Sony has announced its new PS+ subscription tiers, which were formerly known under the codename Spartacus, and which we now know offers three subscription levels. However, certain regions and countries will miss out on the highest tier of this plan.
While the 'PS+ Essential' tier is basically the same as what PS+ members are currently getting; the new 'PS+ Extra' tier will add a catalogue of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games that players can download. The highest tier is PS+ Premium, which basically combines the cloud-streaming subscription PS Now with PS Plus and adds a further 340 games. But PlayStation subscribers in regions such as the whole of Latin America and countries such as South Korea and Singapore will miss out on this tier, but will have their own tier in the form of a fourth offering.
This is the PS+ Deluxe tier, for markets that do not have cloud streaming. Sony has said that this tier will be offered at a lower price compared to Premium, with local pricing varying by market. Deluxe includes all the benefits from the Essential and Extra tiers, along with the retro catalogue of PS1, PS2, and PSP games included in Premium. However, since cloud streaming is unavailable in these territories, the PS3 games will not be included.
Sony hasn't been able to offer backwards compatibility on PS4 or PS5 for PS3 games, as there are various issues to do with hardware and software emulation, but cloud streaming has been a way to get around this. But since PS Now and cloud streaming was unavailable anyway in these markets, this means the Deluxe tier will not include this particular capability. However, the lower price of this tier compared to Premium, as promised by Sony, should help with this lack.
But why do certain territories lack Sony's support in terms of streaming and cloud services? It's to do with infrastructure as George Jijiashvili, principal games analyst at Omdia, explains. "Streaming console games requires specialised server hardware, so PS Now's global coverage is wholly reliant on Sony's investment into its infrastructure", he says.
"Given the slow uptake of PS Now and other subscription services in the past, Sony made a strategic decision to focus on key console markets. Low subscriber numbers would have meant low return on investment, if they expanded PS Now to other markets".
However, as adoption of game subscription services has accelerated, it may well be that Sony will consider expanding cloud services, Jijiashvili added. In fact, Sony did say in their announcement that it also plans to "expand our cloud streaming benefit to additional markets, and will provide more details at a later date".
This is a long-term plan however and the new tiers are due to launch in June. So those markets without Sony's support for cloud streaming will have the Deluxe tier to fall back on, that's if those PlayStation owners in those markets want the higher-priced tier beyond the tiers of Essential and Extra, of course.