Sony has claimed that its first-party games would suffer if they launched on day one via the newly revised PS Plus service.
After months of speculation, Sony finally announced its revived PlayStation Plus service that is said to rival Xbox Game Pass. The revised PS Plus will offer three tiers. PS Plus Essential (basically PS Plus as we know it right now). PS Plus Extra offers additional PS4 and PS5 games. Finally, PS Plus Premium offers all the above, as well as PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games.
One of the great aspects of Xbox Game Pass is that first-party titles launch on day one via the service. Subscribers have benefited from being able to play Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 at launch for no additional cost.
Furthermore, now that Microsoft owns Bethesda as well as the pending Activision Blizzard acquisition, the value of Xbox Game Pass will only grow. PlayStation fans are wondering if they too will get to play first-party titles at launch with the newly revised PS Plus.
No first-party titles at launch?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter if you subscribe to PS Plus Extra or PS Plus Premium, you will not be playing first-party titles at launch as part of the service. The news was confirmed by PlayStation boss, Jim Ryan.
So, the question remains, why? Apparently, Ryan believes if first-party titles launched on day one via PS Plus, the quality of the games would suffer.
“We feel like we are in a good virtuous cycle with the studios,” Ryan told GamesIndustry.biz, “where the investment delivers success, which enables yet more investment, which delivers yet more success. We like that cycle and we think our gamers like that cycle.”

Ryan continued: “[In terms of] putting our own games into this service, or any of our services, upon their release… as you well know, this is not a road that we’ve gone down in the past. And it’s not a road that we’re going to go down with this new service.
“We feel if we were to do that with the games that we make at PlayStation Studios, that virtuous cycle will be broken. The level of investment that we need to make in our studios would not be possible, and we think the knock-on effect on the quality of the games that we make would not be something that gamers want.”
Plans may change
That being said, Ryan suggested that plans might change in the future. “So I don’t want to cast anything in stone at this stage,” said the PS chief. “All I’m talking about today is the approach we’re taking in the short term. The way our publishing model works right now doesn’t make any sense. But things can change very quickly in this industry, as we all know.”
Do you believe first-party titles would suffer if they launched on day one via PS Plus? Personally, I think a good compromise would be to offer subscribers a discount on first-party titles. Let us know your thoughts across our social media channels.
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Featured Image Credit: Sony