transform its existing repertoire, but introduce something new to stand alongside the likes of Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online. The PlayStation strategy of releasing a handful of blockbuster exclusives each year to critical and commercial acclaim continues to be a successful one, but likely temporary as the industry matures and adopts more service ecosystems. It finally reacted, but in a way that feels weirdly muddled and disjointed.

returnal
via PlayStation

If the company didn’t act it would be left behind, but the execution of PlayStation Plus Premium right now leaves much to be desired. When Game Pass was first revealed it was everywhere, with Microsoft making it abundantly clear that all major exclusives would be available on the service, on day one at no extra cost, and a continued subscription would see members receive a steady stream of games each and every month. The value for money was astounding, even more so given how new users were given several months for free alongside discounted prices so they’d jump into the ecosystem and not have a reason to leave. It worked like a charm.

Xbox Game Pass has become an integral part of today’s gaming landscape, while PlayStation Plus Premium feels like an outlier yet to justify its own existence. I think the majority of players were immediately excited about the idea of Sony offering a selection of games for the price of a monthly subscription, but right now the price and actual benefits are too slight. It has loads of exclusives regular consumers have no doubt already bought and finished, a selection of third-party titles, and classic games we will all install, play for 30 minutes and never touch again. There’s also streaming available for PS3 games, but this is so clearly taking the PS Now library and squeezing it into the service with less of the output and more of the busywork. It’s a bizarre mixture of things.

Omori

While it has so many games available on it, I don’t think Xbox Game Pass is successful because of its legacy catalogue. Microsoft doesn’t have much of one for starters, and the service has frequently become a platform for titles both big and small to launch on so they can reach a much larger audience. Games like Omori or Rainbow Six Extraction might tempt a purchase from some, but many more will give them a try if they’re tied into Game Pass at no extra cost. Additions like this are almost constant, and give it a continued value that sustains itself because Microsoft has put in the work to cement these development partnerships.

We aren’t seeing that from PlayStation Plus Premium. With the exception of the upcoming Stray, it’s just a bunch of games thrown into a library with little rhyme or reason. Sony has said its exclusives are too valuable to risk launching on the service, and third-party support right now appears spotty at best. This is partially why the conversation is either dried up or was never ignited to begin with. The service rolled out with no fanfare, and no reason for existing subscribers to upgrade or new ones to take the plunge. Sony now has a Game Pass rival, but it doesn’t have the presence or purpose that made it such a heavy hitter in the first place.

Halo Infinite

Things will change as the library grows in the coming months, but right now I’m already apathetic towards a part of the PlayStation experience I was really looking forward to.

Next: The Last Of Us Remake’s Approach To Realism Is Its Biggest Problem