PS Plus is the service that allows PS4 and PS5 owners to not only play online multiplayer but also get access to monthly titles and more as per their subscription tier. The company has been incredibly successful with its next-generation as well as last-generation consoles.
If one is unaware, Insomniac Games suffered a data breach, and cyberattackers leaked many internal and confidential documents from the studio and published them online. It is also worth mentioning that terabytes of data were unethically published online due to the attack. Now, it has come to light that the data breach also uncovered plans for PlayStation’s expansion of the PS Plus service into the mobile and smart TV ecosystems.
Leaks Suggest Sony Is Expanding PS Plus to Cover a Broader Range of Platforms
The alleged plans for the subscription were first reported on the ResetEra forum as per the post made by the individual on the forum; the source of information was the documents released with the Insomniac data breach. The photos illustrate what seems like a schematic presentation made by the studio.
The first slide is titled “Services 3.0: The Future of PS Plus.” The alleged plan illustrates the three existing tiers of the PS Plus service that the gaming conglomerate currently offers. This is the PlayStation Plus Essential, Extra, and Premium, sorted in increasing order of benefits and pricing. It is then conveyed that the company allegedly plans to expand into smartphone and smart TV platforms. Currently, the PS Plus Service also offers game and media streaming services.
The vision statement on the slide reads:
Become the most exciting & desirable entertainment membership service globally
The keyword in the vision statement on the slide is entertainment membership. Recently, Sony offered even more incentives to users, like a catalog of movies to stream for PlayStation Plus subscribers. The plans also suggest the company might be aiming to double down on its media offering and cloud gaming services simultaneously.
Further, the alleged plans also suggest that the service might also be available on web browsers, apart from smartphones and smart TV platforms. The plans also suggest that the company’s alleged plans for the smartphone market still have a question mark at the end. While it is clear that the company is trying to explore whether it can expand into the smartphone market, it is still not clear what its offering will be.
The expansion plan seems precise for PC, but the outcome still seems unclear; it aims to offer a subscription service similar to consoles but focuses only on PlayStation Studios titles. The game streaming services the company is allegedly pondering as per the images.
There are also mentions of game streaming services on smartphones, browsers, and smart TVs, which could further be added as one of the offerings in the PS Plus membership. At the time, it is unknown if all of this will be covered and offered in an existing subscription tier or if an entirely new one encompassing these benefits will be created.
The company’s plans also reveal that it might expand its subscription service to offer benefits for other games that are usually popular among gamers. These include esports titles like Fortnite and FIFA (now known as EA Sports FC 24). Plans were also highlighted to utilize the service for like-minded gamers to connect, contend, and collaborate on the most current and buzzing game.
There were also illustrations and plans to include content to make the service family-friendly by including relevant content.
Lastly, other plans included collaborating with OTT and streaming platforms like Crunchyroll, Disney+, Spotify, et cetera. Other gaming subscriptions like GTA+ and Fortnite Crew were also mentioned, and the avenues for partnering with them were discussed on the same slide.
While PlayStation is already the market leader in console gaming, it seems that the company wants to fortify its dominance in the market by offering even more benefits to subscribers. Some were similar to its direct market competitor’s offering Xbox Game Pass, and some were unique to the leaked plans. It is not known whether the company will execute these plans, and all of this can only be known once an official announcement is made.
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